Cafe Mint is a nice cosy Middle-Eastern place in the less-trendy end of Crown St, Surry Hills, near Cleveland Street. Further north is the trendier section with the likes of Bills and Billy Kwong. I rather like this more bohemian end, where every other shop is seemingly Indian or Middle-Eastern. In fact, strolling before dinner, we see a few skewers of lamb kefta glistening on the grills. Very hard to resist. We also see Sushi Suma (Sushi Suma - Mietta's review) with a short queue of diners waiting for it to open. We make a note to return next time.

With a good selection of mezze and a few warming tagines to ward off the Winter chills, it is a good place to graze over a few dishes with friends.

We start with a Muhammara dip of capsicum and walnut. Nutty and faintly smoky, perhaps from the chargrilled capsicum. It was a bit cheeky to charge for bread separate to the dips, but the pita crisps were nice enough to each on their own with a zingy zaatar topping.

Strips of tender lamb was served with a za'alook, basically a simple salad of eggplant and tomato strips, providing a nice foil to the meaty lamb. The chargrilled quail was lovely marinated in thyme, lemon and chilli, but a little under-done for us. The knock-your-head-off harissa was great with the lamb shoulder tagine too, a nice contrast to the sweet and savoury flavours of the tagine and the meltingly tender hunks of meat.

A surprise hit was the lemon and saffron roast chicken. It's not something Julia and I would order, but we loved it. Thanks to Isabel and Andrew for choosing that! The chicken was fragrant with lemon and saffron. The tender grains of pilaf coated with herbs was a lovely accompaniment.

We would have stuck around for the Turkish apple and mint teas, or even the chai, but parking-limits got the better of us. Next time!

Cafe Mint (02) 9319 0848 579 Crown St Surry Hills NSW 2010 www.cafemint.com.au/

Reviews: - Cafe Mint, By Joanna Savill, Sydney Morning Herald, Good Living, February 5, 2007 - Cafe Mint, By David Dale, Sydney Morning Herald, Good Living, December 16, 2005