Tag: No Pork

A list of restaurants in my blog that is considered to contain no pork to the best of my knowledge

Kiroran Silk Road Uygur

Kiroran Silk Road Uygur Review:

The restaurant we reviewed this week is probably the most iconic uyghur restaurant in Sydney. Kiroran Silk Road Uygur restaurant is located between Chinatown and Chinese Botanical Garden. The restaurant itself looks pretty old fashioned with quite a basic look-and-feel. However, this doesn’t stop people from coming in and enjoying their BBQ lamb skewers or their jumbo chicken dish.

If this is your first foray into the Uyghur cuisine, you might find the menu to be quite challenging. If we can loosely describe the cuisine: it’s like a mixture of Chinese and Central Asian cuisines, such as handmade noodles and kawap (or kebab).

Tohogoshi Narin – $38 – Dapanji Jumbo size chicken dish, stir-fried chicken with Potato in Hot Chili and Garlic sauce. Served with 1 portion Fresh Handmade Noodles

One of the two ‘must order’ dishes in an Uyghur restaurant. It is kind of like szechuan chili, however they put a lot of potatoes and noodles in the chicken dish. However, it is still quite spicy.

They have two sizes: small and large… However, I reckon they should change the sizing to ‘massive’and ‘gigantic’. Our ‘small’ dapanji’s bowl is the same size as the largest bowl in other restaurants.

You can also order the ‘kids’ noodles that are already sliced to bite-sized noodles. It’s also a less spicier version of the noodles.

Borak Kazan Kawap – $15 – Stir-fried Lamb Kidney

This dish is one of my personal favourites, however I understand that it’s quite an acquired taste and not for everyone. It’s a pretty simple stir-fried lamb kidney with special uyghur marinade.

Kawap – $10 – BBQ Lamb Skewers (2 skewers per serve)

Pretty much everyone who went to this restaurant ordered this dish. Some of you might know it as lamb and cumin. It’s a very fragrance skewer of lamb pieces.

Stir-fried Rice with Diced Chicken and Veggies – $15

Just like everything else in this restaurant, even the side dish is pretty massive. You might want to go easy on the carbs and order more BBQ skewers!

The final verdict for Kiroran Silk Road Uygur

Kiroran is pretty much the household name for Uyghur cuisine. Their kawap and chicken dish are on a different level than similar restaurants in Sydney.

Do you think I should go?

If you love Uyghur or Xinjiang cuisine, then this is the place to be. Even if you just want to try Uyghur cuisine, I would suggest you to go to this restaurant.

Rating for Kiroran Silk Road Uygur:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $10 – $38

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

Shop 3, 6 Dixon Street, Chinatown, CBD 2000

+61 2 9283 0998

Nov 15, 2018
Kebab Abu Ali

Kebab Abu Ali Review:

One day we went to Fairfield to try the famous Kebab Abu Ali. According to our Iraqi friend, it is one of the best Iraqi restaurants in Sydney. We were so impressed the first time we went there that we called the cavalry so that we could try a more diverse range. Unfortunately, the second time we were there it wasn’t as glittering because we were made to wait for more than an hour for most food to come. The waitpersons were sometimes clueless about what to do. Also, don’t forget to BYO water as they will only give you a small glass of it and nothing more.

The one dish that made me want to try Kebab Abu Ali in the first place was the Pacha. We were then interested in trying the fish. More about those dishes below.

Abu Ali’s Appetiser Plate – $17.50 – Includes Baba Ghanouj, Hummus, Tabouli, and Garlic sauce. Served with fresh Iraqi bread. Add on Sesame Bread – $3.50

When we ordered the appetiser plate with sesame bread, the bread came quite early, but the dips came out towards the end of the dinner. Apart from that, their baba ghanouj was very beautiful. The tabouli and garlic sauce were also pretty good.

Free Salad

They gave away a massive plate of free salad to share with the table.

Kubba Mosul – $12 – Kubba Mosul is a traditional lamb minced meat stuffed inside a burghul (crushed wheat) pancake that’s baked and fried to give it a crunchy texture.

Kubba mosul is quite a filling and massive entree. If there weren’t eight of us, I don’t think we would be able to finish it.

Okra Stew – $6.50

The Iraqi okra stew was pretty interesting. Instead of the usual South East Asian crunchy texture. This one had a very soft texture with strong tomato flavour.

Parda Plaw – $20 – Parda Plaw looks like a giant pudding wrapped in a golden brown pastry. Cut your way through and you’ll find an aromatic pilaf inside, super long grains of basmati rice mixed with chunks of lamb, fried vermicelli noodles, toasted almonds and walnuts… Optional meat available.

The description in the menu above said it all. It was a very nice combo of rice and pastry dish.

Pacha – $17.50 – A rigorously prepared bowl of sheep’s head parts. People in Iraq eat that every day for no other reason than that it’s delicious. The meat is a fun-park of textures – some bits tender, others more gelatinous – all scooped up with comforting layers of soup-soaked bread.

This is why we wanted to go to Kebab Abu Ali in the first place. I know it’s not for everyone but we LOVE sheep’s head soup. It is not something that you can find very easily in Australia. The great thing about their soup is that you were spared from actually eating with the bone in (yep, some countries do serve WHOLE sheep’s head).

It was one of my guilty pleasures.

Iraqi Mix Grill – $18.50 – One char-grilled Iraqi Kebab, Chicken Tikka and Lamb Tikka, delivered with a liberal sprinkling of sumac. Served with grilled tomatoes, Iraqi bread and salad.

They have a few different mixes, but basically you choose between beef kebab, chicken tikka or lamb tikka. Their skewers were pretty good.

Grilled Fish – $85

When we ordered it, they said it would take 40 minutes. It ended up being 1.5 hours. They had three different sizes and we chose the biggest one. The fish tasted wonderful, but probably not worth waiting 1.5 hours for.

The final verdict for Kebab Abu Ali

If it was only judging from our first visit to Kebab Abu Ali, then they might score a bit higher. Unfortunately, the 1.5 hours wait was really testing our patience.

Do you think I should go?
They probably could not handle a big group, so if you want to try, maybe come with a smaller group. If you love pacha (sheep’s head soup), then you must try their version!

Rating for Kebab Abu Ali:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $30 – $35 per person

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

Shop 1, 41 Spenser Street, Fairfield 2165

+61 2 9723 3644

Kebab Abu Ali on facebook

Jul 24, 2018
Bakhtar Restaurant

Bakhtar Restaurant Review:

We went quite a way to the West in Liverpool this week. The original purpose was to catch the elusive Bearded Bakers’ Knafeh. Before we went there, we had to make a stop to have dinner. Our choice of restaurant is from the same region. The restaurant is called Bakhtar.

Entree

The restaurant gave us a complimentary entree, some kind of thick soup with noodles. They mentioned it was the special thing they do because it was the holy month of Ramadan. It was quite a rich soup and pretty tasty.

Mantoo – $11.99 – Steamed lamb mince dumplings topped with yoghurt and lentils

We fell in love with mantoo when we tried the dish at an Afghani restaurant in Five Dock. So, when I saw the dish on the menu that night, I was so eager to try. The mantoo at Bakhtar was very nice and very affordable. The portion was also pretty big for one person to have.

The Kebab Banquet

I didn’t manage to remember how much this would cost but eventually, the total cost for the five of us is less than $100.

The kebab banquet consists of three different kinds of rice, six skewers of meat (three of each: chicken, beef, and minced lamb) and some side vegetables. It was a feast! There was so much rice and massive pieces of meat on the plate. We were quite impressed with the bountiful of food.

We also ordered some stewed vegetables that we could dip into. So it’s kinda like a dipping soup vegetables.

The final verdict for Bakhtar Restaurant

Bakhtar Restaurant gave you a nice value for money meal.

Do you think I should go?

If you live around the area, Bakhtar is quite a decent place for a quick and cheap meal.

Rating for Bakhtar Restaurant:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $15 – $20 per person

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

Shop 8, 132 Macquarie Street, Liverpool 2170

+61 2 8798 2795

Bakhtar on facebook

Jul 6, 2018
Sixpenny

Sixpenny Review:

Our restaurant this week is listed as one of the top restaurants in Australia located in a very quiet street in Stanmore, Sydney. They have held two hats status for as long as I can remember. Their chef, Daniel Puskas, is the Chef of the year in this year’s good food guide.

Sixpenny only has two degustation menu: 6 courses and 8 courses. They also cater for children with a 2-course menu for $65 on some days – we actually got 3 for our little one as he really wanted our dessert. As usual, the dining starts with warm bread and butter. Halfway through the service, they gave us a different kind of bread (but not pictured here).

Starter

Lightly pickled cucumber with Rose Geranium, Green Tomato & Cheese Gougères, Sweet Potato Scallop

The starter is not part of the degustation set. They are more like a ‘freebie’ during the service. The trio was wonderfully presented and super tasty. They recommended us to eat from the amazing gougère to the super fresh cucumber and onto the more substantive sweet potato.

Main

There are 4 mains served in the 6-course degustation. This month, the fifth main was the Venison tartare.

Ballina Spanner Crab with Clam butter & Yarra Valley Salmon Roe

The main course starts with very fresh and tasty spanner crab. The crab was very rich and full of flavour.

Dutch cream potato with Oyster emulsion, mushroom powder & button mushroom

This was one of the best dishes of the day. I love the creaminess of the potato and combined with the slightly crunchy raw mushroom.

The crispy kale and zucchini flower added an amazing dimension to it.

Swordfish with Buttermilk, Green Chard & Salted Red Cabbage

Unfortunately, the swordfish was our least favourite of the day. It did introduce the sour element to our dining. However, it was a tad too sour to our liking. The foamy look was also a bit scary.

Rangers Valley Chuck Tail with Mushroom & Marsala and smoked onion

Chuck tail cut is a part of beef that you might not hear very often about. Texture-wise it’s like in between ribs and rump. So, you got the best out of both worlds!

Add the sauce and smoked onion into the mix… and you get yourself a fantastic dish!

They also gave us a bowl of salad for the steak.

Kid’s Menu

In addition to the following 2-course meal, they are also given the same snacks as the adult. The kid’s dessert is also one of the degustation desserts.

Steak

Cocoa Ice Cream with Chocolate Caramel and Almond Sable

Desserts

Mead Vinegar Custard with frozen Raspberries & Strawberry Consomme

If I heard it correctly, it took ten weeks to make the custard. The dessert might look very simple: part frozen raspberries and part custard with strawberry consomme. The combination of the three created one amazing dessert! It was sweet, a hint of sourness, frozen bites of raspberries, and most importantly… yum!

Feijoa Granita with White Chocolate & Dehydrated Feijoa

The second dessert was a bit more challenging to understand. The white chocolate was nice along with the granita. However, the dessert left a lingering taste of bitterness at the end.

The final verdict for Sixpenny

Sixpenny is the best restaurant we visited this year. They deserve the two-hat status for their awesome dishes… and probably not that far off from three-hat quality dishes.

Do you think I should go?
Definitely!

Rating for Sixpenny:

9.0 / 10

Taste: 9.0 / 10

Price: $125 for 6-course and $155 for 8-course

Place: 9.0 / 10

Details:

83 Percival Road, Stanmore 2048

+61 2 9572 6666

May 30, 2018
Rashays Punchbowl

Rashays Punchbowl Review:

This week’s review comes from a restaurant that opens on Christmas Day, Rashays. It is a franchise restaurant and we went to the one in Punchbowl.

Their menu is quite interesting. It actually starts from desserts and drinks instead of appetisers. Being a franchise, you can rely on uniformity of its taste in their restaurants.

Loaded Fries – $15 – Hot crispy chips topped with premium slow-cooked beef, our signature RASHAYS creamy mushroom sauce & smokey BBQ sauce.

Loaded fries is part of the menu called ‘hot specials’. Hot specials is a slightly smaller version of the main course and priced under $20. I do not think the loaded fries is small at all. The chips is much more than what you get in your average pub steak.

I think it could very well be a main for some of us.

New York Steak – $33 – Darling Downs 300g MSA, 120-day grain-fed New York cut complimented with golden fried onion rings & RASHAYS dark mushroom sauce

There is only one type of steak on the menu in Rashays: New York Steak. You can then choose to have it with add-ons or not. On this occasion, we choose to have the steak with 4 onion rings for an extra $6.

Kids Steak & Chips – $15 – 180g New York steak served with chips & tomato sauce

It’s quite interesting to learn that the steak for the kids meal has the same size as the one in the ‘hot specials’ menu. However, instead of the mushroom sauce, you get a tub of tomato sauce instead.

The kids’ meal also comes with a soft drink or a plastic bottle of kids drink.

Iced Coffee Frappe – $7 – A shot of espresso & vanilla ice cream blended with ice & topped with whipped cream

This is so good. You have to order it. Period.

Churro Split – $6 – Creamy vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate syrup, crushed Oreo & cinnamon churros

Churro split is part of the kids menu as well. However, if you barely have enough space after the main, kids desserts are a decent option.

The Mega Breakfast – $25 – 180g MSA New York Steak, oven-baked eggs, toasted ciabatta bread, Mediterranean spiced beef chorizo, baby spinach, crunchy hash browns, haloumi & RASHAY tomato chilli jam

This is actually not from my visit to Rashays Punchbowl but from the Lidcombe branch. It deserved to be noted because of the great value for your money. You can easily share this with anyone and still have a decent breakfast.

The final verdict for Rashays Punchbowl

Rashays is a decent steakhouse with great value for money.

Do you think I should go?
Don’t come to Rashays if you are looking for the best steak in Sydney. It’s more about getting the same steak everywhere you go.

Rating for Rashays Punchbowl:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $15-$49 main dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

The Broadway Plaza, 1-9 Broadway, Punchbowl 2196

13000 13000

Dec 29, 2017
Seed Greek Kouzina

Seed Greek Kouzina Review:

We saw an ad board for Seed Greek Kouzina as we walked down a small road in Petersham towards the main New Canterbury Road. It read ‘6-course for $35 every Tuesday and Wednesday’. If you like eating out, I’m sure you agree with me that a 6-course meal for $35 is a very good bargain… oh I forgot to mention: you also get a glass of wine for that price!

Surely enough, we are at the restaurant this week to try this menu out! They officially called it: Tuesday and Wednesday Mid-Week Banquet – $35 pp. The courses were predominantly seafood with only one exception, the salad.

Warm bread + taramasalata

There is nothing more perfect than starting your dinner at a Greek restaurant with warm bread and taramasalata. FYI, taramasalata is a Greek small dish (called meze) made out of fish roe.

GF Crisp fried baby seafood, lemon aioli

Our second course was a shared plate of deep fried small prawns with lemon aioli. The great thing about crunchy prawns is that you don’t need to spend hours peeling off their shells.

Krokettes – smoked mackerel croquettes

Almost at the same time of the second course, they also served smoked mackerel croquettes. It was a nicely done croquette!

Marinated grilled fish of the day (barbounia or red mullet)

From the display perspective, the main course was a tad underwhelming. You got four red mullets to be shared by three people.

Talking about the taste tho… oh boy, it was very delicious!

Lahanosalata (greek slaw) – cabbage and walnut salad

A salad is usually not my best friend. However, their salad was quite filling and decent.

Rizogalo (rice pudding), mango puree, macadamia nuts, vanilla ice cream

They have quite an interesting dessert by Australian standard. Not many people would think rice as a dessert. Personally, I think the rice pudding was nice, especially with the added crunch of macadamia nuts and the cooling vanilla ice cream.

Calamari and Chips – $12

The restaurant does not mind if children share your meal at no extra cost. However, they also serve kids meal if you wish to do so.

The final verdict for Seed Greek Kouzina

I don’t think anyone would argue that $35 for a 6-course meal was a bargain. Seed Greek Kouzina managed to deliver that with quite a decent quality of food.

Do you think I should go?
The banquet was only available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If you are able to come to Petersham, it’s a very good option to have for a hump day dinner.

Rating for Seed Greek Kouzina:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $35 for 6-course meal + one glass of wine/beer/softdrinks

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

88 Audley Street, Petersham 2049

+61 2 95607798

http://seedgreekrestaurant.com.au/

Dec 5, 2017