Things you've never dreamed of

March 21st, 2010 by Rose

Efendy, Balmain

It’s my good friend Pimento‘s birthday today! To celebrate him not looking a day over 27, 7 of us went to Efendy for brunch. None of us have actually been there before but we were all pleasantly surprised.

Efendy is placed away from the main Darling St strip (it’s more on the border between Balmain and Rozelle), so the surroundings are a bit more quiet, but the place was busy when we arrived. There is a nice courtyard area at the front but the majority voted for sitting inside because it was too hot.

My SO and I both ordered tea – he had the apple tea. It comes with a stick of cinnamon. I absolutely loved it and secretly wished I ordered it instead. It was pretty sweet, but the cinnamon helps to mellow out the sweetness so that it’s not too sickly. I had Turkish tea, which tasted like black tea. Idk if it’s supposed to just be black tea, but it comes in a cool glass so whatever.

Oh man. Guys you gotta get your arses down here for the breakfast, it was pretty damn amazing. These were our choices:

My SO and Rachel ordered the Kiymali – “village style” minced lamb stew with eggs and tomatoes. This was absolutely delicious. I’m a huge fan of lamb, and the combination of spices and eggs made for a rich, satisfying breakfast. The serving plate they have is… interesting. It’s like a huge dinner plate with a bowl in the middle. When you first get it you’re like uh, that’s a pretty small serving innit, then you dig your fork in and the bowl goes on FOREVER. What I’m saying is, don’t worry about your serving looking small cos it isn’t.

Cam and Andrew ordered, uh, this. The menu on the Efendy website is a bit out of date so it doesn’t have a couple of the new dishes on it (and prices – everything is probably a couple of dollars more expensive that is stated on the old website menu), but this was a dish of poached eggs on top of buttered Turkish bread with haloumi, asparagus and tomato.

May and Pimento ordered the Kallavi or big breakfast – two fried eggs with grilled sucuk, merguez sausages, mushrooms and pastirma. Pimento opted for no tomatoes because he’s weird.

This was my pick, the Menemen – spiced scrambled eggs with banana peppers and tomatoes, plus a side of haloumi for an extra $6. This was delicious. It’s pretty much just eggs and vegetables but it’s very more-ish. It’s slightly spicy, the type of heat that just tickles the tastebuds so that everything tastes more intense. I thought that $6 for a side of haloumi was pretty expensive but they do give you generous slices of it and they’re fried perfectly.

Check out the giant platter of buttered Turkish bread in the middle of the table. I love this place and will be back to try out their dinner menu one day.

Because it was just after noon when we finished eating, the girls opted for alcohol for their second round of drinks. A birthday is not complete without some, even though the birthday boy didn’t have any.

Rachel and I got a delicious cocktail called Narosa – sparkling wine, pomegranate liqueur and bits of pomegranate. Not only are the pomegranate seeds delicious but they also provide the sort of entertainment devised by people with way too much time (and sparkling wine) on their hands, as we tried to get the seeds to float via the powers of bubbles in the wine. May ordered a Bloody Ayshe – vodka, tomato juice, Turkish tomato ezme (idk) and “spices”. It came with a pickled chilli on the rim. I didn’t try any of it cos I hate tomato juice, but it got a thumbs up from May.

Then we went back to my place where I surprised Pimento with a chilli chocolate orange cake (recipe from here). I need to get myself to a cake decorating class or some shit because this looks like ass, but I can guarantee that this recipe is tops – it was very fudgey and rich and the chilli in it packs just the slightest hint of heat that pairs very well with the chocolate. My mistake was to leave it in the fridge until we got home. Ideally you’d want it to be out of the fridge for an hour or so before eating, as it’s a bit dry when it’s cold.

Among a couple other things, I got Pimento this as a gag gift:

It’s gluten free, low sodium vegetarian bacon salt. It’s actually as disgusting as it sounds. It doesn’t taste like any sort of bacon I know. It tastes more like dried, ground up cocktail weiners. Blerrrghhh. I don’t recommend getting it for people you like.

Efendy
79 Elliott St. (corner of Darling St.), Balmain
(02) 9810 5466

ETA: I just realised I’m using my old watermark with a www in front of the URL. FML I’m not redoing the pictures

ETA II: Heads up for food bloggers: head over to Simon’s blog to win a chance to be a guest at Efendy’s food blogger’s event! There’s going to be free samples of authentic (and I’m sure) v. tasty Turkish food.

Comments

12 Responses to “Efendy, Balmain”
  1. that’s great timing hehe i’ve yet to try the Apple Tea though. if your free and want the chance come to the blogging event then let me know in the comments and which main and dessert you’d love to try :-)

  2. I love brunch with celebratory occasions – cake! lol

    Kiymali looks pretty goood! and I just remembered… I’ve been to Efendy when I was working in Balmain. How come I never ordered that before.

  3. @Simon unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be free on that date! :( It’s a shame cos it sounds awesome. I’ll comment if plans change before the deadline for sure.

    @Yas I think that they might be under different management when you were working there? I could be wrong though

  4. I just really want to dip a whole lotta bread into your Menemen (which sounds like ‘many men’?) dish!

  5. that menemen looks gorgeous
    why do eggs taste so good? chickens are genius, I pay my respects

  6. I’m now hanging for a Narosa. It’s WELL past noon.

    Looks like some great eating, and I’m glad my Turkish food education continues! Thanks, teacher, your apple is in the post :D

  7. Hehe those glasses are super cool. I lurrve turkish bread, that big plate in the middle looks so inviting… And your egg dish sounds awesome. I must definitely check this place out! Thanks for the review :)

  8. Looks delish!! I Have to check this place out!! Thanks for the pics! Love em!

  9. I love those tea glasses, too. And the food looks better than Kazbah’s.
    PS: My other half also got some of that bacon salt recently. I bought truffle salt because I’m more refined ;)

  10. Fancy seeing you in the park this evening! I’ve been to Efendy and enjoyed it – I love the turkish apple tea there. Shall we go there again next time?

  11. This looks like it was one he’ll of a b’day breakfast. I’m a fan of sucuk & pasturma, or at least their Lebanese equivalents so would love to try out their big breakfast at some stage.

    The cake looks fine to me :)

  12. mademoiselle – the fact that the dish sounds like “many men” gives it many bonus points already.

    Conor – more like appletini, I hope.

    Betty – it’s totally worth a visit! the service was quite friendly too.

    Belle & Trissa – yes, let’s go next time! I have to say that as much as I liked Kazbah, I think I prefer the food here.

    Simon – dude you gotta try it out for sure. Just get there slightly before noon so you can have a drink with breakfast.

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