El Jannah, Granville

You can smell the charcoal from a block away. Its smoky tendrils waft toward us, taunting us, calling us, whetting our appetite and making our footsteps to El Jannah just that little bit faster.

El Jannah means paradise or heaven in Arabic. It's a spiritual destination that many of El Jannah's most loyal customers profess to visit. The friend who recommended it to me closed her eyes as she told me about her favourite barbecue chicken. "The chicken. It's soooo tender. Oh and the garlic sauce," she murmured. It was a Homer Simpson-style moment of reverie.


Garlic toum

It's clear that plenty of others agree. During our one hour dinner on a Friday night, I note that the queue at the register never ceases. Each departing customer is always replaced by at least another, and it's a whole cross-section of the community with Lebanese alongside Indians, Vietnamese and Caucasian.

The majority of customers are here for takeaway chicken, and with the relative price jump for eat-in, it's not hard to understand why (see prices at bottom of this post). The restaurant is not so much a restaurant, but more like a takeaway store with a dozen tables and chairs. We order and pay at the counter, and whilst we wait I try not to drool as I watch other customers request a side of chips included inside their shawarma, chicken or falafel rolls.


Pickled cucumbers and turnip


Lebanese bread


Chips $4.00 small

We pounce on the bowl of chips when they arrive. We weren't sure how many chips four dollars would buy you. Let me assure you. It's a lot. The potato straws are a heartwarming hue of gold, crunchy on the outside and sprinkled generously with chicken salt.

The Lebanese bread is delightfully soft, fresh and fluffy. We use torn wedges of bread to scoop up thick dollops of the garlic toum. The toum is quite creamy here, we notice, without any harsh heat of garlic making it more like an aioli.


Tabbouli $5.50

The richness of the toum is balanced with mouthfuls of tabbouli, a zingy salad of parsley, tomato, onion, shallots, lemon juice and a smattering of burghul. We also dig into the pickles, a simple two-toned affair of salty pickled cucumbers and hot pink radish strips.


Whole bbq chicken $21
includes garlic, pickles and bread

And then there's the chicken.

Fresh from the grill and searing hot, we have to gingerly handle it with our non-heat-resistant fingers. The flesh is blackened with charcoal, giving a smoky smell and flavour. But the best part is the skin, so thin and crisp it shatters like a poultry version of pork crackling.


Falafel $1.50 each

And because we're suckers for punishment, the three of us have opted for falafel as well. These are unusually chunky in consistency, some of the fava beans still recognisable in wholeness, giving a heartier chunkier almost mealiness which is unlike the fine textured crumb we're more commonly used to. The falafel is served with a small pot of tahina yoghurt sauce along with slices of tomato and shredded lettuce.



There's too much food but staff are more than happy to provide a takeaway box for leftovers.

Good simple food and plenty of it. Now that's my kind of dining paradise.




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El Jannah Restaurant
4-6 South Street, Granville, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9637 0977

Open 7 days 10am-10pm

Eat in menu
Whole chicken with garlic, pickles and bread $21
Half chicken with garlic, pickles and bread $11.50
Quarter chicken with garlic, pickles and bread $7
Chops $4.00 / $6.00
Hommos / baba ganouj / tabbouli $5.50
Falafel $1.50 each
Shawarma $12
Extra plate of garlic or pickles $3

Takeaway menu
Whole chicken with garlic $12.90
Half chicken with garlic $6.90
Quarter chicken with garlic $3.90
Quarter chicken with small chips and can of drink $7.50
Chips $2.50 / $4.00
Baba ganouj $5.90 / $8.90
Hommos $5.50 / $7.90
Tabouli $4.90 / $6.90
Falafel $0.50 each

Chicken roll $7.90
Shawarma roll $7.90
Falafel roll $6.00
Garlic $0.50 / $2.50 / $4.50

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Lebanese - Al Aseel, Greenacre
Lebanese - El-Manara, Lakemba
Lebanese - Emma's on Liberty, Enmore
Lebanese - Jasmin, Lakemba
Lebanese - Jasmin I, Punchbowl
Lebanese - Rowda Ya Habibi, Newtown (Mar07) and (Jul04)

Chinese New Year Parade, Sydney

Chinese lion dancers

The Chinese New Year Parade is always a highlight in Sydney's Chinese New Year celebrations. This year the parade was held at night-time for the first time, a move that brought a new dynamic of darkness and neon.

We took up positions on Goulburn Street at 6.00pm. Originally advertised as starting at 7.30pm, the heaving crowds were getting restless and a little agitated by 8.00pm. It was 8.15pm by the time the parade commenced but the spectacle was such that tiredness and sore feet were quickly forgotton.

This year's parade featured 2,600 people, including 500 dancers, musicians and martial artists from China's Henan Province, according to the City of Sydney website.


Waiting for the parade to start




Dragon dancers on their way to the parade start


Chinese New Year Twilight Parade


















Yes, that's a Chinese drag queen



















The 2009 Sydney Chinese New Year Twilight Parade was held on Sunday 1 February 2009.

Related GrabYourFork posts:
2008 Chinese New Year Parade

2007 Chinese New Year Parade
2007 Chinese New Year Festival Launch, Belmore Park
2007 Chinese New Year Festivities, Cabramatta

2006 Chinese New Year Parade
2006 Chinese New Year Markets
2006 Chinese New Year Eve: the build-up
2006 Chinese New Year Eve: the feast

2005 Chinese New Year Parade: Part I
2005 Chinese New Year Parade: Part II
2005 Chinese New Year Dragon Boat Races
2005 Chinese New Year Children's Fair
2005 Chinese New Year Chinatown History Tour
2005 Chinese New Year Chinatown Markets
2005 Chinese New Year Sze Yup Temple Tour

Ocean Room, Sydney

Soft shell crab tacos
Spiced, crispy fried served with pickled vegetables and crispy wafers

EDIT: Ocean Room has now closed

Soft shell crab tacos. You may as well substitute those four words with "heaven in every mouthful". And whilst soft shell crab seem to be as ubiquitous as pork belly on restaurant menus, I think that Raita Noda's version is one of the best.

Once his signature dish at former restaurant Rise (a dish I first tried in 2004), the soft shell crab taco accompanied Noda's move to Ocean Room. I'm so glad it did. The crunch of the deep fried soft shell crab is magnified by the brittle crispness of "taco". Delicate shreds of pickled cucumber and daikon provide textural softness and acidic contrast. The peppery heat of the spiced crab is countered by the dab of mayonnaise and briney opulence of salmon roe.


Wasabi prawn
Crispy fried king prawn with wasabi aioli and fried wasabi mayonnaise

We'd ended up at Ocean Room following the drinks and nibbles session at The Loft held by blog advertising company Nuffnang Australia. Company co-founder Cheo Ming Shen had flown in from Malaysia, and by the time drinks were over, we were all hungry for dinner. It was good fortune for him that he had a group of food bloggers still remaining to ask for restaurant suggestions. It was good fortune for us that he offered to treat us all!


Bang-bang-ji chicken $17.00
Steamed chicken fillet with spicy sesame sauce and cucumber salad

The waitstaff noticed me peering intently towards the direction of the kitchen and when asked, confirmed that Noda was indeed working tonight and let him know. Friendly yet self-effacing, Noda has a quick chat with our table, and then as if our night couldn't get any better, sends off two complimentary entrees to our table. The soft shell crab tacos and the wasabi prawns are two of the highlights of the evening.


Cured ocean trout $19
Barely spice cured with Parmigiano ice cream
and preserved lemon salsa

A table of food bloggers is always a sight to behold, and with five cameras in action there's plenty of frantic chaos with the arrival of each dish.


Anchovies and tomato sorbet $16
Marinated anchovies
with smoked vine-ripened tomato sorbet and croutons


Sushi and sashimi indulgence $39
Collection plate of today's market fresh sushi and sashimi


Salt and five pepper king prawns $39
Wok fried with sea salt and Ocean Room's five peppercorns blend


Roasted tuna wing $38
Slow roasted served with ponzu dipping sauce
and micro green salad

The roasted tuna wing is quite a sight to behold. The smoky flavour of the wings is even better when doused with the slightly sweet ponzu and rice vinegar dipping sauce.


Ocean's Eleven $29
Eleven sashimi shooters all with different flavours and combinations

Ocean's Eleven is a catchy name for a journey under the sea. It's a journey that includes two versions of tuna and ocean trout, as well as mouthfuls of kingfish, rock oyster, scallop, bar cod, crystal prawn, cuttlefish and trevally.


Daily fish fillet $36
Grilled or pan seared market fresh fillet


Wagyu meat pie $38
Barossa shiraz slow blazed wagyu cheek meat pie
with baked tomato sauce

The wagyu meat pie is rich and decadent, chunky cubes of melt-in-the-mouth beef swaddled in a rich red wine gravy.


Black Angus beef steak $39
Grilled 20-days aged sirloin
with truffle butter and creamy potato mash


Dry aged prime rib (for two) $75
Maldon salt and pepper crusted 40-days dry aged beef
with accompaniments

Dry aged prime rib is designed for carnivores. The dish doesn't appear large at first, but each slice of beef is as thick as a doorstop. This could probably feed three with entrees.


Flounder basket $36
Crispy fried New Zealand yellow belly flounder fillets
in herb mixed salad basket

I'd chosen the flounder basket and I'm so glad I did. A variation on his deep-fried baby snapper salad, this is the best kind of salad you could hope for. A whole flounder is filleted close to the bone, the fillets clad in an bubbled tempura batter, the fish skeleton deep-fried to form an edible crunchy basket. The deep-fried tail is the best bit. A mixed herb salad, topped with a sprinkling of salmon roe, enlivens the dish.


Autumn truffle french fries $12
with sliced truffle


Iceberg letuce and nori salad $9
with soy vinaigrette

Feeling hungry yourself? Don't forget that you have until Feburary 20, 2009 to enter the Grab Your Fork competition to win a $200 dinner voucher for two at Ocean Room. Enter now. Enter here.




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Ocean Room CLOSED
Ground level, Overseas Passenger Terminal
Circular Quay West, The Rocks, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9252 9585

Lunch Tuesday to Friday from 12pm
Dinner Monday to Saturday from 6pm
Late night dining until 12am Friday and Saturday

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Ocean Room NYE Cocktail Party (Jan08)
Ocean Room (Oct06)
Ocean Room Cooking Demonstration with Raita Noda (Oct06)

Mario mushroom cake and an R2D2 cake

Do you love Super Mario?

Veruca Salt made not one, but two character birthday cakes last weekend. Pocahontas wanted a Super Mario mushroom cake, the special 1Up power up mushroom that gives you an extra life extra power/health in everyone's favourite childhood video game. [Thanks to fushmush and FFichiban for the correction]

This cake was reasonably easy to construct - butter cake cut to size and then decorated with tinted vienna cream frosting. The white parts were fresh whipped cream and the eyes were cut from a licorice strap.

Whilst I can take no credit for the mushroom cake (I mainly acted as colour consultant), I did have a small hand in the R2D2 cake, specifically requested by Rolfe, a Star Wars tragic.



I'd been very nervous about the logistics of creating an R2D2 cake, especially after seeing chocolatesuze's commendable effort -- particularly impressive considering she'd never even seen the movie!.

We used four layers of butter cake, the body was a double layer, and the head cut from another double layer. A photocopied picture of R2D2 was a handy cutting template. Some trimming was required to ensure everything lined up height-wise. We used fresh whipped cream for the white areas and tinted vienna cream everywhere else. The black outlines were done with licorice, cut into long lengths of "string".

I convinced Veruca to create a 3D eye-piece by cutting a cylinder from the leftover cake and covering it with grey frosting and then a circle of licorice.

The twentysomething-year-olds were like little kids at the sight of their cakes. I think it only goes to show you can never be too old to have a character cake!

If it were your birthday tomorrow, what character/novelty cake would you choose?


Related GrabYourFork posts:
Shark birthday cake