I know it's a big call but I had the best brunch ever on Sunday. We went to Kasbah in Balmain for Magda's birthday. It's a Moroccan/North African/fusion style place - ie pretty much everyone will be happy. I highly recommend it!
I'm not the hugest fan of brunch because generally my body gets very confused. I usually eat breakfast at 7.00 and then all of a sudden I am not eating until after 11. Is it lunch or brekky?? Am I supposed to be able to fit two meals worth into my stomach? It doesn't really work that way. But anyway having said that there is something lovely about a leisurely Sunday brunch with your friends :)
So anyway on to the details...
Food: We had the set menu - you need more than 8 people. We were directed not to eat beforehand even though we weren't starting until 11 which was a very wise tip from Magda. The portions are more than generous!! It is three courses. The first course I would describe as the grain course. The star of the brunch is in here - rice pudding with cinnamon and some kind of orange blossom water and pear. YUM!!! It is the best rice pudding I have ever had. So creamy and warm and delicious...drool. Needless to say it was a massive bowl and we ate the lot. There was also a delicious porridge with banana and warm milk and a sweet couscous with nuts and dried fruit and cardamon milk, which were both delicious but overshadowed by the rice pudding of course.
The second course was the hot cooked brekky - eggs done three ways (scrambled, fried, poached) on turkish, a breakfast tagine (half lamb and half vegie) and bacon, sausages, haloumi (which was YUM!), beans, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns, and a big bowl of bread - turkish and pita.
Just when we thought we couldn't possibly eat any more and I was personally very glad I was wearing loose pants, when out came the third course - dessert. Two massive pancakes which were more like big flat cakes really, with all sorts of delicious toppings like icecream, caramel sauce and cream. It's unfortunate that you can't really do this course justice as there are two different pancakes, one banana and one chocolate and berry. I just really couldn't squeeze any more in!
They also have some really good teas, I had the Egyptian hibiscus tea (Carcade), and the Moroccan mint tea was also going down well.
Verdict: Awesome. You will not need to eat again until dinner. To me it was pretty much just all about the rice pudding. For those of you who don't like rice pudding (and really I am not being judgmental here but you need to take a good hard look at yourself) there are plenty of other great options on the menu .
Not so great bits: It's just been renovated so it looks great but it was very noisy which was the main downside. Well also we were crammed into a table that was a bit hard to get in and out of. It was a bit hard for those of us who wanted to have a go holding Wendy's baby! You really should book as there were lots of people waiting around outside for a table for quite a long time. A few of the waiters could be a bit friendlier too...
When: Sunday 11 April
Cost: $25 pp for set menu (can you believe it!?!)
Rating: 4 stars
Website: http://www.kasbah.com.au/
I'm not the hugest fan of brunch because generally my body gets very confused. I usually eat breakfast at 7.00 and then all of a sudden I am not eating until after 11. Is it lunch or brekky?? Am I supposed to be able to fit two meals worth into my stomach? It doesn't really work that way. But anyway having said that there is something lovely about a leisurely Sunday brunch with your friends :)
So anyway on to the details...
Food: We had the set menu - you need more than 8 people. We were directed not to eat beforehand even though we weren't starting until 11 which was a very wise tip from Magda. The portions are more than generous!! It is three courses. The first course I would describe as the grain course. The star of the brunch is in here - rice pudding with cinnamon and some kind of orange blossom water and pear. YUM!!! It is the best rice pudding I have ever had. So creamy and warm and delicious...drool. Needless to say it was a massive bowl and we ate the lot. There was also a delicious porridge with banana and warm milk and a sweet couscous with nuts and dried fruit and cardamon milk, which were both delicious but overshadowed by the rice pudding of course.
The second course was the hot cooked brekky - eggs done three ways (scrambled, fried, poached) on turkish, a breakfast tagine (half lamb and half vegie) and bacon, sausages, haloumi (which was YUM!), beans, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns, and a big bowl of bread - turkish and pita.
Just when we thought we couldn't possibly eat any more and I was personally very glad I was wearing loose pants, when out came the third course - dessert. Two massive pancakes which were more like big flat cakes really, with all sorts of delicious toppings like icecream, caramel sauce and cream. It's unfortunate that you can't really do this course justice as there are two different pancakes, one banana and one chocolate and berry. I just really couldn't squeeze any more in!
They also have some really good teas, I had the Egyptian hibiscus tea (Carcade), and the Moroccan mint tea was also going down well.
Verdict: Awesome. You will not need to eat again until dinner. To me it was pretty much just all about the rice pudding. For those of you who don't like rice pudding (and really I am not being judgmental here but you need to take a good hard look at yourself) there are plenty of other great options on the menu .
Not so great bits: It's just been renovated so it looks great but it was very noisy which was the main downside. Well also we were crammed into a table that was a bit hard to get in and out of. It was a bit hard for those of us who wanted to have a go holding Wendy's baby! You really should book as there were lots of people waiting around outside for a table for quite a long time. A few of the waiters could be a bit friendlier too...
When: Sunday 11 April
Cost: $25 pp for set menu (can you believe it!?!)
Rating: 4 stars
Website: http://www.kasbah.com.au/
my friend cath has been bugging me for ages to go to this place for brunch, but everytime I'm like "moroccon?? for brunch? nah" but now I might take her up on the offer!! :)
ReplyDeleteI know - it sounds weird but it is really not :) you will have to do it.
ReplyDeleteThe food was definitely the highlight, with props for the rice pudding indeed!
ReplyDeleteBut they really do need to improve their service. It's not so much that the wait staff were rude, just that they all seemed to be run off their feet.
I found that the good thing about being crammed in the corner, was not being SURROUNDED by the pretentious YPCs. BORING!
Also, afterwards I wondered if we had paid enough? Magda said $30 p.p although the bill was $256 (?). 8 people times $30 = $240 last time I checked. Did Magda fork out extra for her own birthday brunch? What slack friends we are...
Wow Pat it sounds divine, the rice pudding especially. The closest I've ever come to divine rice was a spiced rice pilaf at Versace's on the Gold Coast during our trip last year - I loved it so much I told the chef, who told me how to make it - the recipe is on my Notes page on Facebook if you're interested.
ReplyDeleteCath - Thanks I will check it out.
ReplyDeleteAndyroo - Oh no!!! I hope that's not true...