Teta's Lebanese25 Babbage Road
Roseville Chase, Sydney
Teta's have been open approximately two and a half years. When you arrive here what first strikes you is that it is quite an oasis. It also has wonderful stone walls inside bathed in greenery.
.
We attended the event "Teta's Table" and were indulged with a traditional and sumptuous meal which also included wonderfully flavoured cocktails on arrival.
The food is authentic Lebanese-Armenian cuisine and Teta's means grandma's in Arabic.
It is a family run business and the passion certainly shows through.
The menu is created using the freshest seasonal products and it all looks and tastes tantalising.
Haven't cocktails come a long way! Our cocktails were delicious and both had a vibrancy to them.
The Beirut Cooler was described as a refreshing, summer drink of fresh watermelon, vanilla & regular vodka & ginger beer. The Arabian Nights was made up of Bacardi, raspberries, blueberries and Alize. This was a beautifully coloured cocktail. These were both great tasting cocktails and we could have easily consumed them all night - they were so good.
The mixed dips platters - both being huge fans of dips - we both enjoyed. The dips were Hummus (chickpea), baba ghanouj (smokey eggplant), labne (thick yoghurt) & fried bread. They were presented on plates that enhanced their colour and texture. These dips were so good. It was just so easy to just keep eating and keep eating them!
The Kibbeh Nayye is lamb tartare (raw lamb) finely blended with crushed wheat, onion & house spices. Being so finely minced this was a very smooth dish and it had a great flavour.
It was nice on it's own and was also equally nice combined with the fresh salad.
The Kataifi prawns were prawns wrapped in crispy kataifi pastry, sitting on top a bed of harissa infused mayonnaise. These were plump prawns wrapped in the shredded crispy pastry and they tasted good. They were informatively presented - a work of art.
The Fried potatoes were mixed with fresh coriander, lemon juice and olive oil. These were quite more-ish and had a lovely tangy taste.
Next we had the Traditional Fattoush which was impressively presented. It was garden salad with crispy fried bread, cucumber & tomato dressed with sumac, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses & extra virgin olive oil.
This dish had very fresh flavours and textures.
Tabouli is popular and this very yummy salad was made up of chopped parsley with bulgar wheat, tomato & onion dressed in lemon juice & extra virgin olive oil. Tabouli is great by itself as well as a great accompaniment.
The home-made Toum (creamy garlic dip) was almost whipped egg white in texture. It was fluffy and had a delicate garlic flavour - not overpowering. To accompany these wonderful Mezza Entrees we had Fresh Lebanese bread - which as we all know goes so well and incredibly well with dips! Mlady used the Lebanese bread as a wrap to encase the dips with salad - lovely!
The finale to our starters - yes we were yet to get to mains - was the fried kibbeh. This traditional dish was fried ground lamb mixed with crushed wheat shells and all filled with a great combo of more minced meat, pine nuts, onion and traditional spices. It had it all - crunch, texture and flavour.
This main was -WOW.Our spectacular 1m skewers arrived with various combinations of meat with capsicum and onion were chicken, lamb and kafta.
These really were so impressive.
They have these amazing wrought iron poles that are connected to the tables right next to you (but not in your way at all). The big 1m meat skewers are then attached.
It is so visually impressive and a great conversation piece.
You use tongs to slide the meat down the skewer and off onto the plate below - then onto your own plates. The meat is tender and juicy so it does come off easily too.
The meat was cooked perfectly and we thoroughly enjoyed it all!
The next very tasty main was lemon garlic chicken which was charcoal cooked chicken breast fillets tossed in Teta's famous lemon garlic sauce, served with rice. The chicken was very tender and tasty and was in chunks. The sauce went so well with the chicken and rice. Another great tasting dish.
For dessert we had the totally AMAZING Nutella Aish Al Sarayah.Described in the menu as - Traditional Lebanese bread pudding with a modern twist, topped with clotted cream, fresh pistachios & Nutella.
OMG!!!
One of the best desserts!!!
Mlady could taste the wonderful sauce that was lightly drizzled over it. After much pondering she deduced that it reminded her of another great "sweet" - Turkish Delight - the one with rosewater. Sir agreed. When asking a waitress we were told that it was in fact - yes - rosewater! Yum Yum and Yum! A good coffee afterwards went down well too!
We were also indulged with two lovely ladies "belly dancing" - the ancient dance of celebration.They were very entertaining and wore beautiful costumes and the crowd really loved them.
There was also audience participation which, combined with our wonderful food, made for a very good night!
The food at Teta's is really good, wonderfully fresh, great flavours and textures and the servings are generous.Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Teta's. A big thank you to George for taking time out to chat with us. Special thanks to the lovely ladies from Lick Your Phone PR for this invitation and for a great night.
