Pasteur, Bankstown

It's a hot Sydney Sunday in Bankstown. Pho An is just around the corner, but as fast, furious and flavoursome as its pho is, sometimes a steaming bowl of noodle soup is the last thing on your mind when mopping the sweat from your brow.

Enter the Vietnamese cold noodle salad - a cavernous bowl of cool vermicelli noodles topped with lemongrass-marinated pork or beef, pickled carrot and radish, crunchy lettuce, cucumber, shredded mint, crushed peanuts and doused with a sweet chilli vinegary sauce known as nuoc cham.

We had lunch at Pasteur in Bankstown, a relatively successful franchise of restaurants with outlets in Parramatta and on George Street in Haymarket/Chinatown. Inside it's the usual grab-your-own-chopsticks from the jar on the table, and help yourself to the sauces, condiments and tissues.

I had the vermicelli salad with grilled pork and spring rolls. The pork was tasty and sweet as it should be, but the standout was the spring rolls which were fresh from the fryer, wonderfully golden and reassuringly crispy. The crunch as I bit into each mouthful was earth-shattering!

I've often had this dish with spring rolls around Sydney, and the filling is normally cabbage, salt and not much else. So I was shocked and gratified to discover not only pork mince inside, but vermicelli, mushroom and shallots. Just as there should be!

Light, refreshing and tasty. A huge serving for a mere $8!

Tip: Use the scissors which arrive at your table to cut your spring roll into manageable bite-sized slices.


Bun Thit Heo Nuong $8.00
Grilled pork and spring roll with vermicelli





Pasteur
295 Chapel Rd, Bankstown
Tel: 02 9790 2900