Chef Opel Khan is well known to residents in the inner Sydney city neighbourhood of Potts Point where he has three restaurants: Mètisse Restaurant, Pizza Boccone and Aqua e farina.
Now, achieving a family dream imagined over the last few years, with Chef Patron daughter Luci Khan, they've ventured just a little bit inner west in Sydney to Crown Street Surry Hills, with new avant garde Bengali restaurant Khanaa.
Do you believe in lucky venues? Their new Sydney location has already been three times a most successful and acclaimed restaurant, and Khanaa Restaurant is sure to be pumping as well.
We were the very first customers, served the very first plate on the first night. So rest assured we can vouch Khanaa will be enjoyed, be popular and will be a success. Maybe even acclaimed? In our books it deserves it. Designing a new style of Bengali cuisine, the Khan clan takes us on a culinary journey with intricate dishes of complex flavours and contrasting textures with pretty plating. Very Sydney 2024.
What I really loved at Khanaa beyond the incredible innovation was the refined flavours with traditional spices underpinning rather than dominating in this elegant forward facing evolution.
Everything is sublime so you will win whatever you choose, with my top ordering tips from the opening menu:
- Duck leg confit samosa, fermented daikon, mandarin ($25)
- Eggplant bhaji, macadamia pate, pepper glazed ($24)
- Shiraz caviar, aloo pakora, buffalo curd ($22)
- Barramundi, spinach bhaji, dal tadka ($42)
- MB score 5+ lamb, micro rice, braised lentils ($46)
- sticky shortribs, aloo bhorta, blood orange, salt bush ($47)
and any dessert ($20)
It isn't often we coo at the table, which my dining companion did over the sous vide lamb which is charred and spiced to finish. Delectable mouth-wateringly tender, with contrasts of lamb as the hero yet sometimes the spice kicks up front. My swoon was the duck confit, with the amazing pastry hugging the sumptuous flesh, spiked by the taste and colour of the pretty daikon petals. We could go on...
Yet best perhaps, if you pay a visit to Khanna Restaurant yourself as soon as you can.
As Khanna Restaurant opens, the breaking news from Opel Khan is that his Mètisse Restaurant is moving from Potts Point to the city, and Aqua e farina will move into the Mètisse premises. Exciting times ahead for Sydney and our visitors.
