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The vast scope of Middle Eastern food encompasses myriad ingredients, cooking techniques, and recipes influenced by diverse cultures from far and wide. These cuisines, found throughout this diverse and multicultural city, are as rich in variety as they are in flavour. Here are some of the best Middle Eastern restaurants in Sydney — all of which deliver right to your doorstep.
Abdul’s
This Surry Hills restaurant and Lebanese institution was opened in 1968 by Dib Ghaza. Since then, it’s grown from a simple street-side window counter to a full-blown restaurant (with belly dancers) that’s flanked by a takeaway area for late-night fixes. A half-century of experience means the falafels are crisp and juicy; the baba ghanoush is a smoky, creamy marvel; and the fragrant, deftly-charred garlic chicken, shish kebab, and kafta are hard to choose between. Order a Barbecue Mixed Plate, loaded with pink, pickled turnips, plus the zesty, minty, citrusy tabouli, and whoosh the meat through Abdul’s silky hummus. Follow with rose Turkish delight, and cashew nut-filled, sweet syrup-drenched baklava.
Emma’s Snack Bar
Named after the family owners’ matriarch, Emma Sofy, this Enmore hotspot has evolved from a corner shop, opened in 1970 by Lebanese immigrants, to an ear-deafening, semi-communal eating restaurant with lavish portions. Order the ladies fingers (deep-fried filo filled with nutty, spicy minced lamb), the Moorish chicken (grilled sumac, chilli, and toum-marinated thighs in Lebanese bread), and the fried cauliflower. Sacrifice your breath for the “Hardcore” garlic hummus, a velvety-rich take. Emma’s also has TV Dinner boxes — choose from chicken, veggie, lamb, and fish with five sides.
El Jannah
Founded 24 years ago by Andre and Carole Estephan at their still-running Granville location, the BBQ bird chain El Jannah — meaning “paradise” in Arabic — now has 13 outlets. Spanning all the way from Earlwood to Crows Nest, Campbelltown, and Baulkham Hills, Sydneysiders are never far from a dose of crispy, sticky, salty, and darkly-golden hot chooks. Order it whole, in soft rolls and burgers, or with garlic, hummus, chilli, or baba ghanoush sauces wrapped in lavash. Don’t overlook the shawarma beef rolls, fat with onion, parsley, tomato, pickles, and tahini; always get the chicken-salted chips; and eat spoonfuls of creamy rice pudding straight from the container.
La Mono
This Casula and Merrylands Lebanese restaurant presents some ordering challenges. On one side, there’s the BBQ shish kebab platter, loaded with marinated lamb skewers, tabouli, herby onions, hummus, and pickles. On the other, there’s the charcoal-grilled lamb kofta roll with sides like fried cauliflower, lamb sumbusik — a filo pie with onion and crushed almonds — falafel, tender lamb kibbeh, and chilli garlic sauce. Deciding between them is no easy task. Either will thrill, ordering both is even better.
Two Brothers Mediterranean
Founded by siblings Louis and Savio El-Khoury in 2017, Two Brothers evolved from a roving Lebanese food truck to a permanent restaurant in Castle Hill. The El-Khourys offer a wide menu of dishes not always found in casual Lebanese eateries. Start with Shanklish, aged and spiced cheese. Add hummus ma lahme, traditional chickpea dip topped with hot minced lamb and almonds; maakanek sausages; mashawee shish tawook (marinated chicken skewers); and mjadra (lentils, rice, and caramelised onions). Finish with sweet, syrupy, pistachio-sprinkled semolina knafeh. This is Mediterranean cuisine at its finest.
Yum Yum Bakery
Set your alarm. Najib Haddad, son of Yum Yum Bakery’s founder Toufic Haddad, who opened the family’s Guildford restaurant in 1990, has been up since before dawn, working the oven to create traditional Lebanese breakfast dishes and a variety of classic and modern baked goods. Order a strong Campos coffee and the awarma — chewy flatbread topped with confit lamb and egg. There’s also mighty breakfast boxes featuring fried or scrambled eggs with sujuk, shawarma, or minced lamb. For lunch, choose from hits like falafel and meat plates, garlicky fava beans, and golden halloumi spring rolls.
Al Sultan Pastry
Vibrant Rockdale is still the best source for Lebanese sweets and pastries. You name it, Al Sultan has it. This cornucopia of desserts, biscuits, and cakes includes sugar syrup-drenched baklava; creamy halawet el jibin, made from semolina and cheese dough and topped with clotted cream; and maamoul, rosewater infused semolina cookies stuffed with dates and pistachio or crushed walnuts.
New Star Kebabs
Auburn’s New Star Kebabs draws an audience for its shish experts turning sizzling kebab meat on sword-like skewers. While there are plenty of excellent pides, pizzas, and gozleme here too, the smoky meat is the clear star. Order the mixed shish plate — marinated chicken and seasoned lamb served with red cabbage, tomato, onion, and Turkish bread to catch the juices. Top everything off with chilli oil, hummus, and garlicky yoghurt cacik sauces.
Lillah
Located in Lane Cove, with a menu developed with Roy Ner, executive chef of Levantine hotspot Nour in Surry Hills, Lillah’s Middle Eastern fare is rich in traditional flavours and textures. Swipe the house flatbread, pocked with dark golden char, through charcoal-roasted eggplant baba ghanoush and rich smoked labneh. Don’t miss the harissa-marinated chicken wrapped in soft laffah bread with chilli zhug, Turkish salsa, golden beet slaw, and toum — or the plump, bronze handmade falafels paired with a tahini-drenched salad.
Bekya
The fact that Bekya’s owner, Wally Mostafa, was born right by his restaurant’s Summer Hill digs, is no coincidence. This inner west spot is beloved for its Egyptian family recipes. The lemon and garlic chicken plate, chargrilled on volcanic rock, is a must-eat, as is the slow-cooked beef cheek, the kofta meatball bowl, and the koshari’s medley of lentils, macaroni, chickpeas, salsa, and spiced rice. Finish with Egyptian rice pudding, heady with cinnamon, sultanas, and rosewater syrup.
Ace Shawarma Shisha Bar
There’s a crispy difference to the spit-roasted meat at this Canley Heights emporium. For a taste of what I’m talking about, try the Arabic lamb and chicken plates, sized small to mega, naked or wrapped in flatbread. The tabouli, eggplant, and tzatziki are behemoths of freshness and crunch — and for dessert, the sweet and atomic orange-hued knafeh takes the syrupy, cheesy cake.
Al Shami
Al Shami delivers Syrian and Lebanese cuisine from its Merrylands restaurant, a not-so-common combination in Sydney. Snaffle plump shish barak, meat dumplings cooked in garlic yoghurt sauce; fried pumpkin kibbeh; garlicky lamb shanks with yoghurt; and sambousek, Lebanese meat pie filled with spinach, ladies finger, or meat with pine nuts. Late breakfasters can order shakshuka, egg and sujak, and citrusy fava beans with tahini and chickpeas — or start the day with mahalabia, a sweet milk pudding.
Saray Turkish
There are few Middle Eastern foods as comforting, especially after-dark, as a cheesy Turkish pizza — and the options from Saray Turkish are not to be missed. This no-fuss Newtown institution also pumps out stellar kebabs, chargrilled plates, pides, soups, salads, plenty of vegetarian options, and a sweet-mystery-of-life choclava (a chocolate-baklava hybrid). Squeeze fresh lemon on egg, parsley, and three cheese pide or the beef and chicken Iskender kebab plate. Don’t miss the sweet pide with crushed walnuts, coconut, and Turkish sultanas.
The Bearded Baristaa
Khaled Alfas, who runs this Middle Eastern-inspired cafe in St Peters, knows every visiting dog’s name post-walk in Sydney Park across the road. While he can’t pat your pooch on the head via delivery, his food is a gift enough. Alfas offers a must-try 16-hour, double-stacked, pulled pork sourdough toastie; a cheesy, eggy Lebanese sesame bread filled with spicy Turkish sausage and air-dried cured beef; and avocado toast topped with pepitas, pickles, honey, and creamy labneh. The coffees are strong and the strawberry mint frappe is like sipping summer through a straw.
