African Restaurants @ Not Quite Nigella

the drummer refugee restaurant sydney

It wasn’t a great morning. It started as all ungreat mornings do with a 6am wake up call and a loud groan coming from me. The internet went down as it seems wont to do lately and I cursed irritatedly. I was running late so I contemplated driving into the city for a breakfast event but parking would be a bother. My stomach, awoken unexpectedly started to protest and growl in hunger as if to say “What have you done to me?”.

the drummer refugee restaurant sydney

And then I stopped myself. I was definitely having first world problems and the irony was that I was on my way to the media launch of a pop up restaurant that was designed to address a community issue and help a sector of society: refugees. The idea of setting up a restaurant that helped train former refugees interested in entering the hospitality industry was that of 22 year old Elle Formica she was mentored by actress Mirando Otto and her entry was chosen by the public to be brought to fruition. The original idea called Room For Thought was from American Express and is part of their Realise Your Potential campaign.

the drummer refugee restaurant sydney

The restaurant is open for a mere three days and is located in the centre of the Sydney CBD. The idea behind the location and idea was to humanise and make the refugee situation more real for the public and doing it through food which is a common interest. Apart from a community project there is a fashion project with fashion category winner Kate Applegarth and mentor Peter Alexander and music category winner Dee Dimmick paired with musician Paul Mac and each of the three winners will get the venue for a three day period. Each category mentor selected the three finalists and it was up to the public to choose the ultimate winner in each category via facebook votes.

the drummer refugee restaurant sydney

Community mentor Miranda Otto

Fashion mentor: Peter Alexander

the drummer refugee restaurant sydney

Music mentor: Paul Mac

The restaurant on the ground floor is a Sudanese restaurant that seats 30 people and on the top floor is a Burmese themed restaurant which seats about 20 people with the centre level being the kitchen. The two cuisines were chosen as the two countries are in the top 10 of refugees coming into Australia. Elle tells us that she researched the cuisines and visited restaurants in Sydney that specialised in these cuisines as well as soliciting input from the refugees themselves. She tells us that she liked the idea of doing this in the CBD as it would expose people to these cuisines which may be unknown to them or not available in the CBD area. They also have professional waitstaff so that diners can stop and talk to the former refugees if they want.

the drummer refugee restaurant sydney

The Burmese themed restaurant upstairs

the drummer refugee restaurant sydney

All of the food has a suggested donation amount so that you can pay what you feel is appropriate but even the suggested donations are a very reasonable price with a three course dinner having a suggested donation of $20 or a lunch dish for $10. The suggested donations go back to training for the refugees on location and extra RSA certifications and all gratuities are donated to the UNHCR Famine Relief. A surprising challenge according to Miranda Otto was sourcing camel meat-they wanted local but unfortunately camels are a little scarce in NSW and they had to scratch that idea. The menu is a feature too-it is printed on seeded paper, you can soak it in water until soft and then plant it in a pot or in the ground and it should germinate in 7-12 days and should grow to become a Swan River daisy. Also the placemats have a background story and photo of the staff.

the drummer refugee restaurant sydney

Roasted peanut biscuit (Sudan); Spiced orange syrup and pistachio cakes (Sudan) and Fenugreek and currant cookies (Burma)

I had to be honest, I thought that the food would be more a secondary consideration and the experience and idea behind it was the real attraction but I was very pleasantly surprised by the food. We get to try a good range of food from the menu. We start off with some items from the breakfast and afternoon tea menu which is available from 7:30am-11:30am and 4pm-6pm. There are biscuits and sweet morsels just begging for a cup of tea and I think they’re more of morning tea items than breakfast items. The roasted peanut biscotti has a lovely flavour which I prefer to almond biscotti and would be great dipped in a cup of tea or coffee. The spiced orange syrup and pistachio cakes are moist and sweet and very moreish and the fenugreek and currant cookies from Burma look just like those currant cookies you would get in a box of assorted biscuits yet the fenugreek lends a lovely, unexpected flavour to them.

the drummer refugee restaurant sydney

Lunch & dinner main course: Spicy goat stew with black eye beans, spinach and white rice (Sudan)

The lunch meals are served between 12pm-3pm and we start with the goat stew was slow cooked until the goat was soft and it was served with black eye beans, cashews, tomato, spinach and had a rich, robust flavour to it. It is paired with some brown rice which is sticky and wetter than I’ve had but I don’t actually mind it with the stew.

the drummer refugee restaurant sydney

Lunch & dinner main course: Steamed fish fillets with coconut, tamarind and peanuts (Burma)

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My fourth and last birthday celebration was to be with old friends Queen Viv and Miss America. African cuisine is one of those cuisines that I’ve enjoyed immensely in the past but is a little harder to find. Certainly there aren’t that many restaurants and most are concentrated in the Glebe/Newtown/Enmore area. The Second Wife, always a trusted source for restaurant recommendations enthused about Lat Dior and about the stunning woman in traditional African dress that works there. So of course we just had to try for ourselves. As they use native African ingredients which are often hard to find here, they import a lot of it from France where there is a large existing African community.

Traditional African wooden bowls

There’s a no booking policy and as it’s Sunday night and people need to work the next day, we decide to eat at 6.30pm which also assures that we get a table. The menu is charmingly written with things such as “Tangy!”, “Delicious!” and for the broccoli dish “Quite green in appearance!”. There are dishes from all over Africa with some marked according to the country of origin. We make a selection of mains and sides and entrees. Our waitress is the gorgeous African woman in traditional dress that The Second Wife mentioned.

Flower drink (left) and Ginger Drink (right) $2.50 each

We can’t resist ordering the drinks: a Ginger drink and a Flower drink. The ginger drink is heady in ginger and pungently refreshing. The flower drink is deliciously sweet with a flavour and sweetness similar to Ribena or a Hibiscus syrup.

Fataya pastries. From top to bottom Lamb $3, Fish $3.50 and Vegetarian $3

The pastries come out warm in their puff pastry shell and we divide them into 4. Miss America and I prefer the beef one which reminds us of a pastry laden beef pie whereas Queen Viv and Mr NQN prefer the Vegetarian one. The fish one is very fishy in taste – stronger than any of us really like. The accompanying tomato sauce is mild and tastes like tomato and capsicum and is nowhere near as fiery as it looks.

Flat bread $2 per piece

The flat bread comes out and it is delicious, like a folded crepe. As the kitchen is small and on this evening the restaurant is full, things tend to come out when they come out and we’ve finished the bread by the time the mains come out.