For my sister's birthday, she planned on going out with her friends for dinner but invited me to also join last minute! I was reluctant to go because I had heaps of homework to do but she has always raved about the food in Xanthi so when I heard that was the place to be that night, I threw guilt out the window and just enjoyed myself that night. There were 8 people so we decided to each get their own mains or whatever they liked on their extensive menu and then just share it with the table. Due to our excitement of food, taking decent pictures of untouched plates was nearly impossible so I apologise in advance for the lack of images of the dishes we tried.
For the entrée, we got the dip selection of Tarama, Tzatziki and Split Pea Dip with toasted pita bread. Oh my goodness, the pita bread was PERFECT- Warm, fluffy and just amazing... I prefer the Tarama at Georges but I'm no expert on Greek food so who knows which one is more authentic.
For the mains and sides, we tried the:
- Truffle moussaka ($34): Layers of fried eggplant, potato and mushroom brushed with a truffled paste with a creamy béchamel sauce top. Served with a cucumber, fennel, apple mint salad with a honey vanilla balsamic dressing.
This was nice but just waaay too creamy/cheesy for my liking, but if you're into that kind of stuff, then by all means- go for it.
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- Roast duck with quince ($33): Duck breast cooked in a quince syrup and served with wilted greens and roasted quince.
Duck was perfectly tender and the syrup was a nice mix of sweet and tangy.
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- Crispy whole snapper savoro ($30): Plate size whole snapper in a parsley, dill flour coating fried and dressed with a dressing of currants, olive oil, white wine vinegar and fresh oregano. Served with wilted greens.
This was an interesting dish- the dressing was very tangy and full of flavour which surprisingly really mathched well with the fish.
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- Seafood kakavia ($34): A rich thick herbaceous chunky broth of octopus, prawns, scallops, clams , carrots, potatos and celery. Served with toasted kasseri bread.
One of my favourite dishes of the night- the broth was very rich and tomato-ey, jam packed with flavour. At first, there was something I was eating which I thought was fish but wasn't sure- all I knew it was one of the most delicious things I've tasted- turned out to be the toasted kasseri bread. I don't know how I managed to mix fish and bread up but nonethless, it was a damn good chunk of bread.
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- Pork belly baklava ($21): Twice cooked pork belly with a date and pistachio filling.Served with a date mastic sauce and pork crackling.
Flaky, crisp filo pastry tick, flavoursome sweet date sauce tick, tender pork tick. They apparently roll out and make their pastries to order which really is admirable! This is a definite must-try!
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- Feta and dill polenta chips ($9): I was in awe with the super chunky style chips with the appetising creamy cheese sauce. Under the crisp exteriors lay smooth, melt in your mouth polenta. I've never actually tried polenta before, but after having this, I'm sure to try it in other dishes as well- not just its chip form!
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Feeling very, very satisfied with the savoury dishes, we couldn't resist trying a couple desserts too- didn't want to miss out on the whole experience you know what I'm saying? So we tried:
Greek coffee brulee tart: Served with milk and honey sorbet. ($14)
The top was perfectly crunchy and inside lay perfectly smooth coffee custard, the sorbet definitely played its part well as a refreshing lift to the whole dessert. Yum.
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Caramel baklava ice cream ($15): sliced layers of vanilla bean ice cream, caramel fudge and baklava nuts.
This was sooo good but a little too excessive on the sugar level. Amazing combinations of textures and flavours!
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Chocolate Loukoumi (Grecian Delight) Fondant ($14): Served with rosewater and raspberry sorbet.
I'm not a big chocolate person but this has won me over. The fondant had oozing centres and the sorbet and turkish delight cubes made a simple fondant to something exciting in your mouth.
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The decor and ambience was very appropriate and there is a great balance of professionalism and friendliness with the waiters. The gold themed decor made you feel very exclusive and special indeed too!
Overall, Xanthi has exceeded my already high expectations, delivering very exciting dishes every time. If you ever decide to go, bring along alot of friends so you can each get different dishes and share everything- you won't regret it. The desserts were also to die for, so even if you're not a dessert person in restaurants because you're usually too full, keep them in mind and leave some room! Definitely will go back again very, very soon.
Xanthi
02 9232 8535
100 Market St Level 6 Westfield
