Lebanese Sweets 2.0 !

On a roll after my last encounter with a lebanese dessert shop, I decided I had to visit another. The Good Living Guide had a brief review about a new lebanese sweet shop that had opened in Parramatta, Sydney. This is a branch of a chain in lebanon called Sea Sweet.

The cafe was modern and clean. We arrived just before 6 pm and thus was not a popular time for desserts or coffees but it was good as it meant we were served promptly. People wandered in to check out the lebanese sweets on offer in the glass showcases to the left. Like El Sweetie, Sea Sweet also catered for Aussie tastes with many different western cakes and pastries on offer as well.

However, I was there to quench my curiosity to try new things. We studied the middle eastern dessert menu for a while. (click on it for a bigger version)

The fruit cocktail is a signature dish of theirs, supposedly with a sweetened pureed avacado base, fresh fruits and topped with kashta and nuts. However, we decided to leave that for another time. Richard went for the Kashta Mix.

This was 5 pieces of assorted pastries made on kashta, a clotted cream sweet cheese. The kashta here was very different to the one we had at El Sweetie! It was more savoury and had a texture less like whipped marshmallow and more like cottage cheese. I really liked this version much better. It went so well with the assorted crispy and flaky pastry laced with rose syrup. There was a little dish of additional syrup to pour if neccessary, however I found them perfect the way they were. The kashta found in each pastry was slightly different too, laced with different nuts.

I went for Knefe -Cheese. The waitress asked if I wanted the bun filled or unfilled. I said that I had never tried it before and so I wasn't sure. She was surprised that I was trying this and commented on my bravery. She then suggested she put the bun on the side but when she served it she gave instructions to open the bun, scoop all the mixture in, pour over syrup and press down and enjoy.

I decided to try the Knefe au naturale first before trying it with their "signature bun".

Action shot of the stretchy cheese.

Wow! One bite of this stuff and I was in heaven. Because we arrived on 6 pm (if you read the menu, it is only available at certain times and in the evening only after 6 pm) The kenefe was freshly made. It was a stretchy mozarella type slightly sweet cheese sandwiched between layers of sweet buttery, crunchy semolina. The cheese was slightly chewy yet melted in the mouth. It did not have a chees-ey type flavour at all and neither was it oily. It was extremely tasty and I remember the pillowy texture more than anything else *sigh*.

I ate some of it on half the bun and finished all the knefe but left the other half a bun. Richard had 4 pieces of his and left the large triangular piece. The waitress congratulated us on our effort. We took the last piece away as well as bought some of the baklava and other assorted lebanese pastries. The take away container was really cool. It had the company logo embossed in it and was the quality of a tupperware type container!

My long black (average) which came with one of their petit fours (nice and light).

While we were deciding which ones to get, the guy behind the counter gave us a few sample pieces to try! We were just about exploding at this point so I had to nibble on mine and put the rest away in the take away container. Our take away selection of sweets which we have started sampling.

The filo here is much more buttery and light than at El Sweetie, almost too? flaky for me. I also found the semolina in the Namoura not as crunchy and a bit too sweet. The nut ratio in the sweets is a bit higher though and the pistachios are chunkier within the pastries themselves.

Personally, the eat in desserts here win hands down. The service was much better with really friendly staff. However, I tend to like the pastries themselves at El Sweetie better. Price wise, both places are a great bargain. Our total including a Diet coke for Richard and the take away came to $33.50. We didn't even need to have dinner after that. Having a whole dessert for dinner was a first for me. I have to say I quite like the idea and would be open to doing it again!

Sea Sweet Australia
354-356 Church St Parramatta
1300 90 80 70

Lebanese sweets!

A recent flying trip to sydney to celebrate Mothers' Day with Richard's mum in Sydney only meant one thing ... food! Err I mean quality time with the in-laws *whistle*. We took MIL out to a thai restaurant near their home (they dislike venturing further than 2 suburbs away) for a Mothers day lunch. I was too embarrassed to snap photos but it was quite a nice place and we will probably be back.

On Saturday night, we had dinner on the way down (post to come soon). But on the way home on Sunday, I suggested to Richard that we try a lebanese sweet shop I had read about in the Good Living Eating section of Tuesdays' Sydney Morning Herald. You can read the review here.

When you first enter, the sights and smells and decor really tantaslise your senses. There is very modern decor and large glass showcases of lebanese sweets to your right. It also includes a smaller section of western type cakes, petit fours and some gelato. There is an area with lounges and a TV as well which looks pretty relaxing.

We got pretty overstimulated and must have looked like deer in headlights. A waitress soon asked if we needed help and motioned for us to sit down. We didn't recognise anything on the menu but were keen to try anything new. However, we must have had to wait another full ten minutes before she came back as she got distracted by people visiting. There was only one other table of people in the cafe! We were about to stand up and leave when a guy quickly apologised and asked her to come and take our order. I must say that she was quite patient and helpful after this point.

I ordered two smaller things, one of which was this semolina based biscuit filled with a walnut and almond paste. This was extremely morish. It was chewy yet crunchy and the nut paste wasn't too sweet.

My other order was the ladies finger/arm (Zroud el sit). It is a filo pastry filled with halawet or stretched curd cheese and topped with ashta (they spelled it kashta on the menu), the marshmallowy sweet heavy cream found in many lebanese desserts.

Here is a pic of the inside ....

I would definitely have this again. The tissue thin filo was crisp yet tasty complimenting the slight saltiness of the cheese and the sweetness of the ashta. There was a squeese bottle of rose water syrup on the table for those who like it done traditionally doused with the syrup. I just put a little bit on.

Richard ordered this as he thought it was interesting looking. We forgot what it was called. It was a pisachio overload (whos complaining?) with pistachios sandwiched between semolina and topped with loads of ashta which is topped with fresh pistachios. I personally find there is something in ashta that tastes a bit strange to me so I can only have a little of it at a time. Richard seemed to really like it and he finished the whole square which was larger than our digital camera.


My order of lebanese coffee .... I had it black and it came with authentic sludge down the bottom.

We were so impressed with what we had that of course we had to have take away. These shortbread type biscuits known as mammoul(cookies for any Yankee readers) were filled with date pastes or nut pastes and yes 5 days later they are definitely all gone. A real bargain at $22/kg these 4 biscuits were only about $3. A bite of these sent me to heaven ... smooth date pastes inside crumbly tasty nutty shortbread.


We are still working our way through these baklava. All are extremely fresh with just the right amount of butter and syrup in the pastries. Extremely reasonable, all of this including the takeaways and a cappuccino that Richard had which wasn't pictured .... $26.50 ! We are already planning our return.

El Sweetie
73-75 South Street, Granville, 9760 2299 Mon-Thu and Sun 7am-midnight, Fri-Sat 7-1am

P/S for all fans of lebanese food, I found a fantastic site with recipes! It is aptly titled an Introduction to lebanese cuisine