On a slightly overcast Sunday, Matt and I head to Surry Hills to check out new Lebanese restaurant SaltVine. It's a modern and upmarket restaurant compared to your humble local Lebanese chicken shop.
I've had a really relaxing weekend so far so I was eager to enjoy the rest of my Sunday. SaltVine opens at 12pm on Sunday so we're one of the first in. Luckily we arrived when we did because it was a full house soon enough. It was packed! The two front of house staff did such a great job to juggle so many customers.
What makes for a relaxing weekend? I say it would typically include a glass of wine. I order the Ksara Reserve Du Couvent ($10) which is from the Bekaa Valley. The notes on the menu say it's a cabernet sauvignon that has been blended with syrah and cabernet franc. It's quite a balanced wine and matches the food well. Matt orders the Almaza Pilsner ($8) from Lebanon and he says it's pleasant to drink.
I start off with the Beetroot Tahini ($12) which is made from roast beetroot puree, nigella seeds, tahini, dill, pickled turnip, lemon and extra virgin olive oil. It's quite a generous portion and could easily be shared for 3-4 people. The dip is also served up with lebanese bread. I personally really like beetroot dip and ate this with the crunchy lebanese bread as well as the soft lebanese bread too.
I also had to order the Zaatar Fries ($9). They were sprinkled with zaatar spices which taste quite earthy. The fries are also served up with garlic yoghurt which is slightly sour. I liked the lebanese twist but it was quite foreign at the same time. I ate a few of the fries with the chicken and garlic out of habit. You can also ask for the zaatar spices and yoghurt on the side if you're less adventurous.
I also ordered the Avocado Zaatar Labneh ($14) which is a strained yoghurt with zaatar spices, avocado, a mild chilli and toasted sunflower seeds and extra virgin olive oil. I really liked the avocado, labneh with the chilli. The slight hint of spice really brings the flavours together although it probably had a touch too much olive oil. I'd recommend sharing this with 3-4 people. You'll need to save stomach room for the protein mains.
I ordered the Scotch Meshwi ($26) which was Matt's favourite dish. The meat is very tender and cooked medium rare. It sets on a bed of carrot puree with merguez spices and paprika butter. The lebanese flavours came from the carrot puree and this dish was sliced up so it was easy to share. I'd highly recommend ordering this dish.
We also order the Grilled Chicken ($20). The chicken was incredibly flavoursome with many spices and is served up with a mild garlic dip, pickles, cherry tomatoes and radished beetroot. You could easily eat the chicken on it's own but out of habit, I eat the chicken with garlic dip, chips and the lebanese bread. The flavours of the chicken completely take over so you can't really taste the garlic dip but it's still pleasant to eat. I think the key is don't come in expecting the flavours from a Hawa or El Jannah. SaltVine is a modern Lebanese restaurant so I really enjoyed the chicken.
For dessert, I share the Baklava Ice cream ($12) with Matt. It's served up with a mild pistachio ice cream, baklava pastry, berries and nuts. Matt is in love with this dessert and basically eats 99% of this while I'm quite full so I managed a scoop or two. Matt loves the baklava and middle eastern flavours and highly recommends the dessert.
Summary: I predict SaltVine will be incredibly popular in Surry Hills with the modern adaptation of Lebanese flavours and twists on favourites. Both the chicken and scotch fillet was delicious so they certainly know how to cook protein. My favourite was the scotch fillet which was perfectly cooked. You also can't leave without ordering the baklava ice cream!
Price: Approx $50-60 per person
Location: 535 Crown St, Surry Hills
Opening Hours:
Closed Monday
Tuesday to Thursday 5pm to 10pm
Weekends 12pm to 11pm
Weekend Food Escapes dined as guests of the venue or their representatives. All photos, opinions and words are my own.
Great party food.. thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteWell let me just begin by saying that this place is amazing all for the wrong reason. Booking is at 5:30pm for 4 people........Made my way at 5:15pm, and went inside at 5:30pm. Service and Staff were friendly all 3 women....We ordered the Olives, Tabouli. Egg Plant, Lamb Shoulder and Lamb Kebeh and Scotch Meshwe. 5 minutes later the young lady advised me that the Lamb Shoulder won't be available until 7:00pm. When we first sat down we were told about a 90 minute time limit.....like wtf???? why have it on your menu if it is not available?....The olives were on par.......they came out immediately..followed by the hummous which in my opinion lacked olive oil.....we were then treated with the egg plant which was pretty authentic in my opinion....followed....the disappointment soon followed...must of switched chefs...the tabouli was horrible the chicken was so dry and tasteless it honestly lacked flavour.....at this stage it was 6:40pm, we had asked for our Beef, it finally came at 6:48pm, (12 minutes left), and oh baby what a site, beaten and bashed with a hammer.....not even cooked and full of fat, with frozen sauce ontop......when we gave it back to the young lady she gave it to the Chef, his response was "wtf who are these people it is meant to be like this", this is a very good piece........Well to the Chef here is abit of advise you have discredited your self tonight along with Lebanese food in general.....infact perhaps at 5:00pm you shouldn't be outside playing on your phone and actually in the kitchen preparing your food, it was absolutely horrendous. I can not expect your food to taste like my mothers authentic Lebanese Food, but I do not expect the food to take ages and taste disgusting, and not acknowledge the feed back you are in Denial, please stop being lazy and clean up your attitude and respect towards food.
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