Woodfired Pizza and Kebab

I’ve been becoming increasingly concerned that this blog is getting a little vegetarian. I thought I should try to restore the balance a bit…

That’s an iskender kebab from Woodfired Pizza and Kebab in Chatswood. It’s made up of cut up Lebanese bread, sliced tomatoes, yoghurt, tomato sauce, a bit of parsley, lots and lots of döner meat and the grease that flows out of it. The incurable carnivores out there can be reassured that the tomatoes and parsley really are the sum total of the vegetable matter contained in this meal.

Woodfired Pizza and Kebab does all the staples of Turkish fast food, with an accent on the explicitly mentioned pizzas and kebabs. Piglet – who is sadly restricted to the gluten-free – always chooses an option from their range of baked potatoes. Even though the potatoes are chosen for their guten-free properties, they are no poor relations to the rest of the menu. There’s a large selection of delicious (and optionally meaty) fillings and all the potatoes are topped off with melted cheese and cream – and served with salad, for those with any remaining vego sensibilities.

They have very delicious ayran, a sort of yoghurt drink. It’s definitely worth having ayran whenever the opportunity arises.

There’s a nice little sit-in eating area with tables and chairs decked out with Persian-patterned covers. In winter Piglet puts herself in the best spot, next to the outside wall of the woodfired pizza oven. She’ll often lean right up against the wall to soak in the warmth.

Since Woodfired Pizza and Kebab is essentially a take-away place with a sit-in area, the prices are quite reasonable.

Woodfired Pizza and Kebab
325 Penshurt St
North Willoughby

Ratings (out of 5 snorts)

Price	5 snorts
Taste	4 snorts
Service	3 snorts
Atmosphere	4 snorts

Jasmin

Piglet wondered the other day whether we should have Lebanese for dinner. Lakemba might be a good place to find a Lebanese restaurant, she suggested. So we made our way out to Lakemba and walked up and down the main street looking for something suitable. We settled on the Jasmin restaurant – ‘Best kebabs in Sydney’ – just down the road from the station.

As we went in and found a table Piglet was able to tell me all sorts of information about the restaurant. She seemed suspiciously knowledgeable about this restaurant that we had just stumbled upon. I suspect that she had already read a review (or several) and wanted to sample the deliciousness herself.

Jasmin certainly lived up to Piglet’s expectations and I found it pretty good too. The menu, in English and Arabic, had a huge variety dishes. For those who can’t be satisfied with just one flavour there are mixed plates, which have a bit of everything. They come in vegetarian and carnivorous versions. The waiter could see that we were the sort of people for whom just one dish would not be enough and suggested that we have a carnivorous mixed plate between us. Piglet licked her lips and piped up with the idea that maybe we should have a vegetarian mixed plate and a meat mixed plate. The waiter hesitated but noted it down anyway.

Soon a huge plate with foule, hummus, baba-ganouj, tabouli and falafels came out.

It was accompanied by a basket full of Lebanese bread, garlic dip, tahini and a plate of salad, including lettuce, olives, pickled chillis, tomatoes, mint and the pinkest pickled cabbage I’ve ever seen.

We started. But then a second plate came out with hummus, baba-ganouj, tabouli, more falafels and lamb shish, köfte shish (although presumably under its Lebanese name), a piece of chicken and a kebbe.

It was delicious and very filling. As we waddled out, Piglet lamented the fact that we had eaten so well because it meant she couldn’t top off her meal with ice cream. Ice cream was out of the question not because of any moral issues about gluttony but because of the physical impossibility of squeezing any more food in.

Jasmin Lebanese Restaurant
30B Haldon St
Lakemba, NSW 2195
(02) 9740 3589‎

Ratings (out of 5 snorts)

Price	5 snorts
Taste	5 snorts
Service	4 snorts
Atmosphere	4 snorts