Don't miss the kebabs and all things ‘tangy, savoury-sour' at this Persian restaurant
Surena is a busy restaurant. The sea of midnight blue velvet chairs and decorative table numbers may also make you feel like you've stumbled into a Persian wedding reception. (Iranian pop music videos add to the charm.) First opening in Hornsby in 2020, the restaurant moved to its current location in Carlingford in late 2022.
Koubideh marinated minced lamb and joojeh marinated chicken skewers are the most popular dishes, grilled on sword-like skewers and fanned furiously over charcoal. The meats are complemented with grilled tomato and green chilli, a hunk of raw onion and the biggest mountain of saffron rice – capped with crunchy tahdig – you may have ever set eyes on. The metal plates are huge, looking more like serving dishes.
We gravitate towards the torsh kebab, described as sour on the menu but in reality leaning more to tangy and sweet. The marinade of pomegranate molasses, walnuts and herbs is flavour-packed and makes for a juicy lamb fillet that hums sweetness and zing.
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The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Don't miss the kebabs and all things ‘tangy, savoury-sour' at this Persian restaurant
There are 150 tahdig pots in the kitchen, says Mehdi Mousavi, restaurant co-owner with wife Fatemeh Mahmoudi. The pots were brought back from Iran, and up to 15 of them are in the oven at any one time, blasted at 400 degrees for five minutes to create the rice's trademark bottom. Surena is a busy restaurant. The sea of midnight blue velvet chairs and decorative table numbers may also make you feel like you've stumbled into a Persian wedding reception. (Iranian pop music videos add to the charm.) First opening in Hornsby in 2020, the restaurant moved to its current location in Carlingford in late 2022. Koubideh marinated minced lamb and joojeh marinated chicken skewers are the most popular dishes, grilled on sword-like skewers and fanned furiously over charcoal. The meats are complemented with grilled tomato and green chilli, a hunk of raw onion and the biggest mountain of saffron rice – capped with crunchy tahdig – you may have ever set eyes on. The metal plates are huge, looking more like serving dishes. We gravitate towards the torsh kebab, described as sour on the menu but in reality leaning more to tangy and sweet. The marinade of pomegranate molasses, walnuts and herbs is flavour-packed and makes for a juicy lamb fillet that hums sweetness and zing.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Don't miss the kebabs and all things ‘tangy, savoury-sour' at this Persian restaurant
There are 150 tahdig pots in the kitchen, says Mehdi Mousavi, restaurant co-owner with wife Fatemeh Mahmoudi. The pots were brought back from Iran, and up to 15 of them are in the oven at any one time, blasted at 400 degrees for five minutes to create the rice's trademark bottom. Surena is a busy restaurant. The sea of midnight blue velvet chairs and decorative table numbers may also make you feel like you've stumbled into a Persian wedding reception. (Iranian pop music videos add to the charm.) First opening in Hornsby in 2020, the restaurant moved to its current location in Carlingford in late 2022. Koubideh marinated minced lamb and joojeh marinated chicken skewers are the most popular dishes, grilled on sword-like skewers and fanned furiously over charcoal. The meats are complemented with grilled tomato and green chilli, a hunk of raw onion and the biggest mountain of saffron rice – capped with crunchy tahdig – you may have ever set eyes on. The metal plates are huge, looking more like serving dishes. We gravitate towards the torsh kebab, described as sour on the menu but in reality leaning more to tangy and sweet. The marinade of pomegranate molasses, walnuts and herbs is flavour-packed and makes for a juicy lamb fillet that hums sweetness and zing.
The Age
30-07-2025
- The Age
Winner winner, roast chicken dinners: the bachelor's handbag gets a glow-up
If a supermarket takeaway chicken is in the forest and no single bloke is around to pick it up after MMA training, is it still a bachelor's handbag? Although WA has long appreciated the pleasures of roast chook – we are, after all, the home of both Red Rooster (1972) and Chicken Treat (1976), plus Nando's opened its first Australian store here in 1990 – there's been considerable movement in roast chicken circles of late: a response, perhaps, to both cost of living pressures as well as a craving for simpler pleasures. In addition to last year's debut of Palestinian-owned chicken shop Pauly's Chicken & Ribs, Como's On Fire Charcoal Chicken added a second outpost in Harrisdale to its roster; the opening of Six Streets in Karawara gave local eaters another Thai-style gai yang (roast chicken) option other than Victoria Park's Bangkok Street Thai Bistro; while Persian-style charcoal grilled chooks are part of the offering at Vic Park's Sindbad Kebab. The latest chook offering to turn my head can be found at Sunsets, the all-day restaurant at The Lodge Wadjemup on Rottnest Island.
