Emmas On Liberty

In a very quiet neigbourhood, in the Sydney suburb of Enmore you will find some of the best Lebanese food on the planet. A true “temple of tabouli”. This little restaurant packs them in and there are a lot of people that want to eat here. In fact, you get to choose which sitting you want when you book. (I would not risk just showing up!). Its either 6.30 or 8.30 pm. A big long communal table sits right in the centre of the restaurant with a few smaller tables surrounding it. The decorations are tasteful with a very nice colour scheme.

I love Middle Eastern food. It is a region very close to Greece and there are many similarities with both the cuisines. I tend to find though, that a lot of Lebanese food here in Sydney has a certain bland “sameness” about it. Emmas definetly changes all that. I was begging for more after each bite and morsel. It was fresh and it felt like I was eating at someone’s house as opposed to a restaurant. I cannot rave about it enough. There were 20 of us and we did the share option. There was so much food and it came to about $30 a head and that included a tip. (the staff deserve it) So let me lead you on a photogenic journey of tempting tabouli and luscious lady fingers!

First up, fresh warm Lebanese bread ready to dip in olive oil and zatar. Zatar is a zesty herb mixture that is used very much in the Middle Eastern region. There are a number of variations of this as there ways to spell the word!!! It contains toasted white sesame seeds, thyme, salt and ground sumac. How simple. Cut flatbread. Dip in oil, dip in zatar and eat.

Next up in our feast, ladyfingers and a fried lebanese bread chicken wrap. Delicious. The lady fingers were crisp with a perfect hint of pomegranite molasses. Not a hint of oiliness anywhere. The fried wraps were crunchy and filled with tender chicken pieces accompanied by a yogurt dip. They were garnished with freshly sliced red onions and sprinkled with paprika.

The dips arrived but I was only quick enough to snap the baba ghanoush. This was creamy and smokey with the right amount of garlic and tahini. This was followed by lamb mince on skewers. These were a tad dry but still moreish. They were drizzled with yogurt and garnished with fresh beetroot.

And finally we were brought some fried halloumi. Aaahh! another comfort food here at Souvlaki For The Soul. As you can see from a previous post here. It was garnished with fresh chopped flat leaf parsley and fresh lemon wedges.
After such a merry feast we could eat no more. Many desserts were on offer and from what I could see on the black board menu there were many favourites including that Middle Eastern specialty baklava. There was also an interesting take on Lebanese coffee with the added flavour of cardamon. Great food (actually the best I’d had in a long time), great prices and a fantastic modern take on Lebanese food. Go check it out for yourself.

Tagged as: Lebanese, restaurants