Categories
Middle Eastern

Babylon Bakery & Grill – Fairfield Heights NSW Restaurant Review

I’m almost certain I had written something about Babylon Bakery already, but I couldn’t find anything in the drafts or in the scheduled posts, and I couldn’t even find any notes taken from the meal, so I guess I’ll just do it again from memory.

We visited Babylon Bakery after seeing it recommended on social media by someone who I hope wasn’t a paid influencer. We ordered a relatively large amount of food to eat in, and unfortunately had to wait a relatively large amount of time (21 minutes) for our food to arrive.

We had a one kilogram mixed skewer pack ($40) which consisted of chicken tawouk, lamb kofta, as well as lamb meat skewers for a total of eight skewers worth. This also came with some coleslaw consisting of lettuce and tomato, as well as some seasoned onion, garlic and hummus dips, and chilli coated bread.

This was a large dish and extremely good value for only $40 with an overall huge amount of food. The chicken was my favourite, being quite juicy and tender, followed by the lamb kofta. The the chunks of lamb meat were less to my liking with a bit of gaminess to them, and overall a bit less tenderness than the other two options.

We also had a fattoush salad (regular size – $8) although, and I didn’t know this at the time, we probably could have had fattoush instead of coleslaw on our kilogram of mixed skewers. This was fine, it was what fattoush iss.

Unbelievably, we also had a chicken shawarma roll ($10), originally intended to be for the following day, but then I wanted to try some. This was excellent with a large helping of garlic sauce, and quite juicy with the pickles – not dry at all like some that I’ve had, for example, from Shawarma Albeik.

Overall
We ultimately packaged up the remainder of our kilogram of meat and took it home to eat the following day. Overall, the value proposition offered by Babylon Bakery was quite good, however I guess they’re not particularly well set up for dine-in eaters with only two small tables on premises. The majority of their orders were for takeaway, and perhaps if one is intending to dine there, it would be better to just order as takeaway, arrive 20 minutes later and then eat there, because sitting there waiting for twenty minutes was no fun. The food is all served in disposable stuff anyway.

Babylon Bakery & Grill
187 The Boulevarde, Fairfield Heights NSW 2165

Categories
Middle Eastern

Jasmin1 – Auburn NSW Restaurant Review

When I was a urology intern in Western Sydney my colleague and good friend told me that we had to go to Jasmin1. He said that it was the best Lebanese restaurant in Sydney and he was not wrong. We never made it there together during our two years at the foot of the Blue Mountains, and it was six months after we had parted ways that I managed to make it there with my partner.

The food at Jasmin1 was excellent. The servings were plentiful and the price was very cheap. I really enjoyed the mixed platter so much that I’ve had it every time I’ve been. The meat was perfectly tender and juicy, the servings large, and the dips infinite. It is just consistent quality.

A wide array of fresh and pickled vegetables.

The sambousek was great – delicious pastries with mince and onion filling.

I did not so much enjoy the fattoush (left) or the potato and pomegranate salad (right), as I thought they were too sour. The fact that we had loaded on the previous two dishes didn’t help but couldn’t be helped – they were just so yum.

I don’t know why on our second visit we got fries. Probably my partner’s doing.

DISCUSSION/VERDICT

The only thing I might add is that the service was too attentive and made me feel watched. I also thought the bathroom wasn’t the cleanest, but that was all.

Overall excellent and both better and cheaper than Al Aseel in Alexandria. Just a bit too far West to easily get to for us these days.

Jasmin1 Lebanese Restaurant Auburn
22 Civic Rd, Auburn NSW 2144
(02) 9643 8426

Jasmin1 Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato