When something is the best - especially if others tell you it really, really is the best – then there's nothing for it, but to go and see for yourself. Right?

Which is why we (and about thirty other foodlovers) made the trek across the city to Cabramatta the other day. Taste Cultural Food Tours had invited us to go on the trail of Cabramatta's signature dishes which will feature on Food Crawls during The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Month in October.

First of all on our mini 'food crawl' was bahn mi thit (pork roll) at Vinata's Hot Bread Shop.

Vinata, herself, is a bit of a legend too. Arriving in Australia in 1950, she must have wondered where she had landed. The food here was very different from her homeland of Vietnam.

These breads she makes now, though,are just the same as the ones made several times daily and sold in the streets of HCMC.

Her secret to success? 'I make everything fresh', she tells us. 'No colourings - just fresh!'

Cabramatta is home to a wonderful mix of cultures. About forty precent of residents are from Vietnam originally, and there is a large number of people with a Chinese background too. So it's no suprise that most shops are Asian-influenced, but the occasional Aussie reminder is here too - as in these flowers.

No suburb with a mostly Asian population is complete without its grocery stores and little hole in the wall cafes. 

As we took a shortcut through to the main street, the variety of stores and the wafts of strange and appealing smells made me feel like I had been spirited away to Vietnam. And of course it is ideal if you find absolutely authentic ingredients fir that special Vietnamese dish you want to cook.

Cabramatta has always affected me like this. Years ago, without the opportunity to take a real overseas trip, I would occasionally sneak away for the day here.

'Best place to travel without a passport', I would say when I returned home, my arms full of the exotic goodies I had bought there.

Not far away at Shikumen Shanghai it was our turn, then, to try genuine Shanghainese fried pork buns, the amazing creations that somehow seal a porky spoonful of soup inside a steamed bun which is then caramelised brown on its base. For $8.80 a plate, this is an example of how well and how affordably you can eat in this suburb.

But be careful eating these. Those not used to chopsticks will find the soup dribbling out. Hint: use the fork and spoon provided on the table if you are unsure of your food-handling skills.

The motto of Fairfield City Council, of which Cabramatta is a part, is 'Celebrating diversity'. Here, the main gate on John Street has another maxim, equally important: The world is for us to share and respect.

The signature dishes, that visitors are invited to try, were nominated by local restaurants and of course the result was many more than those we had time to try. There are a challenging 35 on the brochure we were given. Enough reasons to come back many times to try the ones you miss.

Little time for lingering though, as the next venue was waiting. Huong Xua Vietnamese Restaurant in John Street had a special treat.

Rice vermicelli with spring rolls, accompanied as they always are in Vietnam by a sweet vinegar dipping sauce and bundles of fresh herbs, was our next treat, as well as pork wrapped in wild betel leaf.

However our host, James Trang, also wanted us to know about his restaurant's 'noodle challenge'. He shows us the plate which he fills with half a kilo of cooked beef, half a kilo of cooked noodles and 1.5 litres of soup. The challenge is to consume this whopping meal in 11 minutes. Impossible? No. The record held currently is 5.36mins!

On a more serious side, Trang is very active in supporting charities such as Miracle Babies, and is planning to open another restaurant soon in Liverpool. He already has a commercial kitchen that supplies his restaurant nearby.

I must admit when I saw the name of this dish: raw salmon salad (goi ca salmon) at Quan An Bau Truong restaurant, I was not too sure about it.

The presentation was delightful, though, and once we were shown how to eat portions heaped onto a crunchy prawn cracker, suddenly it made a lot of sense.

It turned out to be absolutely delicious, with those fllavours that Vietnamese food does so well - a balance of sweet, spicy and herbal - making this a dish which I might just prepare for a summer lunch (or three) this year.

And isn't this just what organisers of these Taste Tours hope will happen? As the barriers of food preferences and cultural bias are broken down, we all benefit and everyone begins to share and exchange and try out new tastes and ideas.

Fairfield City Council you have it right. Lets' celebrate diversity, together!

Our final appointment was with Pho Viet, at the railway end of John Street. By now we had eaten far too much but somehow we still made room for this dish of succulent prawns and tender handmade noodles, mi quang nam.

Taste Tours was established in 2010 by the Benevolent Society to build social cohesion and help to lessen cultural barriers. It is now an independent social enterprise business, organising tours led by trained guides in 15 town centres in southern, south-western and central Sydney throughout the year.

Our mini food crawl meant we bypassed dessert. Well almost! I nipped into a cake shop for a bun and a custard tart, as only you can in Asian centres. My sweet tooth sorted, it was finally time to leave.

But I will be back. Fairfield City Council and Taste Cultural Food Tours have collaborated to present Cabramatta Signature Dish Food Crawls which will take place on Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11. These run at 2.15pm daily, as well as 4.15pm on Saturday, and 3.45pm on Sunday. Cost is just $15. Bookings.....

It's all part of the suburb's A Taste of Asia open air food fair on these two days from 2pm to 6pm.

If you can't wait until then, Cabramatta's Moon Festival on Sunday, September 27, is well worth seeing too. Over 50 stalls and restaurants will offer mouth-watering foods. And of course traditional Moon Cakes will be on hand, as well as the opportunity to watch the Australian record-setting attempt to bake the world's largest moon cake.

Moon cake eating, prawn peeling noodle eating and children's chopstick competitions will add to the entertainment.

To download full details....