Balkan Restaurant

Another night and another prepaid online discount coupon saw us meet at 7pm at Balkan Restaurant.

Balkan deems themselves the original Balkan restaurant and approaching the restaurant on Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, I looked up at the sign and exclaimed, "Oh, I know this place! It's been here for ages". Indeed, it has.

The restaurant isn't over the top fancy, but makes the effort with chilled water glasses and double clothed tables. It's nice to see the run of the mill restaurant do these easy little things that just give it that extra edge.

Tonight's voucher entitled us to $70 worth of food or a seafood platter for two for $35 (and we had two vouchers between the four of us!) Hungrily, we pored over the double sided one page menu, discussing our possibilities as a group.

"What do you think is in the avocado seafood?" Ash asked. "I want to know what's in the Balkan mixed grill." Colin stated. I for one was most intrigued by the top three dishes on the back of the menu, Raznjici for $23.90, Cevapcici for $24.90 and Pola-Pola for $24.90.

We waited what seemed like an eternity for the waitress to give us even the slightest bit of attention. We had a growing list of questions for her. Including a request to see the dessert menu. I find it very useful in order to determine how large a meal I'll eat! The waitress was incredibly abrupt, so much so it came across as a bit rude. She gave us concise answers to our questions - Raznjici is pork neck, Cevapcici is pork sausage and Pola Pola is half half of the first two!

We forgot to enquire as to the avocado seafood so Ash and Colin just took a gamble with it. It was pleasant, with a ripe avocado and succulent prawns but nothing overly special.

Sam and I shared a garlic bread ($3.50) , garden salad ($7.90) and a bowl of chips ($8) to start. The garlic bread was low on presentation - four slices of baguette in a large wire basket, but the chips were lovely hand cut fries that tasted great.

Poor Ash ordered the risotto marinara for $23.90 and was given a choice of tomato or creamy sauce. She politely asked our waitress which she recommended to which she received a reply of "I don't know darling" in a fed up and patronising tone! (She went with the creamy).

Colin decided upon the Balkan Grill, which had chicken, steak, pork sausage, frankfurt and raw onion. He commented that the steak was on the bland side but apart from that, was content with his choice.

Sam ordered the chicken schnitzel. It was two decent pieces of schnitzel served with steamed vegetables and mash potato.

Ash's risotto was a perfect consistency but in her opinion, the seafood was somewhat lacking with only fish and few scattered prawns. We agreed that a good risotto marinara always has muscles!

My Cevapcici were presented like rays of sun around a circle of chopped raw onion. They were cooked well but looked somewhat unappetising! They were a touch bland but when dipped in tomato sauce, tasted quite lovely. They were quite filling though and I only got through about half.

The Balkan Grill and Cevapcici were both served with a balkan salad - shredded cabbage and boiled potatoes. We all really enjoyed this.

Thoroughly stuffed and a touch uninspired by the dessert menu (tiramisu, pancakes, special pancakes and ice cream), we forwent dessert and called it a night.

Would I go back? Probably not. However, we had a great night and the interesting food stimulated some great conversation.

Balkan Restaurant

209 Oxford St
Darlinghurst, 2010

Open for Lunch and Dinner

Wednesday - Monday (Closed Tuesdays)

Villa in Kings Cross

Tonight we went for an impromptu dinner in Kings Cross and wandered past Villa on Kellet Street.
Beautifully presented from the outside with their menu on display, elegant colours and fonts, the restaurant looked lovely for a quiet date night.

The restaurant was quiet as we walked through, led by our warm and friendly waiter, but we discovered that the diners were all sitting in the enclosed outside area. Whilst the inside was romanticly lit with walls in shades of maroon, the outside was considerably brighter with lights around the walls. Quirky art, such as a distorted Mona Lisa, filled both the inside and outside of the restaurant.

The tables were covered in white paper and as ours had water rings on it, the waiter quickly changed it before seating us.

The menu was substantial, carrying an Italian theme and the restaurant is licenced with a cocktail menu. I asked if they could do a Mango Daquiri (noting another cocktail had mango in it) and they happily obliged.

We started with a serving of bruscetta (which was very large for $10) and was served on a brightly painted, very Italian looking plate. The bruscetta was perfect. A lot of the time I find that with bruscetta you either get too much tomato on two tiny pieces of bread, or all bread and very little tomato! Here, the balance was ideal with six serves on the plate and a good balance of tomato and basil (I also found that as you crunched and munched through it, no tomato fell off!)



Our other entree was a beef carpaccio ($21). Very zesty, the carpaccio seemed to be sitting in olive oil and lemon juice and was served with rocket, parmasan and a side of warm, partially toasted and herbed turkish bread pieces. I loved it!



For mains we ordered squid ink pasta with calamari ($26) and a lasagne. The pasta was lovely and buttery, but this had the effect of making it quite filling (or perhaps it was the turkish bread I had filled up on)! The calamari wasn't quite to my taste though as the thick pieces were a bit soft and slimey!



The beef lasagna was wonderful with a creamy tomato sauce. Villa seems to really master the art of clean food as the lasagna didn't fall apart, as many lasagnas do and was easy to eat.



Moderately priced and fully licenced, Villa is a great little restaurant for a night out with friends or a romantic date.