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Pazar Food Collective

Angie Schiavone

Same vibe: Turkish and Middle Eastern food have been added to Mexican at Pazar.
Same vibe: Turkish and Middle Eastern food have been added to Mexican at Pazar.James Brickwood

Contemporary$$

Canterbury locals were left mourning when Mex-pop-up La Lupita moved from a warehouse in their 'hood to a permanent home in Sydney's CBD. There it's stayed, but the mood has lifted back in Canterbury where La Lupita's former head honcho and original creator, Attila Yilmaz, is starting over.

Pazar - Turkish for marketplace - is a new start but it emerges with a big carry-over fan base and a few old favourite Mexican dishes alongside new stars from Turkey and the Middle East. The vibe's the same, too: more polished but still relaxed and vibrant, somehow feeling inclusive and underground at the same time. Perhaps it's because Yilmaz's vision for the place is constantly evolving. Special events, breakfasts, a bar, a food store - all are possibilities, with punters kept well informed via social media.

Meanwhile, one of the old-days' faves featured on the menu is "sanchos" - charred, bacon-wrapped plump jalapeno stuffed with queso oaxaca (a stringy, melt-friendly, Mexican cheese), and served with guacamole and corn chips.

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Firin kebab - smoked wood-roasted lamb.
Firin kebab - smoked wood-roasted lamb.James Brickwood

The jalapenos have an unpredictable heat level but are mild on average - aci biber on the other hand will test your limits. The tiny pickled green chillies come as part of a pastirma and Mexican pickles plate. Yilmaz says his dad once put one of the burning bullets on his young son's tongue as punishment for swearing: "I didn't swear again in front of him until I was about 26." Not surprising. If the heat is too much, a plate of fresh cucumber with strings of oaxaca cheese, or luscious herby zucchini balls drizzled with sumac-laced yoghurt should cool things down.

The pastirma - spiced, air-cured beef served thinly sliced - also features in a pide with kasar and feta cheeses, cooked in the wood-fired oven. The combination of salty melted cheese, the soft, sesame seed-topped bread and the meat's blend of spices (paprika is the most easily detected) makes it a highlight.

The roasted meat dishes also rate highly. For the firin kebab, lamb is rubbed with salt and wild oregano, smoked for an hour and a half then finished in the wood-fired oven. If bad kebab didn't seem a sin to you before eating this, it will after.

The Mex-Turkish mix works well but Yilmaz has no intention of stopping there. Pazar's tagline after all is "food ideas inspired by our travels and yours", so borders don't apply here.

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THE LOW-DOWN
DO … keep up to date with Pazar's latest happenings via social media.
DON'T … forget it's cash only (the petrol station opposite has an ATM).
DISH … Firin kebab with smoked wood-roasted lamb, and pastirma kasar pide.
VIBE … a globe-trotting neighbourhood street food party.

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