I don’t think that I could ever get tired of eating Lebanese food. Having gone to Jasmins on a previous occasion, and thoroughly enjoying  that experience, a suggest was brought up on Twitter to check out Al Aseel, as it was implied that the food here was good, and possibly in the same league as Jasmins. If you’ve been to Jasmins, that’s saying quite a lot.

Does Al Aseel have what it takes to meet, or better yet, exceed the quality and value of Jasmins? Read more »

When dining out with friends, do you find that you often order dishes to share amongst the group, or order individual dishes for each person to enjoy on their own? When faced with a plate of these fantastic lamb cutlets from Sahara, I wouldn’t blame you if you’d wanted these all to yourself.

For me, despite how fantastic these may be, sharing is by far and away the preferred option. Perhaps that’s due to my Asian heritage, where the concept of communal eating is as integral to life as breathing. However, when five succulent & smokey lamb cutlets are to be shared amongst six food bloggers (none of whom are vegetarian), you find yourself caught in what I refer to as the “yum cha dilemma”.

At yum cha, you’re often faced with the situation where there are an insufficient or uneven number of dumplings or portions to be shared equally. The question is, do you order more? Cut up & divide the portions evenly? Choose to fore go your portion in an act of self sacrifice? Or does it come down to a wild-west-like showdown of the quick and the dead unfed? Read more »

Lebanese food holds a special place in my heart as one of my favourite cuisines. If I were asked to articulate why that was so though, I’m not sure that I would have a suitable answer. Probably the closest I could come to an answer would be that it’s food that I find is often good, uncomplicated and inexpensive. It’s food without the pretension that more often burdens formal dining than not. It’s food in a casual environment for the common man. My kind of food.

That’s precisely the experience that a couple of fellow food bloggers and I had received when we dined at Jasmins one evening. A casual environment, without pretension, serving good food. A feast of really good food. The kind of good food that frequently has you coming back for more, at prices that makes such endeavours affordable. Read more »

ARAX Fine Lebanese Cuisine & Wood Fire Pizza, or just simply ARAX, holds a special place in my heart. It’s a restaurant that I’d first been introduced to more than 15 years ago and is pretty much the only place on the North Shore I’d make the approximately 40 minute drive to on a whim.

I find the woodfire oven at ARAX somewhat enthralling. A magic transformation portal that turns often simple ingredients into palate-pleasing platters of pizza perfection. Nowadays for me, the term “woodfire pizza” holds the same sort of meaning as the word “organic” does; there’s an implication of superior quality over the standard variety, which unfortunately doesn’t always deliver. This is one of those places, I assure you, that delivers on that implied sense of superior quality. Read more »

It’s not often that you have the opportunity to meet with a food blogger from another country. So it was with some excitement that I had the pleasure to meet Brad, the photographer/writer behind the award nominated food blog ladyironchef, one of the most popular food blogs in Singapore. With a name like ladyironchef, I was surprised to not see a woman sitting at the table when I arrived at the restaurant.

Considering it was his first time in Sydney, what better way to be introduced to the Sydney food scene than by having a marathon night out with prominent food bloggers from Grab Your Fork, chocolatesuze, A Table for Two, eatshow&tell, Citrus & Candy, & hungry.digital.elf. Read more »