Jasmins, Lakemba
Jasmins Lakemba, not to be confused or associated with any other Jasmins or Jasmin1 restaurants around Sydney. This is without a doubt my favourite Lebanese restaurant, the service is always warm and friendly, food always delicious and tasty with prices which are wallet friendly. So we trekked out to Lakemba after work on a Thursday afternoon to have some awesome Lebanese food. Jasmins is located on the left hand side of Lakemba station, and is only a 2 minute walk.
We arrived at the restaurant for an early dinner, around 5pm actually to find it rather empty and with only one other diner. The restaurant décor is unique and traditional, with colourful pictures amongst granite like walls, and black marble like tables with aluminium style chairs. We shifted to the left of the restaurant where the tables were for groups of four or less, and sat ourselves down.
Within a few minutes, our host come out with a big smile and menus for us to view. We had a look through the menu briefly, but already had an idea of what we wanted to order before we arrived. One of my fellow foodies loves the kafta here at Jasmins, and was not going to budge for anything else, whilst the other one, wanted one of everything, so opted to go with the standard mixed plate. And for myself, I was in the frame of mind, I wanted everything, so I chose to go for the standard mixed plate as well.
Within a few minutes our host was at our table with his pen and paper ready for our order, we choose the kafta plate, two mixed plates and a serving of fried Lebanese bread to share. Our host recommended if we were going to get fried bread we should get dips to complement it, however we chose not to as we already knew were going to get garlic sauce, and the mixed plates had dips as well. As our host wrote down the order in Arabic, my fellow foodie who also speaks a different dialect of Arabic, was chatting away trying to work out what he was writing, and from that onwards, throughout the night, our host and my friend enjoyed jokes and conversations in some Arabic (in which some she admitted she didn’t quite understand hehe).
The wait for our food wasn’t too long, and our host returned back to our table with a basket of Lebanese bread, a plate of pickles, tahina, garlic and chilli sauce. He then disappeared and returned back with our fried Lebanese bread. So we started with our fried bread, dipping it with our garlic sauce and tahina. The bread was fried to golden perfection, and was crispy and light, without being overly too oily.
Fried Lebanese Bread ($6)
As we chatted away and dug into our fried bread, our host returned with our two mixed plates and a serving of kafta. The kafta serving contained four pieces of kafta served on a bed of grilled onion and parsley, to be enjoyed with the Lebanese bread, pickles and garlic sauce that we received prior. The standard mixed plate was a generous serving and consisted of baba ghannoui, hummous, tabouli, two falafels, one kebbeh, one kafta, one lamb shish kebab and a piece of grilled chicken.
Kafta ($12)
The verdict? Absolutely Delicious!! Jasmins is known for their falafels, and it was absolutely delicious, the best I have ever eaten. If you ever come to Jasmins, and don’t try anything else, you should try the falafels. They are so light and fluffy with the outside coating being both crispy and crunchy. The kebbeh was also very tasty and the outside was crunchy. Our charcoal grilled meats were mouth-watering, the kafta made of lamb mince and spices, was very juicy and succulent. The grilled chicken was also very juicy and tender, and quite a decent size. However my favourite grilled meat was the lamb shish kebab, which was grilled to perfection, the lamb was tender, juicy and full of flavour, this is another one of our favourites. For the sides on the mixed plate, the tabouli was fresh and zesty, whilst both the baba ghannoui and hummous were delicious and very moreish. We ended up take away what was left over of the dips and bread for home as a midnight snack.
Mixed Plate (Standard) ($17)
Overall we love Jasmins, from the service to the food, we have never had a bad experience. The staff are always friendly, whether we come in to dine or order pick up over the phone. It is definitely one of the best Lebanese restaurants in Sydney, and also one of the most affordable ones as well. If you are ever in the area, or are looking for some tasty and affordable Lebanese food, Jasmins should be your go to.
Jasmins Lakemba
Address: 30B Haldon St, Lakemba NSW 2195
Phone: (02) 9740 3589
http://www.jasminsrestaurant.com.au/