Cafe Mint
579 Crown St
Surry Hills, Sydney
Cafe Mint is at "food central" in Surry Hills and the cuisine is Moroccan and Mediterranean. They cater for 40 people sitting downstairs and another 40 sitting upstairs but they can also accommodate 55 standing upstairs for a cocktail and canape style function.
Mlady started the night with a very refreshing and delicious mocktail. The pomegranate Mojito mocktail which was made up of pomegranate juice, lemonade, fresh lime and mint. Sir chose the orange margarita – tequila, triple sec, orange juice and fresh lime.
To start our meal we had the Mezze plate – 3 house made dips served with hot crisp bread and olives. This arrived on a beautiful gold plate and – oh yum these were good. Really good flavours and using the hot crisp bread to scoop up these lovely dips – nice! Being fans of olives we enjoyed these too and there was a good mixture of them.
Next we tried the Haloumi chips – golden fried haloumi served with preserved lemon aioli. Seeing these on the menu aroused our curiosity and we just had to try them. “Oh these are good” we both said. They were crisp on the outside and nice and soft on the inside. Dipping them in the ever popular preserved lemon aioli - yummo. A truly delectable entrée!
From the “Specials board” we had the lobster and crab ravioli with seared scallops and champagne sauce. The champagne sauce is house-made. The scallops were lightly seared and the dish was colourful with lovely flavours. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Again from the Specials board we ordered the fresh watermelon salad with fresh mint and fetta. This was such a vibrant and appetising dish. The coolness of the watermelon combined with the mint leaves – nice. This was generously served and had great flavours. Everything combined so well.
Sir had another cocktail, this time an Espresso martini – coffee liqueur, triple sec and vodka. He thoroughly enjoyed this. Mlady loved the one she had so much– the pomegranate mocktail – she had another one.
We chose the Lamb Kefta tagine – lamb and pistachio meatballs with tomato and olives on couscous with yoghurt and herbs. A generous serving which was full of flavour. A good hearty meal.
For dessert we tried the chocolate halva – filo cigar served with chocolate mousse. This has to be one of the best chocolate desserts ever! It was beautifully crisp with such a yummy chocolate filling. The mousse – how good was this! It was so smooth and the chocolate – divine! This ticked all the boxes. Our other dessert was the Almond Pavlova – served with house-made passionfruit ice-cream and mango coulis. Another great dessert! Such a great base - which can make or break a good “pav”. This was scrumptious and oh so yummy and combined so well with the house-made passionfruit ice-cream and mango coulis.
The food here is really good. The servings are so generous and the menu is varied and flavoursome with great combinations. It's a place that ticks all the boxes, great food, pleasant surroundings and good service - and you certainly won't leave hungry!
Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Cafe Mint. Big thanks to Meg, Sasha and Gaetan for looking after us so well on our visit. Special thanks also to Claire McPherson of CPM Online Marketing for arranging this visit.