Inner north meets Middle East: three new eateries to try

From stellar kebab shops in suburban car parks to fancy fine diners in pole CBD position, Melbourne’s Middle Eastern food scene showcases the depth and breadth of the region’s cuisines.

Three recently opened eateries in the inner north are further diversifying the scene, putting their owners’ heritage on a plate with delicious results, and fostering a sense of community.

There’s a new food truck bringing Palestinian soul food to Preston, a late-night Lebanese joint inspired by Beirut’s street food, and a vegan spot serving exceptional “Jordanian-Palestinian” falafel that are crunchy on the inside and fluffy on the outside.

Tawooq, Brunswick East

A vibrant graffiti-covered shopfront on Lygon Street is channelling the street-food scene of the Lebanese capital of Beirut, where Tawooq founder Boudy Yaacoub grew up.

“When I go home, my mum and I argue … because I eat the street food before hers,” Yaacoub says, with a laugh. “I’m obsessed with it – all the garlic sauce and tahini sauce.”

The restaurant is named after its bestselling dish, shish tawook, a Lebanese classic. Hunks of free-range chicken breast are marinated overnight in a secret spice mix before being char-grilled and wrapped in warm Lebanese bread alongside fries, coleslaw, toum (garlic sauce) and crunchy, tangy pickles imported from Lebanon. It’s ideal late-night food, so the team keeps the doors open until 2am on Friday and Saturdays.

You’ll also find airy baguettes with fillings such as lemony, garlicky pan-fried chicken liver, and soujouk (sausage), falafel plates, and shawarma wraps. And at adjoining juice bar Laiimoon, there are fresh fruit juices and layered smoothies.

Yaacoub hopes this will be the first of many Tawooq locations; a second is already set for Fitzroy.

Open Mon-Thu 11am-11pm; Fri-Sat 11am-2am; Sun 11am-11pm.

109 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, tawooq.com.au

Falastini Food Truck, Preston

The Palestinian soul food that Rahaf Al Khatib grew up eating with her family is at the heart of her new food truck, Falastini, which recently parked outside Pony Club gym in High Street, Preston. “We did a soft launch last week, which was a lot busier than I anticipated,” she says. “We went through about 40 litres of lentil soup.”

Everything Al Khatib knows about cooking, she learned from her paternal grandmother, who died last year, so she’s drawing on memories of the nourishing “slow food” they made together. “My grandma never documented anything, so I’ve had to follow my sense of smell and … taste. I’ve had uncles from the community come and eat my food and say, ‘This tastes exactly like my sisters’, which is such a compliment.”

But as much as Al Khatib honours tradition, she also extrapolates on it using seasonal ingredients sourced from local community gardens such as Oakhill Food Justice Farm and Fawkner Food Bowls.

Al Khatib’s zaatar-and-saltbush buns are a great starting point. Then you’ll find hearty dishes such as pull-apart slow-cooked lamb with a baharat-inspired spice mix; and that aforementioned lentil soup, more veg-heavy than her grandma’s version, and loaded with paprika and cumin.

Open Thu-Fri 5pm-10pm; Sat 8am-noon.

488 High Street, Preston, instagram.com/falastini.foodtruck

Wazzup Falafel, Northcote

When Jordanian Ahmad Alalaea moved to Melbourne, he couldn’t find falafel quite like those at home. So, he took time off from his personal-training job to return to Jordan and work at his friend’s father’s restaurant, mastering the art of falafel (and hummus).

Back in Melbourne, he launched Wazzup Falafel as a food truck shortly before the pandemic, but earlier this year it graduated to a bricks-and-mortar vegan diner in Northcote, which he runs alongside his Palestinian business partner, Bara Sifi. “The falafel, we say, are Jordanian-Palestinian,” says Alalaea.

What distinguishes them from others, he says, is their cylindrical shape and the mix of 21 secret herbs and spices he uses – “I ship them from Palestine to Jordan and Jordan to Australia”.

Get them as is, on a skewer; in house-made wraps with hummus; or as a FSP (falafel snack pack). Another standout dish: the sizeable, sesame-seed-topped stuffed falafel, essentially two-layered with red onion, chilli flakes and sumac inside.

Praise from the community couldn’t be higher. Falastini owner Rahaf Al Khatib says the first time she tried Wazzup’s signature dish, “I literally sat there and sobbed into my falafel wrap. It was something that I just could not find here, that particular style.”

Open Wed-Thu 11am-9pm; Fri 4pm-9pm; Sat-Sun 11am-9pm.

343 High Street, Northcote, instagram.com/wazzupfalafel