LOCATION
Opposite Manly Wharf. 20 minutes drive from the CBD or ferry from Circular Quay.
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
Alhambra’s owner/chef Azziz Bakala hails from Spanish Morocco and there are few restaurants that have traditional Moorish cooking methods as well learned and loved as his. Alhambra is a friendly, casual place to enjoy a Spanish/North African banquet or a spot of tapas grazing. While the venue doesn’t exactly match the splendour of its namesake, the Arab-influenced Grenadian palace, it’s warm and colourful with bright red walls, a mosaic tile floor, vivid paintings and traditional tapestries.
There’s a horseshoe-shaped tapas bar where you can take your tapas with a healthy dose of sangria. The selection is excellent, featuring charmoula-spiced sardines, Andalusian baked eggs and b’stilla pastry rolls filled with chicken and almonds and cooked with ghee, saffron, cinnamon and orange blossom water. Good paella isn’t easy to find in Sydney and Alhambra does a most worthy version, cooked fresh to order with a generous helping of chicken and fresh seafood. The couscous is cooked the traditional way, steamed three times to ensure a fluffy texture, and the tajines come in the signature clay pot with tempting flavours such as lamb and date with honey, ginger, cinnamon and orange.
Fiona Davies, July 2006