Gia Hoi: Vietnamese in the 'burbs

Sydney is blessed with suburbs like Cabramatta, Bankstown and Marrickville for Vietnamese food and restaurant options. But it's almost as if Vietnamese restaurants are the new Thai restaurants, popping up in all sorts of suburban streets in recent years.

Crispy skin chicken with tomato rice from Gia Hoi, Chapel Road, Bankstown

With the plethora of options in Bankstown, we relied on someone in the know to lead us to the garishly magenta-lit insides of Gia Hoi, just off the main road.

All the favourite Vietnamese dishes are here and I couldn't resist the crispy skin chicken, served with salad and a yellow-red hued tomato rice.

The rice wasn't spectacular but the insanely crisp shattering skin of the chicken, with moist, tender flesh beneath, made up for any rice regrets.

Grilled pork chop

Another easy choice is the grilled pork chop, which comes with a choice of noodle or rice sides. The slightly (and nicely) fatty pork is incredibly tender and full of hours of marinated flavour.

Noodles on the side

The dry noodles served with the pork chop were obscured by a range of generous toppings: fresh and fried shallots, bean sprouts, raw onion and more, with a sweet dipping sauce on the side.

Fillings for rice paper rolls

The most exciting dish this time round was the mixed platter of fillings that arrived with a bowl of water, for fresh rolled rice paper rolls.

Watching and learning, the round rice paper gets a light dip into the bowl of water before being laid on a plate and filled with vermicelli noodles, fresh vegetables and herbs and one of the protein fillings: spring rolls, sugarcane prawns, grilled pork and beef slices.

They're then delicately rolled up and consumed immediately with more dipping sauce. It's not the most simple of dishes but certainly easy to polish off a platter among three.

So here's a trend prediction: the continuing popularisation of Vietnamese cuisine, especially out in the 'burbs where casual eateries like Gia Hoi thrive by doing what they've always done.