El Jannah's, Granville

Hello hello from Crystal Noir version 2.0! I've decided to give my blog a little bit of a makeover, having kept things simple from the very beginning. Okay, it was a little bit of laziness that never saw me designing a header for my blog. But I threw in a little bit of time this past few days to revamp things a bit. How are you all liking the new look?

Anyway, onto my actual post!

What is it about the great flavours of food that just give you bad breath? The king of the lot would definitely have to be garlic. I love the initial hit of garlic when I'm eating it, but can't say I'm the biggest fan of the lingering after taste. But of course when eating garlic, you're not thinking about the after effects (unless you're on a special date :P). One place in particular where the garlic sauce is legendary is at El Jannah's in Granville.

Whole chicken with Lebanese bread, garlic sauce and pickles, $19.90

This serving size could definitely feed two hungry guys, and it's also damned cheap at under $20 for the meal. The chips come in a massive bowl just for a regular and it's only $4.00. Talk about bang for buck. I don't foresee anyone going hungry if you have $10 in your pocket to spend here. The chicken is a bit of a hit and miss, having been a few times. Sometimes it's cooked really well and the chicken is still moist and tender inside. But other times, the chicken is incredibly dry and the skin is a bit too overcooked, verging on the side being burned. What I would come back for again and again is the garlic sauce and the fresh Lebanese bread. Nothing is better than wrapping some chicken in the bread, smothering it with garlic sauce and topping it with a couple of pickles (word of warning, they are quite salty!). If you're not too big of a fan of eating in, you could easily take a tub of garlic sauce ($4.50 for large) home to eat to your heart's content without needing to worry about your breath :P

El Jannah's: Granville
4-8 South St
Granville, NSW, 2142

Opening Hours
Monday - Saturday: 10:00am - 12:00 midnight
Sunday: 10:00am - 11:00pm

Mado Cafe, Auburn

After talks of eating this "sticky" Turkish icecream since last year, my friends and I finally ventured out to Auburn to sate our curiosity. We were greeted with warm interiors and comfy looking booths which we had no problem sidling into.

Large mixed dip platter, $14.50

Even though we came for the icecream, we decided that we should fill ourselves up with a bit of proper food first so we ordered the dip plate. It came with homous, cacik, yogurt, carrot and beetroot dip and lovely toasted turkish bread. I particularly enjoyed the carrot dip! Luckily, no need to worry about garlic breath as we all had the same dips! And surely, sweet desserts will mask our not-so-great breaths? ;)

Charred rice pudding, $4.50

I loved the gelatinous and soft texture of this pudding. The dusting of cinnamon gave a wonderful aromatic flavour to the vanilla flavour of the pudding and the pistachios gave this dish that extra crunch.

Various sweets and icecream scoops, $16.00

This dessert came with the 4 different types of baklava and our choice of three icecreams. We had chosen sour cherry, mulberry, and maras. I loved the subtle sweetness of the maras flavour and it definitely was my favourite, followed closely by mulberry which had a hit of flavour and was studded with pieces of frozen mulberries. The icecream does indeed have a stretchy texture and when scooping the icecream with a fork, we could see the tendrils of icecream hanging off our utensils - almost mozzarella like!

Kesme maras, $9.00 (I think?)

This icecream was thick enough to be cut with a knife and could be held onto with a fork! I thought it'd be stickier but the texture was just more dense than normal icecream. It tasted the same as the maras flavour, but it definitely felt denser. But maybe it just felt that way because it was served as a block.

Sitting comfortably in the booth, we talked about everything and nothing before paying - a mere dent in our wallets at $9 each and we were very full! We then hit up Parramatta Westfield to do some shopping, though we probably spent longer inside the pet store ogling the cute cross breed puppies than actual shopping!

I definitely love my uni friends (:

Mado Cafe
63 Auburn Rd
Auburn, NSW, 2144
9643 5299