I had a hankering for a tagine, so after a quick search I found this Moroccan place on Sydney Road…read more I was a bit scared when we entered though as it was like a ghost town, a sleepy little porcelain and rug filled ghost town. A friendly staff member poked his head out of the back room, opened up his arms and beckoned us in and to take a seat. Confused, I checked the time to make sure we hadn't gotten there in the middle of the afternoon, but no it was 7pm - peak dinnertime, or so I thought. I decided not to let the lack of trade effect me, and started to treat the place like my own private palace, although there was a distinct lack of harem girls and the uncomfortable seats weren't exactly throne-like. I was able to fulfill my craving with La Paella's mouth-watering beef tagine. The meat was deliciously tender. Halfway through dinner, another punter walked from out the back to front for a fag. Wow, there are more customers I excitedly thought. I had to find out where the secret back room was. I walked past the kitchen to find the tent room. This place looks like it is a converted backyard with dodgy flooring but also has beautiful traditional decorations and feels like you're in a big tent - great for a party. I was told that there is also a large space upstairs, but was closed for now.

Overpriced average food, no chilli in the damn paella - takes 45 minutes to come out. The lamb kaif…read morewas better but still a let down. Avoid the brightly coloured enticing sign and go to one of the many better restaurants on Sydney rd.

Awesome food, friendly and great atmosphere…read more Food was extremely tasty and portions were sizeable Laffa was just warm, salads were fresh, meat was well seasoned, chips were fluffy on the inside and crunchy on the outside Restaurant was very clean and would definitely come back here again with other people Great middle eastern, kosher food

Eat here, and you will never need to eat again. There is that much food and it is that delicious…read more The incredible lady behind Moroccan Soup Bar has taken over the old nut shop in Brunswick East and transformed it in to an incredible Moroccan Deli AKA your next lunch destination. Now, it can be a little confusing for a newbie so let me help you out. Upon entry, head straight to the back and ask for a plate with the lot. The staff will ask you about your dietary requirements or if there's anything you don't like and then they work their magic. Expect a giant plate of salad, haloumi, falafel, rice, tabouli and all sorts of other deliciousness that will keep you full until next Saturday. Their food is so flavoursome that their are frequent "Oh God, this is so good" heard mumbled between mouthfuls. In the words of Molly Meldrum, do yourself a favour and get there ASAP.

Morocco is one of my favourite places in the world. From the sands of the Sahara, to the snowy…read morepeaks of the Atlas Mountains, through to the waves on the Atlantic coast, it's a mysterious, fascinating and rewarding destination. Moroccan Deli-cacy similar to its name sake has a slightly chaotic vibrancy, with relaxed friendly service. The cafe used to be an old nut shop and alongside tagines there are spices and raw ingredients for sale. There is a spoken menu and dishes are constantly changing. I ordered the second of the two options offered (the other was a tagine with cous cous), going with the mixed plate. My coffee was short, black and delicious, it even arrived with a sweet on the side. The food was amazing! Bread with zaatar, hummus, garden salad, pickled vegetables, fried haloumi, falafel. It tasted home made with love .. like you'd been lucky enough to be invited into someone's home and their Aunt and Grandma were cooking. Exotic, colourful, fresh, vibrant .. I used the chips to scoop up the cous cous. Just like a visit to Marrakech this cafe is unexpected and wonderful, it will leave you wanting to return .. a real neighbourhood gem. Newspapers - no Music - low and trance like. Space is not quiet given there's plenty of people plus lots of hard surfaces but you can still chat easily.

Excellent food. In…read moreMelbourne on holiday/vacation and came to this place on the first night. When we walked in the hostess stand wasn't apparent but was placed in the middle of the restaurant. The Gnocchi I received by mistake but it was a much welcomed one. The truffle was very pronounced. My husband had the Sofia Pizza, he said it was pretty solid but "had a lot going on".....full disclosure he says pizza has a lot going on when there are more than 3 ingredients on it. I would definitely come back if I lived here.

Was staying at the Marriott hotel and quite literally it's right next door. Read the reviews and…read moreit sounded like one of the Melbourne hot spots. Tried to go on our first evening in Melbourne, but unfortunately the place was closed due to a private function (Christmas party). Came back a few days later. The weather had changed so it was unfortunately not the sitting outside kind of weather we had hoped and what looked like Trunk was designed for. Decided that we would go to the diner side, instead of the Italian side. Walked in and what struck us immediately was the noise! We had our hearts set on trying this very cool little spot. We initially had to wait for some seats to be cleaned up, even though there was a number of open tables. Once seated our server(s) were very friendly and we had our food on the table in no time. I went for the burger and my wife went for the chili salad. My burger was ok, but the bun was such that it nearly disintegrated and I was left trying to eat a squished out mess. I tried my wife's meal and it was definitely very tasty. Overall, The food was good, but not fabulous, like I had hoped. Even though the place was only 1/2 full, the noise levels were such that we had to nearly yell at each other to be heard. The entire place is glass, hardwood floors and metal chair (which make a seriously loud noise when moved). This would have been a cool place to linger and chat, but unless you have a blowhorn that's just not possible. Out servers were very friendly and good. I think had we been able to sit outside this would have been a fabulous spot. I'll go back, as long as I can enjoy my meal outside.

I got excited when I heard that another Turkish fusion place had opened up in Melbourne. It was…read moreeasy to make a booking via dimmi and receive a confirmation immediately. It is located at the end of bligh street and is next to robot bar. You expect to enter a tiny dimly lit restaurant - but it is the complete opposite. It's very pink, very bright, has very loud club-style music, and you can feel frigidness and starkness as you step in which identifies with the history of the area the restaurant is housed in - a parking lot! It's got a downstairs bar and seating area with the cash register and toilets and an upstairs seating area. The menu has 3 types of feed me options and I would recommend that you try this as the portion sizes are tiny as. Mezze platters in all Turkish restaurants that I have been to in the past are huge and you always leave feeling overstuffed and warm and fuzzy all over from the delicious food. But Souk is the complete opposite (hence the backwards lettering in its name??!) We decided to get the fattoush salad (2 pieces), the eggplant mezze and the lamb dish. We also got overpriced sparkling water as they don't do sparkling water on top and the bottle was insanely expensive. The wines start at 11-13 dollars. They have an extensive drinks list with cocktails and mocktails. The fattoush salad was two crunchy slightly off cones with pomegranate, some tomato and onion pieces and some greens stuffed inside. Possibly the best out of the the three dishes. The eggplant mezze was 3 very small pieces of eggplant topped with pearl cous cous. The eggplant was very bitter (perhaps they forgot to salt it - how do you do turkish food and not cook eggplant right) and the entire dish was so bland. As we were eating, the waitress in her short overalls reminded us that we needed to finish our meals so we could have our mains. Is she for real? Our table was until 8 and it was only 7.10?????????? We then disheartedly ate our remaining eggplant morsel. The lamb dish which was almost 40 dollars was a tiny bowl of very sweet saffron flavoured rice with perhaps two morsels of lamb. We decided we had enough of this place. We quickly paid our $100 bill. My friend couldn't even find their toilet as the men's and women's toilets are not labelled properly (just have the labels on the door like everywhere else rather than on a random position on the wall). We were still starving after - so much so that we ended up having a very satisfying meal at a cheap and dirty but delicious indian place called curry pot for 1/10th of the price. Souk you left us poor and very souk!

Sometime, you look at a design, and you say it looks artistics, but sometime, a design inspire you…read moreto be artistic. That's the decor of souk. On the first glance, it looks like any typical new establishment in Melbourne CBD. I mean, they all looks awesome, so it is kind of hard to stand out. But here at souk, the more you look at the details, the more you realise how each elements harmonise into a symphony.

Sometimes I'm tempted to walk into as many restaurants as possible and just order a beer and see if…read moreanybody will tell me to get out. Actually, I should also count the number of places that try to upsell me a meal, but I can't fault them for that. Yeah, I think this is actually a restaurant, but hey, not only did he sell me a beer, he didn't try to upsell be food either. Oh, and they have a balcony, and that balcony's pretty cool as well. I get to look out over the ocean, or at least Port Phillip Bay.

When the London hotel in Port Melb was demolished, most people thought that Mr Lawrence disappeared…read morewith it. But they're wrong! Mr Lawrence and the great team moved one block further down Beach Street to the location of the old R-bar. The same great menu and the same good service, along with the $10 Turkish pizzas on Monday, make it a local favourite. They don't do the Lamah Joon anymore but the Persian lamb meatballs are still fantastic. But I'm biased cuz I'm a regular. :-)

Mankoushe is named after the main food source here - mankoushe. It might be best described as…read moreLebanese pizza, but really, it is its very own thing and it very good indeed. This teeny, tiny take-away is run by two brothers with a little help from their mama, which is kind of adorable, no? Tables are limited but there is space if you can find it. Otherwise, the wait is never too long for your take-away treat (unless it's mega busy, which it can be at times) and you get to jig along to whatever rocking tune is blasting out whilst you are there. Then it's just a short walk home or to the closest bench, curb, car bonnet, wherever is convenient to park your arse, and chomp! Thus far I have tried the haloumi, the spicy feta, the rocket cheese and the ton. For $2 extra you can have your dough made of organic spelt too. I'm not going to stop till I've tried each and every different mankoushe on the menu. There are 26 different kinds, or 52 if I try each one made with organic spelt as well. I've got some eating to do.

The odd hours of operation may leave you high and dry, but this Lebanese bakery is a newbie to…read moreLygon St. Opening in 2011, it has much of what those found on Sydney can offer - cheese pie, spinach and cheese pie is a winner - but is located closer to the East Brunswick Club than any other of it's kind. Nice people and you're served quickly, and while eating in is possible most choose the takeaway option. A good after lunch bite or late night pick up.

My boyfriend wanted me to try koshari, a dish he told me was hugely popular in Egypt. Plus our…read moreEgyptian friend recommended this place so we decided to go on Saturday night. We ordered the koshari and the foul to share. Both dishes were vegan. In fact, I was super happy to see that vegan dishes were clearly marked on their menu, and they had several options to choose from (both entrees and mains). Their babaganoush is also vegan, which I appreciate because a lot of places unnecessarily add dairy to their babaganoush. We were keen to try the falafels as well, but a bit disappointed that these falafels are made out of chickpeas and not out of fava beans, which is how Egyptians traditionally make falafel (unlike the rest of the Middle East, where they use chickpeas). So we opted not to get the falafels after all cuz we wanted uniquely Egyptian food. I enjoyed the koshari but the foul was totally bland. I've had plenty of foul by now and Leyalina has the most tasteless foul I've ever tried. Not that it was BAD-tasting -- it was just totally and completely blah. I wouldn't order it again. Although the dollop of tahini they put on the top was nice enough. The koshari was good. Not amazing but good. It basically consists of a layer of lentils on the bottom, a layer of little rigatoni pasta tubes on the top, some chickpeas, fried crispy onion shreds, and a smattering of pasta sauce. Everything was nicely seasoned with cummin and probably some other spices too. I liked it, but thought it was interesting, not phenomenal. The vibe of this place is nice. They played pleasant Middle Eastern music (instrumental) and there are some really cool lighting fixtures hanging above you. You can smoke shisha here (we didn't) and there's a cozy upstairs dining area too. Staff was friendly. Prices were OK, neither cheap nor too expensive (at least for the vegetarian dishes). I'd go back for sure to try their other vegan options.

Leyalina offers a place for stories, family and good food. Our hosts are Egyptian and bring…read morebeautiful manners, excellent service and glorious clever food to the table. Very handsome young men serve and they are willing to engage in any conversation. Beautiful women, who look like the Kardashians without the artifice glide past the tables and disappear upstairs. There is something wonderful and mysterious about this little alcove on Lygon Street, as if we may be magically transported to Gheza to some secret souk. The food is full of magic also, sweet spices, sumac and lemon over fish, with fresh simple salads full of green leaves and herbs. Fine lavash, both crisp and soft served with our meals. The menu has lots of vegan and gf options and a good reasonably priced wine and drinks list. The music is Egyptian - very seductive and there's a screen showing Bollywood style dancing in the background which I kinda liked. It was like meeting new, lovely people and sharing language and food, just as the promise on the menu. I left knowing that when I return it will be as an honoured guest, like family.

A small corner restaurant that could be easily overlooked, Tavlin is a place where locals meet, get…read moretakeaway and enjoy in the masses their signature shish kebabs! MUST HAVE: If you go here, you must try the lamb and chicken shashlick...juicy, tender and well marinated you will be left wanting more! COULD HAVE: Don't make friends with salad? I tried the hummus, white cabbage and adi's corn salad which were all refreshing to have with bread. WOULDN'T HAVE AGAIN: I would bypass the kofta and falafel balls as it lacked flavour and was a bit dry however you may think different. On the other hand, the moroccan beef cigars were delicious.

From the owner: Tavlin restaurant bake they OWN bread! We are also…read morespecializing in dips, salads, Gluten free options and flavours.

Since this is Kew I probably shouldn't be all that surprised to discover a rather fancy cafe here…read more Actually, it's the old post office that has been convereted into a cafe. When I first wandered around here I thought it may be just been a bar, and in a way it is, but it is much more than that. So, the next time I found myself in Kew I decided to pay this place a visit for some breakfast, and it certainly was worth it. The staff were certainly great, and while it was a little pricey, it certainly wasn't on the scale that would end up breaking my bank. I grabbed the big breakfast, which can be a bit of a mouthful at times, but in this case it was delicious. Oh, and the coffee wasn't bad as well.

Last minute dinner out. Hadn't been to this place for a couple of years. Menu was okay with not a…read moregreat deal that appealed to me or my friend as neither of us wanted a pizza. Shared the entree which was nice. Both main dishes were large and we didn't finish our plates. Service was as you would expect. No highlights and wouldn't rush back.