Zaaffran
10 Darling Drive
Harbourside Centre
Darling Harbour
Zaaffan is located over looking the wonderful Darling Harbour and the city of Sydney. We dined in the evening and the view was glorious. The city night lights were breathtaking.
What initially struck us about Zaaffran as we entered was the striking bar and seating at the front. It was as if you were walking into a welcoming hotel reception. Chef Vikrant put together an amazing degustation of their impressive traditional Indian menu for us.
This consisted of Pappadums with the ever popular mint sauce, Kumbhi Naan - mushroom naan with truffle butter - Zaaffran's creation, Chookundar Kay Gilavaat - crisp beetrrot patties with ginger, green chilli and "garam marsala", date - tamarind chutney, avocado dip, Dakhni Kebab - chicken tenderloins tandoor gild, pepper, garlic, chilli and curry leaf, Chaamp Chaarminar - lamb cutlets tandoor smoked, spice compound of cardamom, clove, cinnamon, beetroot raita and garlic dip, Firangi Frankies - Bombay's original taco with lamb and we also had a taco with prawns, Chicken Resham kebab - Beetroot naan with Calcutta chicken mince, Poochkas - mini poories, moong and potato, mint - tamarind liquor, a la Bengali, Kejriwal toast - traditional white slice toasted, aged cheddar, fried egg a la Bombay, minty relish, Naaz-E-Dariya - lobster meat stir-fried, coastal coconut broth with iddiappam. To accompany this magnificent feast we had a selection of sauces - guacamole, beetroot, mango chutney, garlic and a mint sauce.
For dessert we had Gulab Aur Elaichi Ka Piyushi - rose brulee, fresh strawberries, almond praline, whipped cream and Honey Saffron Panna Cotta - Saffron panna cotta, saffron apple confit, puffed rice honeycomb, apple pearls.
To drink Sir had a cocktail - rum sour of which he thought was beautiful. Mlady had a Merlot which is one of her favourite wines. Later on Sir also had a Shiraz from the Barossa Valley and a port - which all went so well with the meal.
Where to start? The sauces went so well with everything - Mlady had to finish these off with a spoon - delicious! The paddadams were nice a crisp and easy to eat - even by themselves - but with the mint sauce - yum! The Poochkas were so cute, you fill them up with the mint-tamarind and quickly put them in your mouth all at once for a great taste sensation.
We have had a lot of naan bread in our time and the naan bread we had, especially the Chookunder naan which was beetroot naan really was lovely. Great colour - and being huge fans of beetroot - we really enjoyed this. The Kumbhi naan - mushroom naan with truffle butter - Zaaffran's creation - had such a great taste and Sir loves anything with truffle in it.
How good was the Kejriwal Toast! Oh this was so good. Great combination with the fried egg a la Bombay and aged cheddar and that oh so yummy minty relish - colourful too.
The chicken Resham kebab was tender and tasty as was the Dakhni kebab which was lovely and had great flavour. The Firangi Frankies - we had one lamb and one prawn - such a great kick!
The Naaz-E-Dariya - the lobster meat sir-fried, coastal coconut broth with iddiappam - was AMAZING! This is probably one of the best Indian dishes ever. What a great sauce - Mlady loves sauces and yes she used the spoon to finish this. Noodles also came with this which was a great accompaniment - to soak up that glorious sauce.
Loved the Chookundar Kay Gilavaat (love beetroot). Nice crisp beetroot patties with ginger (also a fan of ginger) with green chilli and "garam masala", date-tamarind chutney and avocado dip - this was good. Flavours, textures - so good! Sir - being a huge fan of lamb really enjoyed the Chaamp Chaarminar - the lamb cutlets, they were tangy, juicy and quite plump.
The desserts were scrumptious! The Honey saffron panna cotta had to be one of the most prettiest creations ever. Absolutely divine. It was a shame to eat it - but - oh how light and delicate was this!
The Gulab Aur Elaichi Ka Piyushi - rose brulee. This had such a lovely thick crunchy toffee crust on top of a vat of smooth creamy rose custard - delicious.
The food at Zaaffran is seriously delicious. Great flavours, great kick, wonderful combinations and the presentations so appetising. Truly one of the best traditional Indian restaurants!
Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Zaaffran and owners Vikrant Kapoor and Freddie Zulfiqar. Thanks to Nana and Avinash and the staff for looking after us on the night. Special thanks to Chef Vikrant for chatting with us about his lovely food. Big thanks to Olivia Warne of Pendulum Communications for arranging this visit.