kazbah @ darling st., balmain

If you're looking for a place to have breakfast, look no further than Kazbah @ Darling St., Balmain. Sure, I'd read a lot about them and knew from reviews that they were good. Trying it for myself, I was completely wow-ed over - it was unquestionably the best breakfast that I've had and it was a breakfast eaten in a group; now how on earth do you cater breakfast to a group of people?

The occasion was Mrs Rookie's 25th birthday where she'd invited a group of us to join her for a breakfast banquet at Kazbah. The breakfast banquet is $25 per person and is designed as a shared menu and incorporates a broad range of dishes from the a la carte menu.

J&I were the first to arrive. J takes the opportunity to do some artistic photos. He's getting pretty good with that camera of his!

The b'day girl with her present (a Jamie Oliver flavour shaker from J& I). Char - let me know if it works!

To start - Date & Banana Porridge with Stewed Rhubarb.

Sweet Couscous with nuts and dried fruits.

The sweet couscous is served with a side of stewed rhubarb, brown sugar and cardamom milk on the side (both hold and cold milk). It was my first time eating sweet couscous and it was delicious!

Warm rice pudding, saffron poached pear, cinnamon and hazelnuts. I always thought rice pudding was an after dinner dessert but arguably, it tastes just as good, if not better first up in the morning.

A banana and strawberry smoothie - note that these drinks are not part of the banquet menu. In hindsight, I probably would've ordered myself a cup of tea for all the food that was yet to come to the table. 

My favourite that morning had to be these tagines - here's the Lamb Mince, sucuk, feta, spinach, roast capsicum, caramelised onion, roast tomato, eggs tagine. The other was a pumpkin, feta, spinach, roast capsicum, caramelised onion, roast tomato, eggs tagine. I can't even describe how delicious these were! If anything, I've been so inspired that I've walked into Myer a couple of times almost buying one of these tagine pots to cook my own (only thing is, they're actually quite expensive!)

The tagines are served with a side of turkish toast and lebanese bread.

Poached, scrambled and fried eggs on turkish toast (all bases covered!)

Merguez sausage, bacon, halloumi, roasted tomato and hash browns.

Mushrooms, spinach and baked beans.

And if you thought that was all the food - here come the pancakes! Banana and strawberry with maple syrup and double cream.

Chocolate and raspberry with butterscotch sauce and chocolate fudge icecream. Both pancakes got picked at - we were just too full to eat it all.

I think I had at least 4 times my usual breakfast that morning. Having started at 11 in the morning, we finished up sometime past 2pm (by that time, we were all so full and couldn't really move!) If I didn't have to drive, I would definitely had slept in the car on the way home.

Highly recommend group functions here. Keep in mind that it can get a little warm sitting inside on a hot day (as the restaurant opens out to the street and you only have the overhead fans to keep you cool). Service is wonderful, the food is fantastic and well, the food just keeps coming!

Thanks Char for the invite, hope you had a fantastic b'day!