A world of tastes delivered to you
The character of two suburban favourites shines through in their takeaway offerings, writes Simon Wilkinson, in a new series about how SA’s favourite restaurants are trying to survive the COVID-19 crisis.
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Some might find it fanciful, but I reckon you can still get a sense of a restaurant and its people from the contents of a cardboard box or flimsy plastic container.
All the effort that is normally put into table service, décor, playlists and the other elements that contribute to a dining room’s vibe are on hold for now.
Intricate food arrangements are a waste of time. No matter how much care is taken, takeaway food will never look like it does on a plate – particularly, as I discovered, if a stack of containers falls over during transit.
But following the takeaway trail to a pair of favourites within close proximity of each other in the western suburbs this week, each offering speaks quite clearly about the place it has come from.
PARWANA
In the case of Parwana, those qualities are love, warmth, family and humility.
The much-loved Afghan restaurant on Henley Beach Rd is normally packed with happy, chatty customers, so to walk in now is quite a shock. Those gorgeous turquoise walls and family portraits feel very different without a crowd.
“People are getting quite emotional when they come in and see that it is completely empty,” says Fatema Ayubi, whose parents opened Parwana more than 10 years ago. “They are telling us they are getting takeaway to make sure we stay in business.”
The restaurant has adapted its normal menu, which changed from day to day, to create a special collection suited to the takeaway format. Fortunately, this list includes all the Parwana essentials.
That starts with the mantu, tender-skinned dumplings swollen with a filling of shredded onions and carrots so sweet and golden they must have braised for aeons under careful surveillance. They are topped with a scant scattering of fried lamb mince (optional if you want to keep it vego), yoghurt, paprika and dried mint.
The world-famous (well, it has featured in The New York Times) eggplant is there as well, perhaps even more soft and squishy than usual, as it slowly becomes as one with a tomato and garlic sauce.
One of the secrets is peeling the eggplant before it is cooked.
You must also experience Farida Ayubi’s palaw rice, based on aged basmati grains that are darker in colour and possess a mesmerising fragrance. The Kabuli version is finished with threads of grated carrot and sultanas that are fried with cardamom. It’s heavenly wherever you eat it.
124b Henley Beach Rd, Torrensville, 8443 9001, parwana.com.au
Open Tue-Sun, 6pm-8pm . Ring ahead for orders
NEW LOCAL EATERY
A few kilometres away, snuggled in next to the Entertainment Centre, Daniel Blencowe and Amy Zammit take a broader view of the world at New Local Eatery. This is the kind of restaurant every neighbourhood would love to have open in their patch – where eating can be both adventurous (but not stupidly so) and affordable. Despite the challenges presented by current restrictions, that hasn’t changed.
No wonder the local community has rallied behind them. “People are offering words of encouragement and really supporting us by coming in,” Daniel reports. The result is that NLE is doing similar numbers as it did before restrictions came in – without the same income, of course. One reason for this is the exceptional value offered by meals priced at either $15 or $20.
A Korean beef and noodle bowl falls into the first category, despite being filled with brisket that has cooked for 16 hours, kimchi, soba noodles, pickled carrots and a soft-boiled egg. All these elements are united by a healthy whack of house-made “Red Dragon” fermented chilli sauce.
For another $5 the combinations become more sophisticated. A Tuscan seafood stew packed with Goolwa pipis and fillets of Coorong mullet is topped by a fennel salad. Confit duck leg is rested on a slab of potato rosti and partnered by a beetroot trio – puree, shaved and salt-baked wedges.
Slices of medium-rare lamb rump are crusted in a crumble of pistachio, hazelnut and walnut, then laid beside discs of grilled eggplant that mush up nicely with a yoghurt sauce. This is all finished with an Iranian salad of cured onion, pomegranate and herbs that adds freshness and crunch. Remarkable, considering the price.
And don’t skimp on dessert. A silken baked custard with honeycomb and stone fruit is exactly the kind of treat we need to get through these long and lonely days.
120 Port Rd, Hindmarsh, 8340 4915, newlocaleatery.com.au
Takeaway open Fri for lunch, Mon-Sat dinner. Free delivery within 3km