Tagine Treat on Colombo

We could not do without the culinary exotic in Christchurch after two years of inhaling dried liquefaction, eating the humble pie of heritage destruction and demolition, and putting up with the sour-taste-in-your-mouth of dealing with EQC and Insurance companies daily for 24 months.

Admittedly we have restaurants like Turkish, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese and Italian but on a recent excursion along Colombo St in Sydenham I espied Casbah, a “Moroccan” restaurant. It has, apparently, been open for a year and I see it has three reviews on DineOut....
Anyway, it wasn’t quite wine o’clock, being 12noon, so I stepped inside for a treat. Beautifully friendly staff, eager to explain the dishes and offer advice – I couldn’t resist the  thought of lamb cooked in a conical tagine pot, a ‘Traditional lamb tagine’ but wanted to start with a taste of the northern Sahara by slurping a Harira, Morocco’s famous tomato & chickpea soup seasoned  with fresh coriander, parsley, celery & spices. This delicious, spiced up sensation came with grilled pita bread triangles and was a brief and satisfying chickpea focussed  step into North Africa you might say.

The lamb was an interesting dish of manifold flavours, succulent and sure without being overly bold, with an unmistakable Middle Eastern sauce boasting the hot wind of the desert, the smell of the bazaar and the essence of age-old customs. A more than passable lunch on a spring afternoon. All for little more than $21.00