LOCATIONOn Jones Bay Wharf in Pyrmont, approximately 10 minutes’ drive from the CBD.
DETAILSArabesque wrought iron wall fixtures overlook a simple yet warm dining room studded with tealights, while café-style wooden furniture spills out onto a waterside veranda. Alira’s trans-continental dishes reflect the colourful history of Moorish dynasties – from Spanish manchego cheese with membrillo, a concentrated fruit paste typically made from quince, to wood-grilled quail with za’atar, the piquant Middle Eastern spice mix of sesame seeds, thyme, oregano, sumac and salt.
PROFILESydneysiders are quick to invade outdoor seating areas at the very first sight of Spring - Alira’s veranda-bound crowd heralded the season had indeed sprung this balmy, late September evening. A breeze drifts in through retracted windows to the dining space; its seamless indoors-to-outdoors design, one that recalls the open-air courtyards of far-off Moroccan riads.
Ex-Rockpool’s Mikee Collins manages the small floor with the finesse of haute cuisine training, yet manages a casual, amiable presence. Service is attentive, with staff keen to explain the menu’s exotic, perhaps lesser known, dishes. The Alira Negroni adds a splash of grapefruit juice and sweet Pedro Ximenez sherry to the classic combo of gin, vermouth and Campari, and goes down a palate-cleansing treat against tapas’ olive oil base and heady spices.
Glazed terracotta bowls quickly arrive to the table, offering condiments to pair with crunchy, grilled flatbread; plump chunks of oven-roasted eggplant are smoky, silky and smooth, while creamy housemade labneh cheese is studded with nutty white and black sesame seeds. ‘Devils on horseback’ are a sweet ‘n’ sour riding duo – luscious dates stuffed with crushed almonds, rolled in crispy prosciutto and flash-fried – while a pair of salted cod croquettes’ crunchy shells break to expose a light, flaky fish interior.
Main courses are served on colourful platters, ready for division by eager diners. A citrusy salad of aniseed-tinged shaved fennel, sits atop equally thinly sliced kingfish. Buttery prawns mop up salty, parsley-heavy chermoula alongside the crunch of meaty pork scratchings. A tangy yoghurt panna cotta arrives to finish, bejewelled with a line of ruby-red fig segments and crystal-like candied fennel leaves.
Alira’s menu moves effortlessly from the Middle East to Spain to Morocco - a concise account of bygone Moorish regimes transported into a very tasty future.
Alecia Wood