Bankstown Bites 2006

I've been to Bankstown a couple of times before, but this is a special occasion, the annual Bankstown Bites festival, which the council puts on to showcase its cultural diversity. Our first port of call was the Free Food Tours run by locals in the area. We were just in time to join Chives @12pm. Armed with our blue Bankstown council bags and green badges, we followed our leaders Leanne and Jenny around Bankstown's main streets. Our first stop was at Happy Cup, a jelly drinks franchise like the Easyway chain. We sampled mango snowflakes - which are yoghurt, ice, milk and flavour mixed together, a bit like a slushie. It was surprisingly nice and very refreshing on this 30+ degree day. This stop was followed by a sampling of pork, chicken and char siew at Hai Yen Noodle House. Their meat was better than average.

We continued town Bankstown City Plaza, passing a few Vietnamese groceries, butchers and fishmongers, before arriving at Jenkins Cake Shop, where a lavish sample of all sorts of different cakes were offered. We tried cheesecake, mudcake, coffee cream, an interesting green iced cake called a Paandair, taro roll and even pork pies. My favourites were the taro roll and the pork pie, the rest suffered from the Asian cake syndrome of dry cake and creamy and sweet icing. We passed the Olympic Continental Deli and Butchery, which was established in 1956 there, but didn't have time to go in.

We stopped at the biggest Asian grocery of them all, Best Value Supermarket, which was definitely good value. They certainly had the best value oyster sauce, as well as a myriad of other items. Their Pocky line was non-existent, but I did pick up some Peppeto from Korea to try. We sampled a variety of fish balls and 2 types of mooncakes - the more unusual fine five kernel ($23.04 for a box), and the ubiquitous white lotus.

Pass all the commotion in the main square, we turned onto North Terrace to visit the Valley View Continental Groceries and Spices, a shop filled with bins of spice mix, dried fruit and nuts, as well as all sorts of other Middle Eastern goods. Their prices was not so crash hot though. Another Continental Deli of note is the Izvor Deli.

Our last stop was the Bankstown Cellar, a vodka specialist where we were able to sample honey vodka. Besides being free and having the opportunity to sample lots of new food, we even managed to win some drinks voucher for answering some simple questions.

Armed with our vouchers, we ordered a coke (guess who) and a vodka cranberry with lime (guess who), and relaxed on the lounges of the Bankstown Hotel, overlooking the fish tank with live sharks.

There was a half hour before our next tour, so we checked out all the stalls, from the tataoki ball people and Gozleme that are at every festival, to the South American stall all cooking up a storm. As well, there was a cooking demo, featuring "celebrity chef" Vince Sorrenti (anyone actually know who this guy is?). It was too hot and sunny to watch the demo, but we did sample the food they cooked, a Sausage Stew with capsicum, tomatoes and eggplant, and a Penne Pasta with a Bolognaise style sauce... they were...average, maybe that's why I haven't heard of any of those chefs before.

The Afgan store had a demonstration of bread making, where a woman rolled out dough and cooked it over this giant dome. It was very interesting and she was so quick! The bread was crunchy and didn't have much taste, I think you must eat it with dips.

At 2pm, we put on our purple badge and met our new leaders Kim and (sorry didn't remember the other lady) for the Thyme tour. This time we visited Hartnell's, the oldest dress shop in the area, established in the 1950s, and still selling dresses from the 50s! Next stop was Sinbad Bakery, famous for their oregano pizza, and finally Habib's Charcoal Chicken, which has apparently THE best Middle Eastern food in Bankstown. Interestingly we also passed the one and only Thai restaurant in Bankstown!

We headed down the direction of Greenfield Parade, where Merabi Groceries (Lebanese), Bankstown Sports Club (Paul Keating's home), and of course, An Restaurant (supposed to be the best pho in Sydney). We were also told where to find the best duck noodle soup in Bankstown.

We then came back to Bankstown City Plaza, where we stopped again at Jenkins Cake for more samples, followed by the Vien Dong Chinese Herbs Centre where we sampled chrysanthemum and green tea and were told the benefits of different kinds of teas.

Then the highlight, we went to Quang Minh Supermarket, where a fresh durian was cut open for us to sample. You know what they say, "taste like heaven, smell like hell", you really have to taste it to believe it, words just cannot to this fruit justice.

Our tour came to an end where we started, with a taste test at Happy Cup, this time, kiwi snowflake, tasting sweeter than the mango, but also very refreshing.

Tour over, but shopping was not. First off, to my absolute favourite Lebanese pastry shop in the whole of Sydney (that I've tried anyway), El Bahsa Sweets, for 1kg selection of their sweets for $17. There were about 25 pieces in our kg. A bargain!. You can also buy them individually for $1.30 each. Then back to Jenkins Cake Shop to sample their cocktail bun (.8). The verdict? Not bad at all, not too sweet, but very soft. We stocked up on groceries at Best Value and even managed to grab a bargain at the end of day sell-off at the stalls. The 3 mini pineapple buns actually had pineapples in them! And the char-siew bun was also delicious, and all for $1.

Info

Happy Cup
68 Bankstown City Plaza
Bankstown
NSW 2200

Hai Yen Noodle House
61 Bankstown City Plaza
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9790 1608

Jenkins Cake Shop
335 Chapel Rd
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9796 8659

Olympic Continental Deli and Butchery
41 Bankstown City Plaza
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9708 2288

Best Value Supermarket
32-34 Old Town Centre
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9708 2288

Valley View Continental Groceries and Spices
Shop 40, Compass Centre,
North Terrace,
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9790 0465

Izvor Deli
Shop 20 Cinoass Centre
North Terrace
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9793 7056

Bankstown Cellar
10 Marion St
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9796 8921

Bankstown Hotel
102 Bankstown City Plaza
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9790 1142
Website

Hartnell's
14 Bankstown City Plaza
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9709 2882

Sinbad Bakery
Shop 4/2-10 Restwell St
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9796 3165

Habib's Charcoal Chicken
24 Restwell St
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9708 2219

Merabi Groceries
Shop 9-10
19 Restwell St
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9796 1399

Bankstown Sports Club
8 Greenfield Parade
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9709 3899
Website

An Restaurant
27 Greenfield Parade
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9796 7826
Website

Vien Dong Chinese Herbs Centre
50 Old Town Centre Plaza
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9790 6989

El Bahsa Sweets
288 Chapel Road
South Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9796 4818