El-Phoenician Restaurant, Parramatta

Whilst we’re still drooling over the delicious food from my last post let’s continue with the Lebanese theme. Back to Parramatta where we hit up El-Phoenician for a family birthday. El-Phoenician is one of the many restaurants located on the "Eat Street" part of Church Street. This area has changed a lot since we moved in but El-Phoenician is holding steady.

I wish my photos were better but when you're dining in a BIG group it's the quick or the hungry I'm afraid. So you'll have to trust me when I say the food was really great.

I’ve been wanting to go here since we first moved to the ‘hood over four years ago now. Not sure why it took this long to make it, but it was always the baskets of crisp, fried Lebanese bread set alluringly on each table that had me wanting to come here. Fried bread = winning.

Because we dining in quite a big group we decide to go for one of the group menus – always the best way to go when there are so many people eating together. We choose the “Roche” banquet for meat lovers for $50 per person. Massively good value. I have have to give the staff two thumbs up for happily accommodating all of our varying dietary requests with hardly the blink of an eye.

The banquet kicks off with a trio of dips that are all very lovely. The Homous is a smooth, creamy blend of chick peas blended with tahina and lemon juice. The Baba Ganouje is a heady mix of smoky char-grilled eggplant blended with tahina and lemon juice. Yum. And last but not less a beautiful Labne made from fresh home-made yoghurt. I really love the tanginess of labne. Needless to say that all the dips go really well with that crispy bread I’ve been drooling over since 2010.

We also enjoy some fresh salads. I loved the tangy Tabouli (not pictured as we ate it too fast) – a mix of finely chopped parsley, tomato, shallot with crushed wheat and mint mixed with lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil.  We also get the chef's salad as part of our banquet. Bad photo but a good salad.

Possibly one of my favourite elements of the banquet is the feta cheese that comes on a plate with one of my all-time favourite foods, PICKLES!!! A plate of kalamata olives, pickled cucumber, turnip, radish and whole chilli (hot, but not deadly so) is nestled alongside fat slabs of creamy, tangy feta cheese.

And lastly we come to the “meat lovers” section of the banquet. This platter is piled high with a medley of mouth watering meats. All of them are deliciously charred and smokey after their treatment over the hot grill. So what do we have? Let’s have a look:

• Jawaheh (chicken wings) which are marinated in lemon, garlic and extra virgin olive oil
• Kafta (skewered minced lamb), one of my favourite Lebanese meat dishes that consists of premium lamb mixed with parsley, herbs and onions
• Shish tawouk (skewered chicken) which his Marinated with traditional Middle Eastern spices and a hint of garlic
• Shish kebab (skewered lamb) which is marinated in vinegar and traditional Middle Eastern spices
• Batata b-kizibra (potato coriander) a bowl of yummy diced potato fried and tossed in a fresh coriander dressing.  Dip it into the garlic sauce provided to take it up a notch.

Because my sister doesn't eat lamb (long story) we also receive a plate of fluffy on the inside, crunchy on the outside falafel with tahina sauce for no extra charge. It's little touches like this that make me want to return to certain restaurants. Everyone at El-Phoenician was very accommodating, which is no easy feat given there must have been about 200 people there on the night we visited. Oh, and the falafel is served with mixed pickles so double win.

In keeping with the El-Phoenician motto that “food isn’t simply about eating, it’s an experience” as the night carries on out come the belly dancers. Lots of fun (though the music was deafeningly loud and quashed any conversation that people were having). I'm not sure what the deal is with balancing the walking stick on people's heads but it is worth nothing that Dave's brother (not the dude in the picture below) can balance a walking stick on his head for a VERY VERY long time. I'd totally be putting THAT skill on my resume for sure.

All in all I had a great night at El-Phoenician. It's popular for big groups, but it is definitely somewhere I'd go with just Dave and myself as it has a intimate vibe due to its nice, warm decor.

The only thing that would make it better is if they served homous with lamb mince (hint hint if you're reading this  El-Phoenician).

El-Phoenician is at Church Street, Parramatta. Phone them on 9633 1611. 

Emma's on Liberty, Enmore

Miss Piggy and Dave dined as guests of Emma's Snack Bar. 

Fans of Emma's on Liberty would've had their hearts in their mouths earlier this year when the newspaper went up on the windows of the restaurant, the lights went out and they closed the place down. Never fear however as they restaurant has reopened as Emma's Snack Bar.

During the brief shutdown Emma got herself a new kitchen, a new look and a new direction, bringing a more casual vibe to your Lebanese dining experience. Owner and chef Anthony Sofy is still cooking delicious Lebanese food (so fans of the former incarnation needn't worry), just in a more simple, street food-esque kind of way these days. He tells that after operating Emma's on Liberty for 13 years it was time for a bit of a change of pace and to make things more simple.  This isn't really surprising to hear is it, given so many other restaurants are following the same path.

I have to confess that I never got myself to Emma's on Liberty so it's impossible for me to compare the old and the new. What I can tell you is that the food we had on our visit to Emma's Snack Bar is some of the best Lebanese I've had anywhere...ever...and I've already made a booking for a family dinner this week! Dave has plugged the address of Emma's in to his GPS so it's set to become a firm favourite with us.

We kick things off with a drink. Dave goes for a refreshing Lebanese Beer and I have a shot of Arak - a milky-looking spirit that tastes similar to Ouzo. I love it. I'm told that you are meant to sip Arak slowly and enjoy the flavour and coolness the ice imparts in the drink (I obviously look like a bogan skuller of tiny drinks)!

We ask Anthony to choose our dishes for us, although I do have just one request. Hummus with meat is something I hunt high and low for on every Lebanese menu I come across and I'm delighted beyond belief that they serve it at Emma's. I'm going to put it out there and say that this is THE BEST Hummus with meat I've very had. EVER! The meat is so deliciously charred, with just the right hint of spices like cumin to elevate the flavor of the lamb to something amazing. The hummus is really nutty and creamy. I basically forget eating this with the bread provided and just scoop the dip out of the bowl with my spoon.

I had read that when Emma's reopened the much-loved baba ganoush was no longer on the menu, much to the regular customers dismay. It wasn't long before it reappeared however and I have to say I can see why people were so upset that it was no longer on offer. Our baba ganoush had a wonderful smokey flavour - not overpowering, just enough to let you know that this is the real deal. A little dash of paprika and a handful of pickled turnips makes this a bit different to other versions of this dip that I've had before.

I've made fattoush salad at home myself (I know right, I cannot believe it either) and I'm really taken with the combination of fresh veggies with the crunch of crispy, fried bread. It's a good textural combination and the fried bread perks up what could otherwise just be a regular salad. Unlike other versions of fattoush that I've had Emma's offering does away with the flat bread and uses a thick, rusk like bread known as ka'ak. It's quite hard initially but softens up as it spends time in the bowl with the dressing and other salady items. I can detect of slight aniseed flavour - not sure where this comes from, but I like it!

What can I say about the Moorish Chicken other than Dave liked it so much that he ate all of his share plus most of mine! Outrageous! You've got to be quick around these parts folks. The chicken is tangy, moist and tender and comes wrapped in charred flat bread. Inside the flat bread the chicken sits on a bed of thinly sliced red onions and the dish is accompanied by little pot of potent garlic sauce. You all know the garlic sauce rule right? If one person eats it then everyone at your table has to too otherwise you risk killing each other with your garlic breath!

At the first taste of the fried cauliflower Dave declares that "Emma's has done for cauliflower what Porteno has done for the brussel sprout" (if you've been to Porteno and had the brussel sprouts then you'll know what I'm on about). He's right of course, dramatic, but right! The crispy florets are doused generously in a tangy tahnini sauce and scattered with parsley.

When presented with the bowl of fried potatoes we politely and sedately pick at them until we realize that perhaps the other person may have had one more potato cube than the other...and with something this tasty that is just not on. I wanted my fair share of these as they are GREAT (I'd already lost my share of Moorish Chicken so I was now keeping score)! The potato is wonderfully crunchy on the outside with pillowy soft innards. The whole lot is drizzled in garlic sauce and topped with a pinch of coriander. Honestly, so so SO good!

And last but not least is the shish kebab - tender pieces of lamb are skewered over cooked over the grill which gives them a wonderful, charred flavour. It's amazing how much flavour the lamb dishes here have - I think that's down to the quality of the produce used. I love pickled veggies and the little pile of pickled red cabbage is very welcome.

It's funny to me (well, more like sad really) that I drove past Emma's on Liberty regularly over the last decade or so and never really gave it a second thought. I'd often hear people saying how lovely the food was there but I had no idea what the place was about, nor that they served delicious Lebanese food. I feel like with the opening of Emma's Snack Bar I've been given a second chance to make up for lost (eating) time.

Emma's Snack Bar is at 59 Liberty Street, Enmore

#FairfieldFeast food tour, Fairfield

Miss Piggy was chosen as one of 6 food bloggers to attend the #Fairfiield Feast food tour hosted by Thang Ngo of Noodlies and Fairfield City Council.

Fairfield, in Sydney’s South West, must be one of the most culturally diverse suburbs in Sydney.  Two our of every three residents speak a language other than English at home (Klingon not included) and Fairfield has the largest Iraqi population outside of Iraq. With 133 nationalities amongst its 190,000 residents it's the very definition of multiculturalism. And where there is multiculturalism there is amazing food to be found.

Fairfiled is just a 20 minute drive from Parramatta yet the invitation to the #FairfieldFeast tour for food bloggers is my first visit to the suburb. We don't get to sample 133 different cuisines on this Saturday - our tour takes us to 8 different local businesses where we get to experience the flavours of no less than 7 different countries...all in the space of about 5 hours.

Paula Continental Cakes

Our first stop is Paula Continental Cakes which has been operating in Fairfield for around 30 years. Paula's is a Chilean bakery specialising in traditional desserts - a majority of which feature Dulce De Leche, a delectable sweet thick caramel.

As is often the way the bakery was established as the Chilean owners were missing some of the food from their homeland. Paula has proven to be a hit with not only Sydney’s Chilean community but other sweet tooth's who travel from far and wide to get their sugar fix.  They also do savoury goods such as empanades - so there's something for everyone.

The cakes at Paula’s are amazing and it's rare that I start my day with sweets, but I could certainly get used to it. For our “breakfast” we were able to sample a huge range of Chilean desserts – including churros with dulce de leche, torta de tres leches, torta de milhoja chilento an, alfajor de maizena.

Find them at Shop 2/9 Barbara Street, Fairfield or phone them on (02) 9726 2369.



Afghan and Arab Bakery

Next up we stop at the Afghan and Arab Bakery. If you’re a fan of Food Safari on SBS you may have seen this place on a recent episode about Afghani food.

Each day head baker Habib and his team churn out 4,000 – yes FOUR THOUSAND – loaves of soft, fluffy Persian, Afghan, Turkish and Iraqi flatbreads. Considering the heat that the traditional clay oven creates it’s an amazing feat...and all the while Habib has a smile on his face. As well as tasty savoury breads the bakery also produces a really wonderful sweet bread that has ground cardamom + fennel seeds – it has an amazing flavour.

Find them at 2/13 Nelson Street, Fairfield, phone them on 9728 1832 or visit the website.



Mykababayan (Sans Rival Food Service)

I have been wanting to try Filipino food for the l-o-n-g-e-s-t time and I was thrilled to learn that we’d be visiting a Filo eatery on our Fairfield travels. The feast that we had at this restaurant (whose name is either Mykababayan or Sans Rival Food Service – even the owner was not sure) was enormous. 

The tiny kitchen of this part grocery store, part restaurant, churns out traditional home-style Filo cooking that proves popular with the local Filo community who also come here to buy popular Filo items. 

I was thrilled to finally try one of the Philippines most popular dishes, Adobo Chicken. Adobo is a popular way of marinading and cooking meat (most often chicken or pork I believe) in a mix of vinegar and soy. It’s so moist and flavoursome – I can see why it’s their unofficial national dish.

 
Another favourite of mine was the jackfruit + seafood cooked in coconut milk (that’s it in the top row of this photo – second from the right).  It's like nothing I’ve ever had before  - sweet, yet salty from the seafood and the jackfruit itself has quite a firm bite to it, sort of like bamboo shoot.  The spicy little pork sausages also go down a treat. Our Filo feast then finishes with some amazingly sweet desserts – I’ve heard it said that Filipino people love sweet sweet desserts and I’d agree with this. The sweets were SWEET!

Find them at 13/52 - 68 The Crescent, Fairfield or phone them on 9727 3146.

Al Jamil Market

We make an quick pit stop at the Al Jamil Market – an Iraqi/Afghani grocery store whose owner, Jamil (an Iraqi refugee who moved to Sydney and set up shop 17 years ago) has got to be one of THE friendliest guys I’ve ever met. Each curious glance towards the amazing produce and delicacies in his store was met with a cheerful offer to have a try. So much so that Jamil was stuffing lollies and pumpkin seeds into my bad as I left the shop – reverse shoplifting?

I love the big open bins of seeds, nuts and grains that greets you as you walk into the store; and the vat of green olives is almost too much to resist. The shelves are lined with produce from across the world including China, Croatia, Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq...you name it he probably has it! This store is really a multicultural wonderland.

Find them at 25 The Crescent, Fairfield or phone them on 9745 9980.

Al Dhiaffah Al Iraqi Restaurant

For our second lunch we pay a visit to Al Dhiaffah Al Iraqi Restaurant – just a few doors up from the Al Jamil Market. The restaurant walls are adorned with pictures of Iraqi scenery and people and it adds an interesting visual touch to the space.

Within minutes our table is groaning with a wonderful Iraqi feast. The Iraqi diet is quiet meat heavy given their arid landscape is not the best for growing vegetables – but the vegetarian in our group seems to find herself a hearty feast amongst the meat. Behold chicken + lamb kebabs, lamb kibbeh, lamb shanks with noodles, pickled carrots and something mysterious we think is a cucumber of sorts, soups, salads, stew, luscious thick hummus and Iraqi bread still warm from the oven.

Find them at 13 The Crescent, Fairfield, phone them on 9755 0870 or visit the website.



Frank's Lebanese Restaurant

Rubbing our bellies we slowly waddle down the road to Frank’s Lebanese Restaurant where we are greeted by a mound of garlic tuom (dip) bigger than our bulging stomachs.

If you’re a fan of Lebanese chicken then it’s impossible not to compare this place to Granville’s El Jannah.  I’m happy to report El Jannah fans won’t be disappointed with what Frank has to offer – which is firstly a proper restaurant with comfortable tables and chairs and a HUGE menu filled with more than just Lebanese chicken and toum. This place is the real deal offering everything Lebanese you can think of.

The Lebanese chicken is smoky, tender and moist with a great crispy skin - it's really very very good. The garlic tuom has just enough punch in it to make sure you won’t be canoodling with any strangers on the way home - I like that it has a good garlic flavour but it's not overwhelming.  The vine leaves, crispy fluffy falafel and fried cauliflower are all 100% vegetarian friendly.

We also get to sample a full array of dips from a great nutty, zesty hommos (Frank tells us the mark of any restaurant is the quality of its hommos - bad hommos = bad restaurant {FYI, Frank's is epic hommos}), a smoky baba gannouj that is up there with the best I’ve had, a house made labne (which is WAY better than my attempts at making this at home) and Chanclish – a hardened fermented cheese that is grated and served with diced tomatoes and parsley. I was really excited to try chanclish – it’s something I’ve never seen served elsewhere, and in fact before this #FairfieldFeast I’d never even heard of it.

Visit them at 6 Smart Street, Fairfield or phone them on 9724 3000. 



Green Peppercorn

Our final stop on our #FairfieldFeast tour is Green Peppercorn, which has recently been awarded best new restaurant in the SMH under $30 food guide.  That said I give it two thumbs up which is really all you need to know.  Oh, and that owner Tona Inthavong recently spent time working at his brothers popular Canley Heights Laotian restaurant, Holy Basil -- so you know the food is going to be GOOD!

Our lunch at Green Peppercorn starts off with a cooking demonstration from Tona and his sister/head chef Sarah.  In case you're wondering YES this is a lot of food to have consumed in one day -- even for a greedy food blogger like me so I'm glad of a bit of respite to let my 27 lunches digest. Sarah shows us how to whip up sticky rice and one of my favourite south-east Asian dishes, green papaya salad. We learn that Loation food is less sweet than its close cousin Thai food and that there's more of a sourness to Lao dishes and you'll find much less coconut milk based meals.  Lao cuisine also tends to focus less on fresh seafood than Thai - makes sense given they are a landlocked country.

We then sit down to our final feast of the day - and I have to say it looks good. The table is filled with plates heaving with fresh salads with zesty dips + dressings.  Everything is light and fresh and I feel really quite healthy tucking into this Loation banquet.  I especially loved the Nem Khao - a crunchy rice salad with cured pork, shallots, chilli, kaffir lime leaves and peanuts that you scoop into fresh iceberg lettuce leaves with mint

The Laos sausages and beef jerky are both made by Tona's father with noone in the kitchen being allowed near these precious family dishes. The beef jerky harks back to the family's time in a refugee camp before coming to Australia - it was a way for the family to have meat on hand when rations were limited.  So many of the places we visited today have a story like this.

Any feelings of health and virtue I had are totally undone when dessert arrives at our table.  The pandan creme brulee was amazing - so light and fluffy with a great coconut pandan flavour. An absolute winner.  The deep fried ice-cream was really usual coming wrapped in pastry and served with coconut muesli and caramel sauce. I loved it - no matter how much we chatted the ice-cream did not melt and the filo pastry stayed firm and crispy.  The black sesame creme brulee was another winning dessert - creamy but not too rich, and the more traditional black coconut black sticky rice with ice-cream was a great note to finish our #FairfieldFeast on.

Find them at 1 Hamilton Rd, Fairfield (Fairfield Hotel) or phone them on 9724 7842 (reservations only available from Mon to Thurs) or visit the website.



I love that in all the places we visited today there is a story of culture and tradition.  And that whilst the Fairfield community is from the four corners of the globe the story is universal.  A family comes to a new country, a new home with new hopes and dreams.  They bring with them some of their food and traditions from the old country and a diverse, melting pot of a suburb like Fairfield is born.  We're very lucky to have places like Fairfield so close to us. Go and explore! You know you want to.

Sol.Cafe, Baulkam Hills

I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I've driven through Baulkham Hills (Baulkham where? Check your google maps people) wishing there was a cafe here for me to while away the weekend brunch hours.  With ample parking at nearby Stocklands Mall and a few good op shops ripe for the trawling a decent cafe is all that this Hills District suburbs is in need of. And finally my prayers have been answered with the opening of Sol.Cafe.

Sol.Cafe is run by husband and wife team, Soliel and Pavel whose diverse ethnic backgrounds make a welcome appearance on the menu. Soliel is from a Lebanese family and her husband Pavel hails from South America. The cafe is light and airy with a decent size courtyard for the littlies to run around in - and they are definitely kid friendly here, even having a dedicated kiddies menu that looks pretty damn fine!

I'm meeting fellow yokel VegeTARAian for a relaxed Sunday brunch and we immediately feel welcome by the bubbly Soliel.  Tara has visited the cafe once before and she's treated like a regular already.  The brunch menu looks wonderful - I immediately earmark about six things I want to try right off the bat.

I'm feeling a little under this weekend so Sol suggests I try a Sol Rise Juice ($8.00 large) - a zesty blend of fresh orange, ginger and mint. Whilst it doesn't cure my cold it does make me feel vaguely human for the rest of the morning. Ginger is amazing stuff. I wonder how hard it is to grow?

Despite the many temptations on the menu I'm swayed by the Middle Eastern Bruscetta ($13.00). Locally made Shepherd's Bakehouse artisan sourdough is schmeared generously with Sol's mum's homemade zaataar.  A tumble of fresh mint, tomatoes, baby spinach, onion and olives makes this a flavoursome, wholesome and delicious breakfast that I would happily order again.

Tara orders the Sweet Corn Fritters ($17.00) that come with spinach, semi-dried tomatoes and a balsamic reduction. The staff are more than happy to swap out the requisite side of bacon for a good serve of mushrooms.

We probably didn't need to order a side of fries ($8.00) liberally tossed with rosemary, salt and chilli but they sounded too good to resist...and they were. We demolished every last one of these crispy, yet fluffy chips.

We also probably didn't need to order dessert - but a little something sweet never goes astray with a good coffee ($3.50) at the end of a lazy brunch. Tara choose a chocolate ganache tart made in house by the resident chef and I was tempted by the petite date roll made by Sol's mum. I really need to get friendly with Sol's mum as I think she is quite the cook!

Sol.Cafe is a great addition to the area - the staff are friendly, the menu is really varied and interesting and best of all they are open 7 days a week for breakfast and lunch.