I was so excited I could hardly dial the phone. I’m usually an email person, if the phone rings I stare at it for a good few seconds before realising that it is an object that I need to pick up and speak to (how I became such a natural at it during my teenage years is a mystery). But this question wasn’t one that I was prepared to wait for an answer for. I wanted to hear the answer yes immediately so I picked up the phone.
You see Dear Reader, I had found a restaurant that I was dying to try. It was in the new Cheap Eats book which I received a few weeks ago from the publisher. I was leafing through it in bed and one restaurant stood out to me: Al Dhiaffah Al Iraqi. Said to be the sole Iraqi restaurant in Sydney I knew my adventure loving friends Queen Viv and Miss America would also be intrigued to go on a trip out to Fairfield to give this little known cuisine a try. They answered a quick yes and I tempted Mr NQN with the knowledge that this would be a hearty meal for less than $20 a person and so a couple of days later we found ourselves driving towards Fairfield having picked up Miss America and Queen Viv on the way.
“Are we there yet? Surely we are!” Miss America said. He was hungry and admittedly so was I. It was 2:15pm on a Sunday afternoon and I had deliberately eaten a light breakfast. It was a hot day and we were hungry and thirsty.
“Ooh is that where we are going?” Queen Viv asked peering at the palm trees and the signage for Al Dhiaffah Al Iraqi. Inside about half of the tables are full and the staff are friendly and welcoming. We take a table for four and are given menus. It’s a short and sweet menu with twelve items including a yogurt drink and a tea and we take recommendations from our friendly waiter who tells us the most popular dishes.
And it’s true platter after colourful platter of two dishes in particular whizz past us while gigantic rounds of risen puffed bread and laid out on tables, one per person which is more than enough. A young girl dining with her family spoons rice into her mouth studiously trying not to spill a grain. We order three yogurt drinks before spotting the drinks fridge-a treasure trove of Iraqi soft drinks and pops. I go up and pick a couple of drinks including one called Pampa which the waiter who opens the bottle for me says is his favourite. The other drink I bought purely for the packaging, a Fez wearing gentleman for Abu Abed energy drink.
Pampa and Abu Abed $2
The Pampa is sweet and fizzy and refreshing with a quality somewhere between Coke and sarsaparilla with a slight fruitiness to it. The energy drink reminds me instantly of those sugary sweet medicines from childhood-nothing really natural and Mr NQN points out that it tastes in the same genre as Red Bull, a drink I only drank once several years ago and couldn’t sleep for 3 days so I’ve never touched a sip since.
Yogurt drink $2
The yogurt drink is similar to the Turkish ayran although less foamy. It has more of a home made yogurt taste or a goat’s yogurt taste and is salty and slightly thicker than ayran.
We’re not kept waiting long for the food. In fact it arrives in a succession of platters taking up every spare inch on the table. And this is only ordering two mains! The bread arrives first and it is fluffy, fresh and slightly warm reminiscent of a cross between Turkish bread, naan and the thinner Afghan bread (although without the seasoning that can come on Afghan bread). It’s tailor made for filling with hummus and the meat and salad.
Pickles (complimentary)
The sour tangy and strong pickles are a favourite of Queen Viv’s who picks a piece up and deposits it into her waiting mouth with much relish.
Salad $4.50
The salad is a chopped salad of ice berg lettuce, tomato and cucumber with a very light dressing. It’s not the kind of thing I would go for on its own but like the hummus below it all fits with the bread and the kebab meats.
Hummus $4.50
The hummus is strong in tahini which is not a favourite flavour of mine. Still it’s a nice counterpoint when filling the bread with the meats and salads.
Bean soup (complimentary)
We’re not sure which dish this came with but it is filled with cannellini beans and is like home made baked beans in a tomato sauce. The serve is generous and the bowl deep and the soup gives our palate variety in textures.
Combination of kebab, tika and chicken tika $16
This dish features three barbecue meats: a kebab mince, a chicken and a lamb barbecued stick paired with salad and hummus. They’re all excellent and singing with flavour from the sumac and the favourites are the lamb followed by the chicken and then the mince. We take some of the hot sauce that sits on the table along with the box of tissues (paper napkins are provided though) and we shake a little onto the hummus, salad and meat laden bread and try it. The hot sauce is in the same vein as Tabasco in flavour but is quite mild in heat.
Roasted Fill in Lamb with rice $15
The roasted lamb shank is a meaty shank cooked long and slow with the meat falling off the bone. The lamb itself is very mild in flavour especially compared to the zingy, smokey barbecued meat but I do adore the rice which is similar to Persian rice topped with sliced cooked noodles on top.
Tea $2
There’s no dessert but there is a tea that you can sweeten with the sugar on the table. It’s served in a gold band glass and plate and Queen Viv enjoys this.
Guava nectar $2
Miss America heads back to the fridge in search for some cooling refreshments and comes back with what he thinks is a pear juice but is in fact a guava nectar. I try a little and it’s heavenly. I’m not a huge drinker of guava juice, it’s perfectly fine but I don’t often choose it but this is another type of species altogether and I think of being on a beach on holiday sipping a tropical drink with fruit made sweet from being kissed by the sun.
We watch as other feasting families unable to finish their meals take away the food in foil wrapped plates. I may not be on a beach but we all loved visiting a little slice of Baghdad.
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever tried Iraqi cuisine?
Al-Dhiaffah-Al-Iraqi
13 The Crescent, Fairfield, NSW
Tel: +61 (02) 9755 0870
Open 7 days 11am-9pm
If you enjoyed this post, why not share it with your friends?
What is NQN up to now? 
NQN on Facebook
RSS
45 Comments | Add your own
This looks great, and they seem very generous with complimentary stuff. Never tried Iraqi cuisine.
What an interesting story, I never even thought about what food from Iraq would be like.
I love trying all sorts of cuisine so I would have done exactly like you and dragged everybody off to Fairfield to try it out.
Thanks for sharing
I have never tried Iraqi cuisine, but it looks heavenly! I doubt we will ever see anything quite so exotic here in the mountains, but at least I can try it vicariously through you!
xxoo,
RMW
OOH so excited when I read this. I eat Iraqi everyday, maybe because I am iraqi
Apart from the yoghurt, pickles and tea nothing else looks very authentic.
I just moved to Sydney temporarily and I can’t wait to venture out to fairfield to find the best Iraqi food.
Lovely post as always. So glad you gave Iraqi food a go!
Great post Lorraine! So sad that I was not at home (Fairfield) at the time to possibly bump into you =p Keep it up!
oooh Lorraine – this all looks deeeee-lish!
I have never tried Iraqi food. It looks a bit like Lebanese food, which I love. I would like to try, it looks very interesting.
I’d be so excited too! No, I’ve never tried an Iraqi restaurant but would LOVE to! YUM
Heidi xo
So great that you ventured all the way out to Fairfield. I grew up in the area. I think when I lived there I really took the multiculturalism for granted. Now that I live on the North Shore sometimes I miss seeing all the different faces, hearing all the different languages and eating out at cheap places like this.
Also, when I read food reviews in the SMH for example, they never venture out of the eastern suburbs or city it would seem. There’s so much great food out there in the ‘burbs.
I’ll say this fellow Sydney-siders: get out and explore outside your comfort zone. There is so much that Sydney has to offer.
So close to home for me =) but admittedly, no. I have yet to try the Iraqi cuisine.
Never tried it before…will have to take my little self out there one day soon!
I love Irqi food! One of my best friends hails from Baghdad and she cooks he yummiest food.
I’ve had the BBQ Fish from this place once, very tasty. Thanks for the post NQN glad you liked it.
Growing up in the middle east means we feasted on the foods mentioned above. I cannot wait to try this place out!
Looks wonderful. I’ve never tried Iraqi cuisine either but I’d certainly give it a red hot go
I would love this place I’m sure!!
Shame I’ll never get the chance to try it lol
Yes, loving the addition of all the complimentary dishes. I love guava, big fan! Very popular in the Middle East. Never tried Iraqi food, looking forward to trying it.
This is definitely a cheap eat and looks delicious too especially the chicken tika. So Miss America is a “he”?
Glad we could be of service NQN. It certainly was an authentic experience. Another similar little-known-about spot we just discovered – Egyptian this time – is Mazaya in Bankstown http://ow.ly/7hbBK These Middle Eastern chefs really know how to cook their lamb…
Yum – looks authentically exotic
Yes, I must look at the Cheap Eats book more often…
i would surely love this place! i love middle eastern and mediterranean stuff. hehe
Seems strange there was no desserts at all. I live for desserts so that probably would have put me off a bit. But the food looks really nice and fresh.
I’ve never tried Iraqi cuisine but everything you listed sounds delicious – especially that oh-so-tender lamb. Yum!
I lived in the Middle East for many years and it is still my favorite food in the world. Every dish looked wonderful to me, but none more so than the oh-so-authentic looking hummus. My mouth is watering. This is my kind of restaurant!
So, in Australia you have all kind of food, from all the world…it is wonderful, I like to taste different kind of food, but we don’t have too much, I think we have to common ones as on several countries…I never try Iraqi, but looks fantastic.
What a feast! I’ve never tried Iraqi cuisine, nice to know we now can here in Sydney!
I have not yet tried Iraqi cuisine, but I love the idea of piling everything up, meat, salad and hummus onto freshly made bread. Sounds delicious.
I love small [oft family-owned/run] places like this. No, have not partaken of Iraqi food as such. As Farrah, who should surely know, says it does not look very ‘authentic’, but more of a cross between Lebanese and almost Pakistani/Indian – but, then, the country does lie twixt the two and recipes hardly know a borderline
! I do like the unctious look of the hummus, wouldn’t mind dipping some pita into that bowl now!!
I’ve never tried Iraqi cuisine but it definitely look worth the detour. I’ll look for some restaurant near me. Now can I take Miss America with me too?
I’ve never tried Iraqi cuisine before but it looks very similar to Turkish cuisine..
Yes, but it’s rare to find it, at least in Brisbane. This looks like a real find!
Two of my favourite words: “pickles” and “complimentary”.
Very generous serves indeed! I love pickles too, and they’re good for blood sugars. I’ve not tried this cuisine before, but it looks yummy!
~~The tika and chicken tika looks Yummmm.
I’ve never been to an Iraqi Restaurant, but I’d definitely go to one…
How are you, Lorraine? X Is your book ready to go?
Ohhhh, what a cool find, looks so fun. I’ve not tried before, but it all looks so yummy!
Gulf and Levantine food are quite similar – the fried/toasted noodles with the rice are called sha’riyah (sha’r is hair in arabic) since they look like little hairs. It doesn’t quite translate nicely into English but that’s the general idea
So glad to see Iraqi cuisine popping up in Sydney. It’s a beautiful cuisine made by beautiful people so often misunderstood. Thanks for sharing your experience there
I’ve never tried Iraqi cuisine before and it was fun seeing what kind of food they serve (otherwise I would have no idea!). I’d definitely love to try. I’m going to yelp to see if there is anything near my house now. Hope there are good ones!
I’ve never had Iraqui food so was fascinated by this post. I do love discovering good new cheap eats and am always keeping an eye out for the latest recommendations. Sadly Sydney is a long way from home…
i def. want to try the shank
A rather unusual spot! Definitely would give it a go if I were to pass by Fairfield.
Very interesting to learn more about Iraqi cuisine
I had Iraqi food in Auburn. It was delicious. I love the barbequed meats and the buttery rice.
This is a fantastic post! I’m always excited when you feature cheap and cheerful eats
Oh wow, I’ve never tried Iraqi cuisine before! It looks delicious, though, and not too frightening with a lot of familiar tastes
I wonder if there’s a good restaurant similar to Al Dhiaffah Al Iraqi in Melbourne…
I’ve never had Iraqi cuisine, though I am a fan of its next door neighbor’s (Iran / Persia). But anything involving hummus, flatbread, and lamb kebabs sounds excellent to me.
I’ve never tried Iraqi food, it looks similar to Nepalese & Indian though so chances are i’d like it. If there’s only one Iraqi place in Sydney though i’m guessing there’s none in Perth!
I’ve been here! Was so excited to try Iraqi food and the owner was so lovely. They have a bbq fish there that’s a traditional Iraqi dish. I found the lamb a bit dry but only realised afterwards (after some researching) that the soup is meant to go with the lamb! You can pour the bean soup over the lamb & rice or just eat them together
There’s also an Iranian restaurant in Granville and a relatively new Afghani restaurant that opened a few months ago in Five Dock.
Happy eating!
Post a Comment