126 Pacific Highway, Roseville, New South Wales
elkarim.com.au

One of my favourite places for a nice dinner out is El Karim, a long-established, slightly fancy Lebanese restaurant on the highway in Roseville. I’d planned a dinner out with Mrs Snot Block & Roll and booked a table for two, little suspecting the surprise that was to come. The menu had been redone since our last visit, and now listed amongst the various small mezze plates – such as falafels, fried haloumi, lamb kofta, and the delicious honey and zaatar calamari – was “El Karim sausage rolls”. You know what had to be done.

The dish cost $16, and appeared at the end of the meal, as the custom here is to bring dishes out separated in time so everyone can share a few things at a time. The plate contained four rolls, which would do a good job of sharing between four people if you’d ordered a bunch of other things to sample the menu. Each one was maybe half the size of a regular bog-standard sausage roll.

But bog-standard these were not. They were a clearly hand-crafted Lebanese take on the traditional Aussie fast food. The construction was a thin layer of minced pork mixed with chopped onions and zaatar, spread onto Lebanese bread, then rolled up into a fat roll, sliced into lengths, and baked. The result was sprinkled with more zaatar and sesame seeds. The plate was accompanied by a small dish of home made barbecue sauce.

Being in a somewhat upmarket restaurant, I decided to use a knife and fork, rather than tackle the rolls by hand. The outside layer of Lebanese bread was crispy from the baking, crackling appealingly under the cutlery. Inside, the rolls were soft and moist, both the meat and the rolled layer of bread. The lamb was spiced with distinct Middle Eastern flavours, though on the subtle side and not overwhelming. The chunks of onion were large and generous, cooked to a soft transparency. It was deliciously moist and flavoursome.

I tried one of the four rolls without adding any of the sauce, to experience the innate flavour profile. For the remainder I added some of the sauce, which contributed a slight sweetness and additional spiciness that offset the spiced meat very nicely. Normally I don’t approve of sauces on sausage rolls, but a well made custom job like this can really add something. All up, this was a great dish, with a contrast in textures between the crispy baked bread coating, the soft bread inside, and the juicy lamb meat and onion chunks, and with a different and very pleasing palette of spices and flavours. No points deducted for the unusual and creative take on the sausage roll concept – it’s really good to see something like this done so well.

“El Karim sausage roll”: 9/10