Sydney’s always been a great place to eat the food of the Eastern Mediterranean. The best Middle Eastern restaurants in Sydney serve delicious shared feasts of dips, salads, flatbread and charcoal-grilled meat.
For the best old school ‘cheap and cheerful’ Middle Eastern food Sydney-siders have long headed to Cleveland Street in the city and the south-western suburbs. Increasingly there are also Middle Eastern chefs using the flavours of Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, Iran and surrounds to create fun modern Middle Eastern restaurants that – while still offering great value – also show a lighter touch, more diversity of flavours and interesting drinks lists. Here’s where to get some of the best Middle Eastern food in Sydney now.
Iftar Merrylands
Jeremy Agha has them queueing down the street for his mod take on the Lebanese food of his childhood, like crisp ladies fingers filled with stretchy akkawi cheese. Macaroni bil laban (pictured above) doesn’t stray too far from the classic, while wagyu kofta dumplings with chilli sauce are a Leb/Asian fusion that just works! Wood-fired za’atar manoush is topped with burrata, mint and tomato like a tasty, clever twist on pizza Margherita.
Anason Barangaroo
Somer Sivrioğlu brings the casual bars of Istanbul’s Bosphorus shore to Sydney’s Barangaroo. From traditional simit (sesame-studded rings of chewy bread) and juicy lahmacun (minced beef ‘pizza’) to duck sujuk (sausage) and veal tongue in steamed ‘pita’, there’s the familiar and the innovative, with a great list of Turkish wine. In the video below Somer makes a classic Turkish bean salad called piyaz.
Kepos Street Kitchen Redfern
This cute corner café with a display cabinet full of the most tempting cakes is also home to Israeli-born Michael Rantissi’s menu of classics (best falafel ever served with a killer green tahini sauce!) and café-style dishes studded with Middle Eastern flavours, including pomegranate molasses, wonderful hazelnut dukkah, and Michael’s own harissa. It’s so fresh and tasty and definitely one of Sydney’s best Middle Eastern restaurants.
Tida Persian Food Willoughby
This tiny take away with sunny saffron coloured walls and warm homely touches serves excellent persian food. My fave – and it’s a hard call – are the flame-grilled saffron and lemon juice-marinated joojeh (chicken) kebabs inside a crisp shell of golden rice with shirazi salad and spiced yoghurt dip on the side.
Nour Surry Hills
Chefs at this comfortable space bring the best of Levantine tradition and ingredients together in a playful menu that deconstructs and reimagines Lebanese classics. For me it’s all about the mezze, including chicken bits shawarma with tarator, pickled cabbage and yoghurt bread; basturma with date and vine leaf salad; and stunning octopus with muhammara, fried potato and whipped roe. Need I say more?
Updated 27 Feb 2023
