Zenobia
All right, this one is about a Friday night. Another week
gone down the drain, or rather another brick in the wall, and we as always have
bitten the dust. Come back to my home Strathfield and then we three friends are
thinking what do we do? Options near Strathfield. Korean Barbeque’s, naah.
Indian curries at strathfield, homebush, naah. What I want is an evening where
I can relax, have something which is not too heavy on the food. Well, we decide
by a process of elimination and shortlist a Lebanese restaurant- Zenobia. We
have been here once before and it was pretty decent.
So the boys get set and leave for North Strathfield via the
train. Located on the main George Street in North Strathfield. For a Friday
evening, we were surprised that it wasn’t too busy, in comparison to what we
had seen before usually when passed the restaurant. We had the option of
sitting inside or outside. Outside they had placed seats and canopies, with
fire heaters. We settled for the outside seating. There is BYO, so the two
bottles of reds were definitely welcome.
Looking at the menu, we had the options of going for the
menu. Now in a previous visit, I did have the starter banquet, which had a
whole array of dips, vegetarian options, and then the chicken and lamb options.
From memory, it was good, but I didn’t want to go for it again. Why? Because I like
chicken more than beef, not too interested in the veggie options.
So we ordered ala carte. For dips we ordered hommous and
baba ghanoush dips. The hommous as always was perfect and mild, with smooth
consistency. The baba ghanoush dip had a smoky flavor. We were served some Lebanese
breads and another interesting variants with was more like crispy popadums.
When we asked the gentleman, he indicated this was more like a Lebanese bread
with zatar, which was deep fried. There was a topping of herbs on the bread. He
informed that zatar is usually a herb in the middle east which is dried, made as
a powder and then used on the various cooking forms. He also serve us a chilly
dip/paste just to spice it up.
The dips and the bread were a perfect start to conversation.
Just lovely.
For starters we ordered the Falafel and the Chicken Ribs
with the chilli. The falafel, was descent but not out of the world. While I
have had better falafel, yet this one was descent enough. Went well with the
two dips. The Chicken Ribs with chilli soon arrived and trust me this was the
starter which hit the spot. Very tasty, juicy succulent pieces, medium spiced.
Just went wonders with the Lebanese breads and the hommous. This one is highly
recommended.
Next we got our mains. There were three of us and so we had
ordered three main courses. Firstly the
BBQ Chicken Skewers. This one came with
three skewers with quite thick chunks of chicken. The chicken was really juicy
and succulent. I mean, great spices and juicy. Served with a Garlic Dip and
some onions and a flat bread with chilli. Again, loved the dish and well worth
it. Lovely spices and very juicy. Must Have.
The next dish we ordered was the Chicken Shawarma. When we
ordered this, we thought it was probably one of the regular shawarma where they
just scoop or scrape chicken down from the big chicken cylinder rotating in the
regular chicken shawarma units. We were quite apprehensive why we should order
this. However on asking the waiter and we were recommended to go for this one
for sure and we sure did. The dish was wow. Again, small pieces, well spiced
and juicy, garlic sauce, lemon and a big serving of chips. Again, I was
impressed with this dish. Really good.
The last dish was the Riz-a-la-dijaj. This was supposed to
be a whole baby chicken – baked and served with basmati rices with sultanas,
apricots. Now, to be honest, at this time of ordering I thought this might be
the best dish. To be true, when we did get the dish, I wasn’t impressed to be
honest. The chicken was about ok and nothing too great. Out of all the dishes,
this one was not what I liked.
However, a good evening with great food and reds. Towards
the end of the meal, the owner sent us his best complements with a mixed array
of sweets- baklava and Turkish delight along with some Turkish coffee.
There are options for hookah here as well, in case you want
to try.
The dips are priced from $12-$20. The starters go in the
same range, unless you order prawns or seafood. The mains are $22-$30.
All in all, I loved this place- the food, the open air
seating with the fire and the wine. Given the amount we had, we incurred a bill
of about $150 for three people which I find reasonable. Would I visit again-
Most definitely yes. Would I recommend- Highly.
Zenobia Restaurant
13/9 George Street
North Strathfield, NSW 2137
Phone: 02 9746
8424
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