Kazbah on Darling, Balmain (Round 2)
I said I’d like to come back to try out more things on the menu, but I didn’t realise just how soon we would be back!
With the constant fantastic food that always seems to find its way into my stomach, the lack of exercise and a thin wallet, it seemed unlikely that we would have a big breakfast any time soon. Unlikely, but I guess not improbable… hence our fattiness on a sunny, but chilly Saturday morning.
Carcade - Egyptian Hibiscus Tea ($3.80)
I adore tea and while my utter favourite is Earl Grey tea I love trying out different flavours and sorts. Anywho, so I thought the carcade would be interesting to start things off with.
I’ve had hibiscus tea before and so I was familiar with the tart, yet sweet and almost dry taste, but F wasn’t and I don’t think he liked it all that much hehe.
Kazbah Omelette with Turkish Toast ($18)
At first sight, it seemed like a normal, plain omelette (albeit a perfectly cooked one) and I thought that was a bit of a let down. That was until we realised that this omelette was more than meets the eye. The omelette also had quite a bit of caramelised capsicum, fetta, caramelised onion and quartered chorizo (or some sort of spiced sausage) littered in its fold. Mmmm, I love delicious surprises.
The toasted Turkish bread was wonderfully crisp and somehow tasted a bit different to the Turkish bread I’ve had before – perhaps a little sweeter? Whatever it is, F adores the Turkish bread here.
Baked Beans ($3.90), Baby Spinach ($3.90), Pork Belly Shish Kebab ($5.50)
Putting their own spin on baked beans, Kazbah’s added a few extra bean types and spiced the sauce just a touch – turning the humble baked beans into something quite outstanding. F loved the sauce so much, he mopped it up with his toast!
We didn’t intend on getting the pork belly shish kebab, but on impulse, thinking of the fatty goodness of pork belly, I ordered it without really consulting F (oops, my bad). While it was quite juicy and slid off the skewer with ease, we thought the bottom part of the pork belly to be a bit dry, though the crackling was pretty awesome.
Feta Potato Cake, Smoked Salmon, Creme Fraiche, Red Wine Onion Marmalade ($21)
This was the dish I saw last time I was here and wanted to eat it very much (taste testing their eggs benedict was more important at the time), even though I didn’t know what it was. So imagine my surprise when my dish came out and upon seeing what it was, I excitedly exclaimed to F, “Oh my goodness! It’s that dish!!! YAY!” and ended with a cackle.
I’m surprised I don’t have dreams about this dish – it was stupendously, deliciously, scrumptiously fan-freaking-tastic. The potato cake was slightly crunchy on the outside, wonderfully soft on the inside and generously dotted with chunks of fetta and potato. The creme fraiche naturally went well with the fresh salmon, as well as helping the potato cake to be not too dry, and the red wine onion marmalade added a sweet touch to the dish.
Sighs. I want another one.
Yay crayons!!!
One of the things I love about Kazbah (besides the food) is the ability to draw on the paper “tablecloth” with crayons. We had outlined our hands, I drew a dodgy sunflower and we ended up playing an impromptu Pictionary game. Much fun (then again, it doesn’t take much to amuse me haha)
My friend Sisiely happened to visit Kazbah the same day F and I went (though later on in the day) and while she quite liked the food there, she found the service to be lacking. When Kazbah gets busy, the service can be slow, but they do try to keep up with their customers demand whilst being polite and helpful. F and I had our breakfast at 9.30am and it seemed like the optimal time to go: it wasn’t too crowded, the wait staff seemed more relaxed and was even quicker to notice a customer needing their service.
By the time we left at around 10.20am, the pace was picking up and more people were arriving. Kudos to the wait staff for keeping their cool with so many people coming through!
mmmmm macarons indeed
With Adriano Zumbo just down the road, we couldn’t resist but to made a quick visit. Unlike last time however, it was a bit of a wait as there was quite a queue going on. We obediently lined up and tried to wait patiently.
Finally, it was our turn and macarons were again F’s focus.
Mandarin and Rose - macaron, rose creme brulee, mandarin curd and mandarin creme legere ($8)
F had spied this when we were just outside the door and immediately wanted the monster macaron. Bother, I just realised that you can’t really tell how big these macarons are, but they’re about the size of my hand. No joke.
I would have to say that the Mandarin and Rose macaron was an awesome choice – it turned out to be my favourite cake/macaron from Zumbo so far! It was lightly creamy and sweet yet tempered with the perfect amount of tartness. If someone were to buy me 10 of these, I’d do almost anything for them!
Macaron - Custard Crunch, Kalamata Olive and Bergamot, Raspberry and Beetroot, Citrus and Mustard, Blackened Vanilla Bean, Caramelised Hummus, Pear and Pistachio with Fennel, 3 Layer Blueberry ($1.60 each)
We were amazed by just how different these macarons tasted to the ones we bought last time. No flavour were the same nor similar. Even more astounding was how bright and vividly coloured the macarons were!
F’s naturally attracted to bright, bold colours, so he adored these more than the last batch we bought. My favourites had to be the custard crunch and the 3 layer blueberry. F told me what his favourites were and I think I may have forgotten them. I think they were the custard crunch, citrus and mustard and I remember him definitely saying that he found the pear, pistachio and fennel really interesting.
Kazbah on Darling
379 Darling St
Balmain, NSW, 2041
Ph: (02) 9555 7067
Web: http://www.kazbah.com.au/
Adriano Zumbo
296 Darling St
Balmain NSW 2041
(02) 9810 7318
Web: http://adrianozumbo.com/
Author
By squishies
Follow squishiesInformation
This article was written on 21 May 2010, and is filed under Breakfast, Dessert, Moroccan, North African, Sydney, Inner West.
Current post is tagged
Recent articles
- Different Drummer, Glebe09 Feb 2012
- America! The Road Trip Part 303 Feb 2012
- Wasabi Bistro, Surry Hills31 Jan 2012
- Albee’s Kitchen, Cabramatta27 Jan 2012
- The Montpellier Public House, Randwick24 Jan 2012
- America! The Road Trip Part 220 Jan 2012
- Bar H, Surry Hills17 Jan 2012
- America! The Road Trip Part 113 Jan 2012
- The Everest Kitchen, Marrickville10 Jan 2012
- Mexican Pool Party05 Jan 2012
Recent comments
Who Are We?
Search eatshowandtell
Share
Sponsors
Categories
Creative Commons
Eat Show & Tell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.
Awesome photos!! and mmm cracklinngg though pity bout the dry bottom. I haven’t been to Zumbo in tooo longg!! and must try Kazbah while Im over there heh
Thaaaanks =P
Yeah, but at least the crackling had great flavour =)
Have you tried Kazbah yet?!
There seems to be a bit of an influx of bloggers going to Kasbah of late, now I jyst have to get there. Pork belly with breakfast – pure indulgence!
.-= john@heneedsfood´s last blog ..The Sultan’s Table (revisited), Enmore =-.
I guess Kazbah's the place to be
hehe
And for good reason too!
Mmmm, pork belly for brunch…not an option I've thought of before but also not an option which is usually available!
Hahaha that's true! I never thought about that… but it should be =P
Yes, service at Kazbah can get a bit slow when it’s busy – it’s even worse at night! The pork belly shish kebab looks like it’s worth waiting for, though… And love the fisheye macarons
Oooo really? Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep that in mind when I go to dinner there… hopefully sometime soon!
Mmmmm macarons ^____^
Yay u went back. So did I
I had the set breakfast menu. Soooo much for brekkie tho. Didn’t need lunch or dinner after that. Lol.
ROFL… man, i wanna do the breakfast menu, but there's always only the two of us =P so sad panda i am…
Pretty bright macarons.. yum!
How awesome do they look?? =D Couldn't get over how pretty they looked. Tasted just as good too
OMG i feel like macarons again already!
hurry up and learn how to make them already =P
There was no way we could get up that early to have breakfast on a weekend, but the wait at 11:30am that day was ….left much to be desired, Thank goodness I read your previous blog and made a booking beforehand, but still….I think my tablepaper drawing was prettier than urs Squish. teehee and we had the pork belly shish kebab with salad and some kinda fritatta but wasn't very impressed with the other components, think we better off just ordering the pork belly on its own like u did next time.
And I still haven't forgiven you for buying out the lot of Macaroons! There were NONE left when we got there! Grrrrr……
Yeah… Kazbah is a place that booking is essential I reckon…
HAHAH you haven't seen what we actually drew! I didn't take a photo of it =P It was pretty good hahah … for a person who can't draw XD lol
Heeeeey! We didn't buy all of the macarons! =P just 8… EIGHT. There were plenty when we left =P
Kazbah Inspired me to buy a whole range of Moroccan home wares from Tagine to the Tea Glasses – here is where you can buy them online http://www.lespice.com.au/gift_shop.html – they also have Ras El’ Hanout and Baharat as well as varieties of spices for Tagine Cooking
Cool! =) F's been looking out for a tagine, must direct him to that wesbite. Thanks!
I love your picture of your macarons! Which fisheye lens did you use?
Hi Helen, sorry for the abominably delayed response – I didn’t see your comment until now!
I used a Sigma 10mm fish eye =) It is way too much fun to use.