Zaap

Order the pork belly. There's no crackling on it — instead there's a scorched edge of fat taken right to the point where it gives, and stopped there. It's the dish people bring other people here for.

Then the ox tongue. It's cooked long and sliced thin, soft without falling apart, and most Thai kitchens in Sydney won't touch it.

This is Thai and Lao together, and the Lao side is why you're here. You can order a pad kee mao and have a perfectly good night. Or you can order the things that aren't on any other menu in the suburb and work out why people keep coming back.

The fried barramundi with apple salad is the one you'll want after the pork belly. The fish tastes of fish and nothing else, and the salad's sharp against it. The sour fish fried rice is what the regulars get without looking at the menu.

If you haven't been, get the E-Sarn set. It covers enough that you'll leave knowing what you want next time, which beats picking three things at random and hoping.

The menu's wide — noodle soups, rice plates, a proper vegetarian section — and none of it feels bolted on.

The fit-out's the surprise. Antique photography gear on the walls, odd things collected and hung with some thought, lighting pitched for the evening and not for a shopfront. Somebody's project, not a design job.

It's lively and full most nights and still comfortable to sit in, which is harder than it sounds. The noise never quite gets to the point where you're leaning across the table.

Cabramatta is the Vietnamese heart of Sydney, and Zaap sits quietly inside it, Thai and Lao, up a level off Park Road. You walk past pho and bakeries and herb stalls to get here. That's why almost everyone who eats at Zaap got brought the first time by someone who already knew.