All You Can Eat: ultimate Mexico/USA food safari

If you, like me, are all about your Lebanese food, then it’s pretty difficult to go past Fatima’s in Surry Hills. This is easily one of the best places for an authentic Lebanese dining experience in Sydney, and it’s also one of the oldest Lebanese spots in town (my own dear mother recounted how, in her University days, it was a popular place for her and her classmates to meet up and discuss Marx and Lenin and shit). I popped past today for a world-class feed and to find out a little bit more about the restaurant, its history and secrets to success.

I was greeted by a mildly friendly man of Middle Eastern appearance who was dressed in a fluoro reflective vest (odd apparel for a restaurant when you think about it), who showed me to a table and provided me with a menu. The menu, like nearly everything else inside the restaurant, was quite old; the interior is decorated with carpet wall-hangings, beautifully-framed photographs of Lebanon and other pieces of art. But I’m not talking old as in moth-bitten and dusty, but old as in rich in character and life. The ageing feel to the place doesn’t fuck with your appetite, it whets it.

The man in the vest is Nader Zailaa – Nader’s father opened Fatima’s over forty years ago, making it one of the first two Lebanese restaurants in Sydney (the other being Nada’s, which is about 30 metres down the road from Fatima’s). In the ten years after Fatima’s first opened, more and more Lebanese restaurants started to pop up in the Surry Hills area.

Source: yourrestaurants.com.au

So how does an inner-city suburb like Surry Hills, which doesn’t have a strong Lebanese or Arabic community, come to have so many Lebanese restaurants in it?

“When there was a lot of Arab migration to Australia [in the 1970s], the Arab community in Sydney used to be based in Redfern, Surry Hills. It was only later that they started to move out West, and South-West, you know?” says Zailaa.

Source: yourrestaurants.com.au

Nader has worked in the store since he was about five years old, and when I ask him about the type of customers that Fatima’s attracts, he tells me: “Mate, everyone, you know? Students, pensioners, tourists, all different nationalities”. Several travel guides have recommended Fatima’s to tourists visiting Sydney, which means the restaurant attracts customers from all over the world.

I ordered a mixed plate of grilled meat (which includes Shawarma [Beef], Lamb, Fatima’s famed Garlic chicken and Kafta), a serve of Tabouli and a serve of Hummus (there seem to be a million ways to spell this word); it all comes with a huge pile of Lebanese bread and some olives. The tabouli and hummus taste incredible, up there with the best I’ve ever had.

But the real reason that I come to this place is the meat. The shit is so succulent, fresh and tender. The garlic sauce/spread which is heaped onto the chicken is amazing, a very commanding flavour without being too overpowering (for the most part anyway – I got a little carried away and mistook a huge slathering of garlic sauce for a piece of chicken and ate the whole thing at once, nearly passed out. Be careful).

The food is deliciously filling, and the atmosphere at Fatima’s on the weekend is very lively (they have a Belly dancer on Fridays and Saturdays). Next to the actual sit-down restaurant (which includes an upstairs cushion room which is great), is a take-away section which is open until 3am, making it a popular late night haunt.

I asked Nader about what he thought the secrets to Fatima’s success and longevity was. He thinks about it for a while and replies: “Hard work… Long shifts… Good quality food.”

Now, Nader certainly isn’t a conversationalist – but that’s not what I’m here for. The food at Fatima’s is fresh, varied and full of flavour. The interior and atmosphere of the restaurant make it a perfect place for a meal, whether you’re eating in or getting takeaway.

Restaurant name: Fatima Lebanese Restaurant
Address: 296 Cleveland St, Surry Hills.
Menu recommendation: Garlic chicken, Falafel, Shawarma.
All You Can Eat tip: After you finish your meal, move to an outside dining area and spark up the Hookah, the water pipe in which you smoke flavoured tobacco. It’s the perfect, authentic post-meal ritual.

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