Kazbah on Darling, Balmain

I had been looking forward to visiting the famous Kazbah, but I had never expected the restaurant to be quite so popular! We were unable to get a booking for Saturday 11 am (with the intention to have brunch there), so we booked for 1 pm lunch instead and as we sat down at the table the queue in front of the restaurant started slowly growing...

We decided to order a few mezzes for a light lunch...

Chermoula Marinated Olives and Crumbed Halloumi Cheese with Quince Sauce - I am usually a big fan of marinated olives, but the chermoula mix was a bit too strong for my palate.

Crumbed Halloumi Cheese with Quince Sauce - I love halloumi and the sweet quince sauce was definitely a nice match to the cheese.

Basturma Wrapped Baked Madjool Dates Filled with Shadows of Blue - This was my favourite: the basturma (air dried cured meat) was very tender and I am a real sucker for those fresh, delicious dates! The Shadows of Blue was not too strong so all in all this was a very well balanced dish.

Chickpea Battered Walnut and Feta Zucchini Flower, Muhamara Sauce - So many new interesting dishes to try! I had not heard of the muhamara sauce before (I'm a real novice to Middle Eastern and Moroccan food), but pared with fairly bland zucchini flower it was very enjoyable.

I could definitely go back to this place. There is so much to try and they have a new menu out every few months! I do recommend booking early and getting a big group of friends to go so you can try as many as possible of those interesting dishes! :)