Abu Ali, Fairfield

If you are looking for traditional Iraqi food head to Sydney's Fairfield where there are plenty of Iraqi eateries. Kebab Abu Ali is an Iraqi restaurant with a distinct interior with rich red and paintings on the walls. You'll find authentic Iraqi dishes like Parda Pilaw, or Teeman ala Baggella made with broad beans, dill and topped with a lamb shank plus house made bread made fresh to order.

I'm rather obsessed with the interior of Kebab Abu Ali and the paintings and it takes me a good few minutes to stop looking around and have a look at the menu here. Abu Ali is located on Spencer Street in Fairfield, a few minutes from the train station and is open from 10am-9:30pm. Laura and I are having an early dinner here and we aren't the only ones.

The menu at Kebab Abu Ali has a range of traditional Iraqi dishes as well as items like dips, tabbouli and kebabs. And all of the flat bread is made in house in their tandoor oven. A plate with two soft flatbreads hits the table along with a platter of pickles, dip, onion, both designed to eat with the kebabs.

Laura's capsicum allergy has proven a little bit of a challenge in Fairfield but they do a double check and then the chef himself comes out to check which is extraordinary service. "There is no hospital nearby!" he says smiling while another woman quips, "Don't sue me!".

The mixed grill is three skewers with chicken tikka, lamb tikka and Iraqi kebab all done on a charcoal grill. I love the Iraqi kebab the best and as promised, they're all sprinkled liberally with sumac, one of my favourite spices that imparts a lemony flavour to the meat. Sumac is such an important spice that we have salt and sumac shakers on the table.

When the Parda Plaw arrives at the table our eyes widen. It's bread stuffed with a pilaf with noodles and chunks of lamb (or chicken or vegetables) and currants. It's then sealed up and baked in the oven and then served upturned. You cut into it and it's spectacular. The rice has super long grains and we love the textural contrast with the fried vermicelli and deliciously soft meat.

There's a lot on our table and Your Honour we did over order but we were really vibing here. The rice with broad beans is also called Teeman Baggella and features a broad bean and dried dill long grain rice with lots of butter and topped with a slow cooked lamb shank. I love this with some of the yogurt, salt and some extra sumac.

Another dish that we really loved was the bean stew made with tomatoes and it is such a comforting dish, especially as the warm weather has disappeared into the evening along with the sun. We find ourselves going back to this again and again.

The Chef and owner comes out to see whether we enjoy the food and we talk to him about the bread. His name is Ahmad Al Zargani or Rafael and he took over the restaurant from his father 6 years ago. Rafael offers to show us the bread oven so after we have finished and paid we go into the kitchen where he shows us how to roll out the flatbread dough which is made with a mix of white wheat and wholemeal flour. A tip: start on the edges and use your fingers to push out the edges. Then he cuts holes in the bread and spreads it out further flipping it from hand to hand. Then it gets spread out mold and you use it to press the dough against the side of the tandoor oven. We both fail to launch our flatbreads spectacularly but hey we tried!

And the bill for all of this food and loads to take home with us is a very reasonable $107.

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever made bread in a tandoor oven? Have you tried much Iraqi food?

This meal was independently paid for.

Abu Ali

1/41-47 Spencer St, Fairfield NSW 2165

Open 10am-9:30pm 7 days a week

Phone: (02) 9723 3644