AALIA Restaurant Sydney — Restaurant in Sydney

Chefs Review

Disclaimer: I’m nitpicking small details. After eating at many of the best restaurants in Sydney I can say Sometimes the food is so detailed and good that it comes across simple but really it’s complex.

Keeping it short and Sweet, Welcome to Aalia,

Immerse yourself in a hybrid mixture of Middle Eastern & North African Cuisine.

SERVICE was IMPECCABLE, really solid front of house, Super attentive and goes above and beyond.

Quail: Quail Skewer, Molokhia, Barberries, The best entree there… great Acidity levels and Juicy Quail, Flavour and seasoning and cookery was on point, would order again. 7.5/10

Halloumi: Hand Stretched Haloumi, Kohlrabi, Marjoram, It had Date Molasses which helped the saltiness of the Halloumi, I did find the Haloumi quite Salty and the Kohlrabi was more on the light side of a pickle, Not super Sour, I feel the Sour Pickle would balanced the flavours getting it more on the line. But that is just personal preference I enjoy everything with big Bold flavours so sometimes a dish not fully flavoured can be a nice break from bold flavours, 6.5/10

Eggplant Mes ‘A’ Aha, Spiced Tomato: Preserved Tomato, it was again not super strong in Flavour but more lighter, I was told to eat with the bread which was why I Ordered it, but it just wasn’t punchy as I expected, had a slightly Chilli oil flavour to it, very mild. 6/10

Pita was nice and Burnt on the top, Not crazy high hydration but it was decent enough and Fresh, not super airy as-well and didn’t have that sour dough flavour like Nour, 5/10

Heirloom Carrots, Carrot Top Sahawiq, Labneh: Some of the Carrots were So cooked through they fell apart and some had a good bite to it, Labneh was labneh, was it chimmi churri? Carrot top wasn’t pleasant to eat in some mouthfuls, Strange cinnamon flavour conflicts with Smokey taste of the Grill. Good seasoning though not my style of flavours. 5/10

Lamb Hawawshi, Black Garlic, Lemon: Very Nomad Pastilla vibes, Lamb tasted good and Pinenuts always complement Braised Lamb, gave me apple pie McDonald’s feels, black garlic just tasted as it was, didn’t have crazy flavours just honest flavours with fresh quality ingredients, I don’t like Black garlic flavour that straight forward but I would probably order it again, It’s quite heavy the lemon helps cut through that richness. 7/10

Dry Aged Duck, Fesenjan: Duck was crispy, Air dryed could tell it was nicely blanched and done over the firefly nicely, Great seasoning of the duck, Slightly under rested as can see but it’s no problem, I do prefer Duck Medium but it wasn’t far from it.

The Sauce I could taste had a depth of flavour and came from bones of duck and your typical stock ingredients, I could really taste that however with the tamarind it left it more acidic which help cut through the fatty mouthfeel of the duck but the sauce lacked sweetness everyone loves duck with sweetness! pomegranates didn’t add anything IMO just felt it was there for some Colour, Very Solid cooking but just missed small details when it comes to flavour for me. 7.5/10

Brown Butter Katifi, Coconut, Sumac Mango: It was the best dessert there by far, Brown butter Nuttiness with the zing of mango accompanied with sumac and Coconut, Brandy snap, texturally it was perfect, ever so slightly too sweet but it was so enjoyable I really didn’t care, do RECCOMEND. 8/10

Valrhona Chocolate, Walnut Ghoriba, Tahini: Not super sure on the intentionality of the texture of the Valrhona but the top layer was solid and hadn’t been temped which made it not as easy to go through with the spoon, The ice cream was Vanilla ice cream very typical and overly sweet, the caramel layering was nice but it was to salty with the salt flakes not crushed up enough and eaten all together you would have to really be a sweet person to enjoy it. ( It didn’t feel like this dessert was thought about much imo) 6/10

Halva Truffle, Pecan, Pistachio petit fours: halva over powered the whole flavour profile didn’t taste much truffle or pistachio, and chewy, wasn’t my favourite petit four but wasn’t...

"Have you dined with us before?" Ah, the dreaded icebreaker of modern dining, as unnecessary as a second fork for soup. One would hope the staff could recognise you from last month's visitation, especially after a two-and-a-half-hour stint with the very same attendant—as experienced at Barcelona’s Michelin-starred Mont Bar. Alas, tonight is our maiden voyage at Aalia, a Sydney darling of the 2021 World's 50 Best Restaurants list—though their website nostalgically lists the tasting menu at $73, a far cry from today's $119 price tag. Inflation or sheer audacity? You decide.

The restaurant itself is undeniably alluring—soft, sophisticated, a siren song for the culinary curious. Chef Paul Farag crafts a menu proudly rooted in Middle Eastern heritage, heavily influenced by paternal nostalgia. An inviting premise, but with every spoonful, it becomes increasingly evident that sentimentality might have trumped sensibility.

The Tuna Rishta arrives, fine noodle-like slivers of tuna mingling with the tart pop of finger lime and caramelised kishk—a lacto-fermented yoghurt and wheat concoction with hints of cumin and dill. Delightful indeed, but presented atop one of those achingly fashionable unglazed plates. The sound of metal scraping ceramic is uncomfortably reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard—specifically, those of my stern Year 4 maths teacher. Portions feel calculated to the gram; divvying up the dish becomes an awkward negotiation worthy of a UN peace summit. One wonders how elegant two individual servings might appear.

Then come the mezze: smoked buffalo labneh luxuriating under beetroot molasses, and eggplant mes ‘a’ aha paired with a spiced tomato. The Khorasan pita, an essential vehicle for these flavours, disappears all too swiftly, leaving behind a landscape littered with orphaned dollops of aubergine and labneh. A shared dining concept, it seems, primarily for accountants.

A single quail skewer appears next, brushed with molokhia and dotted prettily with barberries. Tasty, undoubtedly. However, it's the realisation that two adults are awkwardly dissecting one small bird priced at $32—a markup of around 500% on your local butcher’s fare—that lingers. It’s culinary mathematics that even my former maths teacher might find questionable.

The pièce de résistance, lamb neck shawarma, arrives in surprising form—a hefty chunk of fatty meat balanced precariously on pita, accompanied by modest pickles and a whisper of tarator. "Make your own," we're cheerfully instructed, presumably to channel the chef’s childhood memories. Nostalgia aside, this greasy heap feels akin to devouring four Big Macs in rapid succession—weighty, indulgent, and a tad regretful. When questioned, the maître d’ charmingly suggests our perspective is skewed by ignorance of the chef’s familial history. Perhaps, though I doubt Farag’s father charged an equivalent $63 back in his heyday.

Dessert brings symmetry to the meal—a petite milk chocolate tart infused with Egyptian tea and plum, joined by a solitary quenelle of cream. Well-executed yet absurdly minuscule for two. Ending the meal thus feels neither satisfying nor complete. One longs for a brighter, lighter conclusion—something to alleviate the cumulative richness.

Aalia’s cooking is undeniably skilful, occasionally thrilling, but it's burdened by portions designed for Lilliputians and a shared dining conceit that leaves diners playing hungry musical chairs. Perhaps individual plates, sensibly sized, aren’t such an outrageous suggestion. Until then, the next person who asks, "Have you dined with us before?" may well receive a longer answer...

It’s hard to put into words such a disappointing experience. I am still gutted by it.

My husband and I are traveling from outside the country and spent HOURS researching places for us to dine in Sydney. We have such limited time here we wanted to make sure we got to maximize this once in a lifetime experience for us. Because we will probably never be given the chance to come back to Australia. Through countless hours of research we decided we wanted to try dinner at AALIA for our special dinner out. I booked my table a month in advance and also wrote a note in the reservation saying this would be a special dinner for us and we were traveling REALLY far to come to AALIA.

Now we did show up to our reservation 15 minutes late, however, this was due to an unprecedented rain storm that closed off many roads we needed to take to get to our reservation. We were even told by the hostess most people were or would be late due to the weather.

However, when we get in we were checked in by the hostess. (Who truly did seem to have a lovely personality.) She did say she sees we are celebrating something extra special and that this is a special dining moment for us. Which we both said yes! She said they have a special table prepared for this moment.

Which we thought initially was such a lovely thing to say or have the restaurant do for us. Nope! It was the downfall. The table was literally right next to the hostess stand. You couldn’t even consider this tiny tiny tiny barely two person table apart of the restaurant. I was genuinely flabbergasted and thought it was a joke. Also, from working in restaurants in my early professional years, I know the placement of the table here is a HUGE safety and fire hazard and not allowed.

From the countless hours of research we did even selecting AALIA as our restaurant. I have seen 100s of photos and videos of the dining space and there has not once been this table in the images. I truly can’t stress how close this table was placed to the hostess stand.

We sat down and were just in shock. This restaurant is a $$$$ price tag and with that level of price should come some sheer common courtesy of service.

As we sat there. I heard two staff members discussing in angry voices about us being placed there. I could hear them say this was a major spot where they “run the food and sometimes bus tables, and where were they going to do that now”. Our waitress when she came up to pour some water for us even let slip, we never have a table here in this area so this is going to take some getting used to (in her own words).

We then sat there for a few minutes just so sad. And the amount of times we had staff physically hit our table because they didn’t know it was there (so not on purpose) but just due to its horrendous location…. We knew we had to leave.

I cant tell you how sad I still am. I spent sooooo much time for this once in a lifetime opportunity to have a nice meal out in Australia and was just not given that opportunity. This is not a spot we can easily come back to and now I regret we selected this restaurant as our dining experience. Because we chose this over tons of other amazing locations. I am truly devastated and I hope the restaurant never sets up that table again and tries to force another couple into the situation we were in.

Wanted to share this information for others who then may be in our position and deciding upon restaurants they may not get easy...