The best Middle Eastern restaurants in Melbourne

A1 Bakery is a northside institution, famous for its authentic (and wonderfully affordable) wraps, Lebanese pizzas, pies and falafel platters. Opening its doors in 1992 as a humble family business, the hybrid Lebanese bakery, eatery and Middle Eastern grocer has since become a beloved local gem. Strolling down Sydney Road, you'll spot it long before you walk in – snakes of hungry families and couples out front tend to distinguish A1 from other eateries on the strip.

Wazzup Falafel owner Ahmad Al Alaea swapped a career in fitness with cheffing after he couldn’t find equivalent falafels to what he’d enjoyed growing up in Jordan as a Palestinian refugee. Falafels are unsurprisingly the name of the game here, but you get to decide how they’re served up to you – in a box alongside a medley of other ingredients, threaded on to a stick, atop piping hot chips in the self-fashioned ‘FSP’, slotted into wraps, swallowed by the folds of baked pita pockets. 

Maha’s signature slow-roasted lamb shoulder is the stuff of reveries for many carnivores who have crossed its path since the early days (also see: crab meat with the lilting heat of harissa mayo nestled under brik pastry. You'll also find lighter poultry dishes like charry quail duking it out with garlic sauce and dried apricot in a deathmatch to deliciousness. Maha has an old-fashioned Middle Eastern approach to hospitality that has ensured its admission to the club of restaurants that aren’t just places to grab a bite, but part of the fabric of a city. 

This family-run restaurant in Thornbury is one of the best places to enjoy authentic, soul-warming Lebanese food in Melbourne. Sip from a hot pot of freshly brewed cinnamon tea, and tuck into ghannouge and pita breads in a dining space that feels as cosy as a grandmother's living room. Highlights on the menu include boiled cabbage rolls, kibbeh labanieh (fried oval-shaped shells of a bulgur wheat mixture, filled with ground beef and pine nuts), traditional fattoush salad and shish barak (fried beef dumplingd) in a tart yogurt stew.

Iranian chef and restaurateur Hamed Allahyar opened Café Sunshine and Salamatea, a social enterprise restaurant designed to employ, train and mentor asylum seekers and refugees facing similar paths to him. It’s been a beloved local gathering place ever since – not just for its friendly, community focus but for its approachable Persian fare, which is hard to come by in Melbourne. Iranian food is not well represented here and when it does appear, skewered meats are often the focus. This is no doubt a core component of the cuisine but overshadows the fact that it's vegetarian-friendly and characterised by its use of floral, sweet and sour flavours, adding complexity and balance to each dish. (For context, Samin Nosrat, author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, is also Persian.) 

Fans of Ottolenghi would do well to take note. In his cookbook Jerusalem, the renowned chef hailed the mastermind behind global Israeli pita empire Miznon, Eyal Shani, as “the voice of modern Israeli cuisine”. And that voice is now getting global reach. Melbourne’s Hardware Lane outpost has become Shani’s sixth Miznon, and it's where people queue to get their hands on the famous cauliflower.

Teta Mona is a boho-chic all-day restaurant where brothers Antoine and Bechara Taouk are serving simple Lebanese with plenty of pickles and very little fuss. This is everything a neighbourhood restaurant should be – it's loud, and it’s BYO, with service that's personal if a little bit shambolic during peak times. It’s all fresh and wholesome stuff, from pan-fried fillets of snapper dressed up with chilli, walnuts and squiggles of tahini right through to the baklava. They make their pastry dessert with agave nectar, chia seeds and coconut oil rather than butter and sugar but it still has a perfect balance of crispness, chew and nutty crunch. That’s a win for all eaters great and small.

Discover the Turkish nation’s edible vitality from a smart, narrow Carlisle Street shopfront made classy with wall sconces, greenery and turquoise Moorish tiles. Turkish food may have been reduced to cliché in the Australian imagination, but this is a kitchen bringing the kind you’d find in Istanbul’s thumpingly vigorous restaurant scene to Balaclava, with a program of pickling, preserving, fermenting and hanging (yoghurt, that is). 

Roll up your sleeves, Melbourne: Sydney export Henrietta’s finger-lickin’ good Lebanese charcoal chicken has finally landed on Chapel Street. It’s the first interstate venue for the ESCA Group’s beloved chick and we couldn’t be more cluck cluck cluck-in’ thrilled! So what can you expect? Far from your traditional local chicken shop, Henrietta fires things up a notch with flame-fuelled meats, the garlic toum of your dreams and classy arak-based cocktails. Arak is a popular Middle Eastern liquor made from grape-based aniseed brandy and, spritzed with Four Pillars gin, cucumber, pear and spices in Henrietta’s signature highball, it’s a knock-out.

At Tiba's you'll barely crack a twenty for platter of hoummus, tabouleh, yoghurt, rice, pickled turnip, and the fresh felafel that are crisp on the outside and silky soft on the inside. Drop another couple of dollars for a skewer of halal lamb or a plate of dolmades and you're set. It's alcohol free and family-friendly so go early if you’ve got brats, or, skip the first sitting if you're not a little-person person.

When young Abla Amad came to Melbourne in 1954 she brought the love of cooking developed while watching her mother in their north Lebanese village, then came the restaurant. Abla’s opened in 1979 in the same location it’s in today and upon entry you experience a pleasant time warp – the hospitality is instant: a warm welcome, olives and pita crisps already on your table, your wine whisked away for uncorking (it’s BYO for $10). This is one of those places where it's worth considering the banquet. 

Friends Louisa Allan and Shuki Rosenboim had been cultivating quite the following for their falafels at farmer’s markets around Melbourne before they opened Very Good Falafel on Sydney Road. Now, the permanent home where the menu works mainly because it’s so simple. Sticking to the traditional Israeli take on the Middle Eastern pita wrap and platter, options are limited to the falafel, sabih (fried eggplant), and ktzitzot (meat patties).

This family-run Brunswick favourite utilises farm-fresh Aussie produce to churn out delicious home-style Middle Eastern recipes – from Iran to Morocco. The Choucair family – Jad, Hady and Gisele – arrived from Beirut nearly a decade ago, with a passion to bring the joys of Middle Eastern culture to Australia's shores. 

Rumi has set the bar for restaurants of its ilk. You can order à la carte, but we recommend a banquet: the Classic champions Rumi’s mainstay dishes ($65 per person), while the Feast ($85 per person) takes things up a notch with dessert, extra snacks, and an additional barramundi course. 

Oasis Bakery, a three-in-one bakery, café and supermarket deep in suburban Murrumbeena, has become a bit of cult foodie destination. It's a one-stop-shop modern Middle Eastern marketplaces, complete with a dessert bar, crepe station and a deep fryer pumping out fresh Lebanese doughnuts. Next to the dessert bar, the deli offers piles of cured meats and cheeses you can take home for later. But first, lunch. You can’t go wrong with the lamb shawarma. 

When you ask where the best falafel in Melbourne is, the true traditionalist will show you the way to Half Moon Café in Coburg. Eat one on its own or stuff a trio of them in a simple warm pocket of pickles, garlic sauce, tomato and hommus, but however you do it, anticipate a falafel experience you'll remember. Half Moon's are Egyptian-style and made from fava beans, crunchy on the outside and with soft green middles. It's hard to identify precisely why this stalwart lunchtime spot on Victoria Street gets it so right every time, but we're not complaining. While you dig in, the communal courtyard outside is the perfect spot for people watching and appreciating Coburg's diverse and multicultural population.

Yes, there's another restaurant from Shane Delia's Maha mothership on this list. And no, we're not sorry because take it from us: the food here genuinely slaps. Expect the same vibrant and produce-driven Middle Eastern fare Delia is known for,  cleverly adapted to fit this moody brasserie's Northside setting. With snacks like zucchini flowers with anchovy and almond tarator, and fresh Lebanese dumplings with poached leeks, spiced chicken and pine nuts on the menu, you'll be spoilt for choice in complementing your wine.