I love restaurants that really transport you to another place with their style and décor, which is why I was thrilled to have a Lebanese feast recently at Hannibal Lebanese Restaurant in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. The Middle Eastern spot has two pillow-filled party rooms perfect for large gatherings, while the main dining room offers a cozy dining experience decorated with rugs from the area, pillows and comfy cushioned seating, artwork, decorated plates and hanging adornments. The spot is BYO, a feature I'm always excited about in Australia because it helps you save money and sip on exactly what you want. The vegetarian meal consisting of nearly a dozen tapas courses kicked off with hoummos ($9) and baba ganouj ($11) and a massive mound of khobz, or Lebanese bread, whose pockets allowed you to create sandwiches to your heart's content. I've never been a huge fan of baba ganouj because of the runny versions I've encountered, but this one was thick, creamy, garlic-packed and delicious. The hoummos was top-notch, too, with a great thick consistency. Next up was tabouli ($13), in a heaping bowl, again, not overly-watery and chopped so that it was easy to scoop up and combine with the other elements. It was vibrantly green and a great khobz addition. Falafel ($7) came next, generous donut-shaped bites of the fried chickpeas. They were fried well, not overly hard or soft, and I enjoyed the sauce drizzled over the falafel. Sliced eggplant ($12) came out next. Again, I'm not the biggest eggplant fan, but these were heaven. Their charred skins gave off a crunchy texture and welcome smoky flavor, while the eggplant was covered in an ideal amount of oil that enhanced their taste without making them soggy. One of the best parts of the spread, all which came out in about 15 minutes total for a massive meal that lent itself to mixing flavors, was the spinach pie ($12). The fried feta cheese- and spinach-filled slice was pure bliss in every bite. It was a decadent vegetarian course that added new flavors to the meal. The fried cauliflower ($12) was another filling portion, topped with tahini dressing. The meaty cruciferous vegetable quickly makes bellies full. Vine leaves are one of my favorite Mediterranean dishes, and Hannibal's ($13) didn't disappoint. The large leaves stuffed with rice, tomato and parsley were again meaty and filling and packed a ton of flavors. For dessert, there was baklava ($2.50), probably the best I've ever had. The portion offered a few bites and had the perfect ratio of dough-to-pistachio filling, baked in Middle Eastern honey syrup so that it melted in your mouth. As a fan of tapas-style serving where you can try lots of small plates in one sitting, Hannibal Lebanese Restaurant is one I'd return to over and over. The spot features belly dancing for parties and on Saturday's (call ahead to confirm times), and the beautiful atmosphere enhances the elegance of every plate. read more

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If you really want to eat so much food that you need to undo the top button of your jeans then I suggest you try the banquet here at Hannibal. For $35 you can get all you can eat pita bread and dips, then so many different kinds of meats that you loose track then there was some vine leaves and then what looked like meat spring rolls and then some more meat and then falafel and then tabouli and then....probably some more meat then cinnamon tea and baklava for dessert. There's a minimum of two people to the banquets...unsure how you can get through that much food though with two people as six of us struggled to eat everything that was served. Also this place is BYO so you can bring whatever drinks you want which is great if you want a reasonable priced night out. I highly recommend this place if you have a lot of people and you haven't eaten in a few days! You won't need to eat again for a while.... read more

This was a pleasant experience and had all the usual Lebanese dishes you would expect. The service was quick & friendly ..... sitting was readily available upon entering and was comfortable. The pricing was right and the beverages limited but a good choice available. The food was yummy and couldn't fault it ...... I guess my lack of enthusiasm about this review is that all the great things about Lebanese food & the general experience is overtaken by the huge volumes of SALT ...... that especially the next day make you question why you went there. read more

Hannibal - Joey D .... So hungry!!! - Fast Food Near Me - Surry Hills, NSW

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I recently tried out this place as a couple of my mates booked the Persian Cushion Room they have upstairs, and a large group of our friends had dinner there to celebrate farewell our mates before they took off to the US to get hitched! I always say that I am a huge fan of Lebanese food, and to my taste, it never really fails wherever I've tried it. However the food at Hannibals was particularly good! I loved the usual mixed platters of lamb skewers and kafta sausages, baba ganoush, tzaziki, tabouleh, Lebanese bread, pickled peppers, felafals and vine leaves - but I loved their version of hummus, they must add an ingredient I'm not normally used to because it was very different to how it usually tastes, but good nonetheless. I also loved their roasted cauliflower. The tastes were beautiful, the room was lovely, we smoked licorice flavoured hubbly bubbly and brought our own wine. It was such an enjoyable evening. The meats came out a little late I thought, after we were already filled up on the bread and dips! And the overall price was a little more expensive than what I'm used to paying per head at a Lebanese restaurant, but you're also paying for the room hire I suppose, so it works out in the end. Highly recommend the Persian Cushion Room at Hannibals for any large dinners with close mates! read more

Hannibal - Fast Food Near Me - Surry Hills, NSW

*This review is for the Glebe location of Hannibal Restaurant. My guests and I received the most disorganized and humiliating service at this restaurant. I am sad to write this negative review, because I had reserved Hannibal Glebe for a dear friend's birthday celebration (I called up the restaurant in advance several times, explained the reason for reservation and made sure everything is in order). Unfortunately the evening turned out to be a sour experience. I just list a few of the shortfalls, so you know what to (sadly) expect when you make a reservation at Hannibal Glebe: 1. The waiter did not seem to understand our orders and took about 10 minutes and at least twenty four questions and repetitions for him to get a simple order from our group of eight people. Rather than focusing on what we were ordering, he kept repeating that the banquet price is per person and not per a pair (as if we had argued for anything else. Yes we got it man, this is not our first time ordering from a banquet list for God's sake!!) 2. The server asked my quests where they come from and based on their answer immediately removed the drinks menu saying "I have a friend from your country. You guys don't drink!!" Shockingly judgmental for a restaurant server, don't you think?!! Furthermore, he autonomously removed all the wine glasses and never bothered to come back with regular water cups (even though we reminded him). 3. The dishes were brought with very long time gaps in between them. Two of my guests who got their food first had to wait for more than 10 minutes for something edible to arrive for the rest of us and by that time their food had turned cold. My guests and I asked for bread three times and it was never brought to our table. I finally had to walk to the reception counter and ask for bread for the 4th time and finally a basket of bread was brought to us several minutes later. 4. In the middle of the evening, because the chicken dishes were brought incomplete and I never got what I had ordered, I requested the server to bring me my shish tawook skewers. He went back and forth to the kitchen a few times and finally said that our orders were fully delivered and he doesn't know what happened to the chicken (implicitly saying that I was lying. One more insult). I really wanted it to be a good night for my guests so I did not fuss over it with him and said "Okay, consider this a new order, please bring me 2 skewers of shish tawook". He accepted and left, but came back about ten minutes later only to say that he cannot bring me the skewers, he can only bring it as a platter (again I wonder how come he didn't know this from the first place!) He was really pushing it, but I still kept my calm and said "that's okay, please bring the platter". Twenty (yes 20) minutes passed and my platter never showed up! I had to walk up to the counter again and inquire. Finally a few minutes later, a platter was brought to me but alas it was the wrong one! I had ordered chicken and there came a red meat platter!! 5.My guests and I headed out the restaurant quite disappointed but even this was not the end of the train of insults!! We were not even completely out of the door that another waiter ran out and shouted "You haven't paid! You haven't paid! My manager wants to see you!" I presume you can imagine how bad that made me feel in front of my guests. I went back to the counter. A lady claimed that I had not paid. I showed her the receipt and she said that the payment was not processed! (I'm still in awe why the last waiter returned my credit card to me and said goodbye when the payment was not done!!) When I gave her my credit card again not only she did not apologize for their waiter's error in charging my card, she also fussed why my credit card required a signature! Overall, we left Hannibal Glebe with a very bad memory. I wish I could write a happy and grateful review instead of this as I so much wanted that night to become a sweet birthday memory for my friend. But unfortunately the awfully poor customer service in this restaurant left me no choice. read more