middle eastern show-stopper

To me Middle Eastern means big and bold, yet intricate and detailed. For some reason I absolutely love love love their traditional interiors (lights, lanterns, use of bright colours) but I'm just not a huge fan of their food. Whether it's the intense flavours or the amount of oil that is used, the food just doesn't agree with my tastebuds. Never-the-less my girlfriends and I went to the highly acclaimed (accordingly to my friends and work colleagues) Kazbah in Balmain for dinner.

The restaurant is either child-friendly or encourages you to bring out your inner-child, with crayons provided (regardless of whether you're with children) for the paper table covers. The interiors and service are as expected - intricate, colourful and exotic with some show-stopping performances. Pouring the water was an art in itself. I wish I got a photo of it, but I'll just point you to another photo online so you can see what I mean. It's incredible and let me tell you, I was in awe.

For starters we ordered the dips and mixed bread (of course) and the grilled haloumi cheese (of course). You can never go wrong with these two dishes, right? And they didn't disappoint. We also ordered the clams with chilli, garlic and tomato sauce (yum!), and the ham and cheese grilled black truffle sandwich, which to be honest seemed a little odd to be sitting on a dinner menu!? Not quite sure why we ordered this - could have been the mention of 'truffle' - but needless to say, I wouldn't order that again.


We chose the lemon baharat chicken and lamb kafta shish kebabs, as well as the slow-cooked lamb shoulder for our mains. They were nice, nothing to write home about though. Especially for the price that we paid. Our sides included the fattoush salad and the Mediterranean potatoes twice-cooked with rosemary, capsicum and onion.

The Kazbah Bomb, which has it's own separate line and is bold on the menu, is one of the reasons why people come here. It is THE show-stopping dish, and one must order it (even if one doesn't like Turkish Delight). Not only does this dessert come with Turkish Delight ice-cream, sponge, soft meringue and blueberries; but it is doused with currant vodka and on flames when presented to your table. It's pretty incredible! We also ordered the scrumptious banana split with banana and chocolate macaroons, Chantilly cream, vanilla bean ice-cream and a salted toffee sauce.

Although my friends love it and I do recommend coming here for the experience itself, I personally won't be going back there in a hurry (unless it's for breakfast, which I'm willing to give it another try). It's just unfortunately not my cup of tea... Oh and on that note, if you like tea, finish the evening with 'Kasbah Love' - Carcade (Egyptian hibiscus), rose buds & cinnamon.

Restaurant: Kazbah Balmain
Total price: Approx. $300 (for 5ppl, including wine)
Hours: 8am-3pm;11.30am-3pm; 5.30pm-9.30pm; closed Mondays
Must order: Kazbah Bomb