Izgara — Restaurant in Sydney

Above Par is a modern Middle Eastern Restaurant in the heart of the city. It is a boutique space offering a cosy chic indoor dining experience, as well as an alfreso dining space. Located in the CBD, Above Par is only a short walk from the QVB. Make your way up the stairs and take in the airy glass walled space, showcasing their huge wine selection. If you’d like to sit alfresco, there’s tables outside with some great lighting on the cherry blossom trees, complemented by a DJ's spinning lounge tracks (which is on from 6 pm every Thursday Friday and Saturday evenings). Inside, the restaurant has dark interiors, mood lighting and candle lit tables. As you walk in, the exotic aromas grab your attention. The crowd is vibrant, with a number of groups enjoying a shared meal and a couple of drinks in the intimate setting. A good way to kick things off is with a drink, and the venue were great in catering to a pregnant diner as they have a range of mocktails to choose from, still providing the feel of having a cocktail with other diners. The Virgin Mojito was particularly good. For the heavier stuff, from the cocktail list, the Sultan's old fashioned, made with a spiced boubon, aphrodisiac, bitters and garnished with an orange peel and a smouldering cinnamon stick, arriving at the table with smoke from the cinnamon, really awakens the senses. Their drinks list is extensive, with over 150 wines and other beverages from regions of the world you are unlikely to have sampled, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and more, ideal if you are feeling adventurous. There are also plenty of beverages from regions you will be familiar with Australia, France, Italy, Austria and Portugal to name a few. The wine is showcased well, lined up around the venue's walls. As you peruse the menu, also take note of the stunning tableware, which is in cohesion with the dining space, with charcoal grey napkins and array of diffent ceramic plates and bowls to pique your interest, whilst contributing to the presentation of each menu item. For the food, the Middle Eastern food; specifically Turkish, it is recommended as mezze-style, with sharing dishes to be key. We recommended going in a group so you can sample plenty together, because it is all sophisticated in taste and presentation. Be sure to begin with the “puffy bread”, served warm, and perfect to have with one or more of their delicious dips – hummus, baba ganoush, or atom – a popular thickened Turkish style yogurt with sundried chilies, sesame, and pine nuts. Then, take your fancy of the entrees. We order the stunning grilled calamari, perfectly cooked with a chilli tomato ezme salsa. Probably our favourite dish, healthy, intricate and refreshing. We followed this with the incredible roasted cauliflower, nice and soft with an outer char, served with raisin puree, almonds, warm hummus, zaatar, and chili oil. Everything about this was banging with flavour and textures. It’s also a gluten free and vegan option. As there were two of us in the dining party, we ordered one main and a salad between us. The Chicken shish skewers (2) were served with bulghur pilaf, sumac onion parsley salad, toum and pita was amazing. Combined with a beetroot salad a feast for the senses. Everything was delicious, perfectly cooked and well presented. Honestly we’d happily order anything on that menu. To give you a heads up of their other choices, there’s flamed kofte, slow-cooked lamb with parsley, triple cheese Shakshuka, kibbeh, manti (Turkish beef ravioli) and lahmacun (Turkish pizza) to name a few. Unfortunately we were simply too full to get dessert, but it does give us further impetus to return! We’d opt for the home made walnut baklava served with clotted cream and a Turkish coffee and rose tea. Owners Efe Topuzlu and Ozgur Sefkatli have created an A class restaurant and full credit to them, the chefs and staff for a great...

Located on Clarence Street in the heart of the CBD, this venue serves up a menu that truly reflects the flavours of Turkey and the Middle East. It's yet another venue I have fallen in love with, simply because it's so close to my heritage.

In true Middle Eastern style, everything was made to be shared. We had a wonderful range available for us to try, as we opted for one of their set menus.

The 'Kibbeh' had to be one of my favourite dishes of the night. It was fried and served on top of a chili labneh then finished off with crushed pistachio. It was cooked perfectly as it was juicy and moist.

Back to the meze, we started off with some 'Aegean Olives' and their signature 'Freshly Baked Puffy Bread'. We had this with the 'Hummus' and 'Labneh with Roasted Beetroot, Nigella and Hazelnuts'. I loved the hummus because it was simple. No fancy toppings, no theatrics.. just plain, traditional hummus. The labneh really surprised me as I usually have it with olive oil but the addition of beetroot was beautiful! When you mixed it all together, it created this gorgeous pink colour.

Included in the set menu was the 'Roasted Cauliflower with Mulberry Tahini and Almonds'. For me personally, this needed a little freshness and more texture. I feel like pomegranate seeds on top would have made the dish perfect. Between the tahini and almonds, it was a very 'nutty' dish. Also off the 'Small Plates' section, was the 'Haloumi' and my god, I loved this dish! It had lemon butter, honey, walnuts and currants. Just gorgeous.

For the main, we had 'Lamb Kofta', 'Paprika Chips' and 'Grilled Broccolini'. The kofta was served with labneh topped with isot and a shepherd's salad. The meat was juicy and flavourful, just as it should be. Best way to enjoy this, is to wrap them up in the puffy bread and dip into either the labneh or the hummus! Some of you may think fries are just fries, but these fries were special. As soon as they came to the table, memories of family meals in Lebanon came running back to me and I loved that. The broccolini was simple, crispy and just delicious with the capsicum relish and crushed walnut dip.

For dessert, we tried the ‘Layered Pistachio Slice’ served with traditional Turkish mastic ice cream. Sweet but balanced and stretchy ice cream is always fun to enjoy!

They are open for both lunch and dinner, so it's perfect for a long work lunch or for dinner with your friends after you've clocked off...

We had a brilliant dining experience at this Clarence Street Turkish Restaurant. The space is modern but cosy. There is dining available outdoors but definitely more a dine in for us tonight as it was rainy.

The service is impeccable and couldn’t ask the staff to do any more for us. Eddie and the team were brilliant and definitely steered us in the right direction on what to select to eat.

The dinner menu is simple but jams in all the classic turkish dishes with a contemporary flair. I think the dishes are best shared so you don’t get a case of fomo.

We started off with Pan Fried Honey Haloumi. This dish is a classic for a reason and did not disappoint on flavour. Served with walnuts and currants so had a lot of texture to it. We then had two dips (one off the regular menu and the other was a special). Tried and true Hummus is great with a lovely creamy texture. The special of Beetroot Muhammara is brightly coloured and very tasty. Make sure to get your bread and butter to spoon up all this goodness.

The Falafel was crunchy and coated in sesame seeds. Vibrant green interior was delicious. This is served with the aforementioned hummus and topped with a green tahini sauce. Vegetarian Gozleme was filled with spinach and feta. Nice golden exterior with nice savoury filling.

Our main plate was the Chicken Shish Kebab. Fantastic pieces of flavourful chicken are paired with bulghur pilaf, pickles, and chili labne. Excellent dish to round off our savoury meals.

We couldn’t forget about dessert and neither should you! The highlight is their Katmer which is to be shared between two (but you can eat it by yourself if you have a huge sweet tooth). Crunchy pancakes envelope a creamy dairy kaymak and are topped with ice cream and pistachios. The home made Baklava is equally good too. Served with a decadent clotted cream. The crunchy parcels of goodness are filled with a great filling of nuts.

The coffee is nice and they used Deluca Coffee.

Well worth a visit and highly recommend if you’re looking for a night out with...