Cafe D'Or - Burwood

For a casual weeknight dinner, my friend and I decided to give Cafe D'Or, a lebanese cafe in Burwood, a go. It was a crazy humid day and stepping into the restaurant, the first thing I noticed was the lack of air con and array of empty tables (which gradually got filled throughout the night).

We ordered 3 dishes to share. We had the Haloumi ($15.90), Fried Kebbe ($14.90) and the Shish Taook ($22.90). The Haloumi came out first and it was pretty good - sauteed cheese, chewy and tasty, served on some rocket and spanish onion.

Haloumi - $15.90

I wish I could say the same for the Fried Kebbe. It was donned "Lebanon's national dish" on their menu - so we had to try it despite not having a clue what it really was. The Kebbes were deep fried torpedo shaped things stuffed with meat (possibly lamb?), onions and pinenuts. It was horribly dry and didn't really taste very appetising. Maybe its just that our tastebuds aren't too accustomed to this yet?

Fried Kebbe - $14.90

The Shish Taook (ie. chicken breast skewers) were not too bad. It was subtly marinated with garlic and some spices and was tender but slightly dry if it wasn't eaten with the garlic sauce. Unfortunately  the garlic sauce plate was tiny and soon ran out.

Shish Taook - $22.90

The food here wasn't great, but the restaurant was quiet enough for a good chat and catch-up. One visit here is most probably enough though.

Ratings:
Food - 5.5/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 5.5/10
Overall - 23/40

Cafe D'Or
47 Burwood Road
Burwood
NSW 2134
Tel: (02) 9747 0222

Awafi - Granville

What do you do when your in Granville and in want of charcoal chicken and the El Jannah line is too long? You walk a little up the road until you hit another charcoal chicken shop. It always puzzled me how two shops, serving pretty much exactly the same thing, can have such differing numbers in clientele. Was one shop actually better than the other?

Awafi

Because we were too lazy to wait for El Jannah, my hubby and I decided to eat charcoal chicken at Awafi instead. We ordered the same thing we normally do - chicken and chips. The prices here are pretty similar to El Jannah (maybe like 50c cheaper) and you get all your usual stuff - bread, pickles, garlic sauce and chicken.

The garlic sauce here tasted pretty much just as good as El Jannah and the pickles were longer but again, similar taste-wise. The chicken itself was also very very similar such that based on these three things alone - I would not be able to know the difference in a blind taste-test (or an opened-eye one for that matter). The only difference seems to lie in the bread. The bread here was relatively dry... a lot drier than the yummy moist bread from El Jannah. Is it the bread that makes all the difference between the two competing chicken shops? Maybe...

charcoal chicken, garlic sauce, pickles and bread

There's also an extra size of chips here at Awafi - small, medium and large. The small chips here are relatively smaller in portion compared to the small chips at El Jannah - but it's tasty all the same.

chips

So if I were in Granville and wanting Charcoal chicken, which shop would I go to? We are creatures of habit so I think my first choice would still be El Jannah.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Awafi Charcoal Chicken
1/43 South Street
Granville,
NSW 2142
Tel: (02) 9637 3111

Sea Sweet Patisserie - Parramatta

My friend who lives from the Shire has, on multiple occasions, been trying to tell me how awesome the baklavas are from a sweets shop in Parra. After many times of hearing about it, I made her actually take us down here - so we can try it ourselves.

The patisserie is called Sea Sweet and is located on Church street, on the quieter side of the river. There are two glass cabinets full of cakes and petit fours, and two huge cabinets of lebanese sweets. According to my friend, it's probably better value to take-away, as they charge you double the price for eating in.

loads of cakes and sweets available

On this particular occasion, we decided to purchase half a kg of mixed baklavas ($13.90). We got a huge selection - cashews, pistaccios, chocolate baclavas, rectangular ones, round ones, the whole lot. They all have a different name - but being me, the only difference I sense is cachew vs pistaccio. What I mean is that, to me, all cashew ones taste the same and all pistaccio ones taste similar. The baklavas here are really quite awesome. Sweet, but not overly so. Light and puffy and crispy. Bite-sized (which is kind of bad as it means that I consume many many in one sitting).

1/2 kg of baklavas - $13.90

The baklavas here are yum. The range of cakes available also seem quite good and my friend thinks that they are decent in taste. The service isn't 100% though... but be patient and eventually, they'll get there.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28.5/40

Sea Sweet Patisserie
4 / 354 Church St,
Parramatta
NSW 2150
tel: 1300 90 80 70

El Jannah (2) - Granville

Mmmm.... Chicken.... and lots of it!

My partner and a couple of friends had wanted to eat charcoal chicken from no other place other than El Jannah in Granville. This has now become a very frequented joint for my partner and I - and no matter how much chicken he eats, my partner does not seem to get sick of this place.

However, this lunch - we ordered TWO chickens between the 4 of us. To me, this seriously, just looked like a mountain of chicken. Hecticness.

The chicken was awesome as always. Charcoally burnt skin, juicy succulent meat. But most importantly - super super super awesomeness garlic sauce!!!

TWO whole chickens

Personally, I don't think that Charcoal chicken will be the same without garlic sauce. It's soooo super garlicy flavoured, smooth, creamy and no-doubt fattening. But so so so good and irresistable.

garlic sauce

The pickles were as normal. To me, the pink ones always taste stronger than the green ones. But when eaten with the chicken and the garlic sauce, it's always quite awesome~

pickles

No meal at El Jannah would be complete (for me) without these almost perfectly cooked chips. Crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffly on the inside and lightly dusted with chicken salt, it is seriously awesomely deliciousness when dipped in a good amount of garlic sauce.

Chips

So overall, El Jannah is awesome. Chicken is good, chips are more than good, and the garlic sauce is super super super good. But is it good enough for us to visit this place once to twice each week? My partner would say so.

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 30/40

El Jannah
4-6 South Street
Granville
NSW 2142
tel: (02) 9637 0977

Habib's Charcoal Chicken - Bankstown

Habib's Charcoal Chicken

Recently, I have been going visiting a Lebanese Chicken place in Granville once or twice a week. So, I was pleasantly surprised when we decided to head down to Bankstown for Habib's. I've heard a lot about this place. Many of my friends have mentioned how awesomeness the garlic sauce is.

Our chicken is cooking!

Chips with Chicken salt, or should I say heaps of chicken salt with some sprinkles of chips on the side. If you love chicken salt, you would love this place as they provide chicken salt shakers on each table. These french fries style chips is not really my thing, I prefer the thicker cut chips from El Janna .

Chicken Salt with a side of Chips

The main dish! A whole chicken flattened butterfly style and cooked over a real charcoal grill. Cooking over a real charcoal stove really makes it taste much better than the standard BBQ chicken you get elsewhere. This chicken was beautifully cooked, it was not dry and tasted really Charcoaly.

The Charcoal Chicken

The chicken is good, but it's really the condiments that lifts this place above the competition. Garlic sauce is simply divine. I could finish two of these plates of garlic sauce myself. The sauce is very creamy and VERY 'Garlicy'. If you have a date planned for the next 2-3 days, you might want to avoid it. However, this garlic sauce is so nice that its probably worth postponing a date for. The radish and gherkin are quite pickled potent in taste. Its quite overwhelming when eating it by itself. But, with the Lebanese bread, chicken and garlic sauce, it is the perfect addition.

Habib's Famous Garlic Sauce

Assorted Pickles

Tabouli

Lebanese Bread

This is an example of how to eat Habib's Charcoal Chicken.

1. Pull apart the bread

2. Spread garlic sauce on the base of the bread

3. Top with chicken, pickles, and tabouli (fries optional)

4. Roll up and eat

How we eat are Charcoal Chicken

Overall, I was quite impressed from the food. The place is quite big, much bigger than El Jannah and hence would be a nice place for a casual feed for a large group. We came here with about 20 people, the service was good and the staff were friendly. The food is served quite fast and relatively well priced (cheaper than El Jannah).

Compared to El Jannah, this place is actually quite similar. The garlic sauce is probably nicer here, a little bit more creamy and more garlic taste (but very similar) and its cheaper than El Jannah. However, the chicken at El Jannah suits my tastes more because its more crispy on the outside and generally tastes fresher and more grilled.

Ratings

Food - 8.5/10

Service - 7.5/10

Ambiance - 6.5/10

Value for Money - 7/10

Overall - 29.5/40

Habib's Charcoal Chicken

24 Restwell Street

Bankstown

NSW 2200

tel: (02) 9708 2219