Mediterranian food is one cuisine we love but never eat often because everyone knows the best Mediterranian food is homemade and we’ve been over to our favourite Lebanese family’s home too frequently to be coincidentally “dropping by” 🤫🤭.
Good thing some restaurants do a fantastic job illustrating the bold, savoury and acidic flavours of the Middle East, like Maha Restaurant. This is a contemporary restaurant bringing exotic flavours to the lucky people of Melbourne.
We dined here tonight with D&J. There was a choice between the Soufra menu for $95pp and the Tasting menu for $140pp 👈🏻. We recommend choosing the 8 pm seating allocations. More on this in the “Service” section below.
Good thing some restaurants do a fantastic job illustrating the bold, savoury and acidic flavours of the Middle East, like Maha Restaurant. This is a contemporary restaurant bringing exotic flavours to the lucky people of Melbourne.
We dined here tonight with D&J. There was a choice between the Soufra menu for $95pp and the Tasting menu for $140pp 👈🏻. We recommend choosing the 8 pm seating allocations. More on this in the “Service” section below.
Tasting Menu
The first thing to arrive was the meze, a small arrangement of dishes for grazing.
On the left was the whipped hummus with smoked paprika, asparagus and toasted sesame. This was very smooth and light with a mild chickpea taste. It had a delicious depth of smokiness from the paprika and fragrant sesame. It tasted like a fine homemade hummus.
On the right was the Maha house bread and za’atar. Mmmm, I’m a sucker for good dough. This house bread was perfect, with the fluffiest insides and a nice charred coat. The za’atar embedded on top was the right amount of salt, nuts and herbs to elevate the dough’s taste.
On the right was the Maha house bread and za’atar. Mmmm, I’m a sucker for good dough. This house bread was perfect, with the fluffiest insides and a nice charred coat. The za’atar embedded on top was the right amount of salt, nuts and herbs to elevate the dough’s taste.
This was an animated bite of fresh cured Spencer gulf kingfish (with a mellowed fishy taste) followed by the earthy tones of basil, sour green olives and watery cucumber. It was a very enjoyable one biter and palate cleanser.
The chicken “makanek” sausage was gluttony in thin form (left). The stuffing was a mixture of whipped eggplant and smoked chicken fat, topped with date vinegar dressing, which added a subtly bitter flavour to the meat. It was a good thing the sausage was not so thick or long because it would have been too much to finish.
And on the right was spicy, warm olives. These were simple, covered in fel fel. Mick said these were good 👌🏻.
And on the right was spicy, warm olives. These were simple, covered in fel fel. Mick said these were good 👌🏻.
We ordered the local scallops for an extra $9.50 per person. These were big picks, covered in almond hummus, burnt butter, tahini and lemon thyme. It was very smooth and creamy, with a nice tart finish to the bite. We recommend adding them for a refreshing seafood element to the menu.
Back to the set menu, next was the Skull Island king prawn served with freshly baked bread, sesame, nigella & fennel seed za’atar.
The presentation was beautiful 😍. The prawn itself was very succulent and fresh, elevated by the dimensional sweetness of the roasted carrots and the accented cardamom and saffron herbs. The “caviar” (they called it that but it’s actually fish roe 😶) added some oceanic salty drops.
The flavourful crustacean paired perfectly with the soft, fluffy bread. The seasoning on the bread peeked through in-between chews. It was a balanced bite of savoury and umami tones. We really enjoyed finishing the dish this way because nothing went to waste.
The presentation was beautiful 😍. The prawn itself was very succulent and fresh, elevated by the dimensional sweetness of the roasted carrots and the accented cardamom and saffron herbs. The “caviar” (they called it that but it’s actually fish roe 😶) added some oceanic salty drops.
The flavourful crustacean paired perfectly with the soft, fluffy bread. The seasoning on the bread peeked through in-between chews. It was a balanced bite of savoury and umami tones. We really enjoyed finishing the dish this way because nothing went to waste.
Oooh-eeee this dry-aged duck breast was good 🤤. Served with batata harra (spicy Lebanese potatoes), basil, saffron and peaches, this quacker was a refined, juicy piece with buttery and nutty tones, attributed to the ageing process. We kept commenting that this was on par on the delicious scale with Chinese Peking duck, just less greasy.
The creme cheese was creamy and smooth, mellowing out the spices of the potato, which were cooked perfectly with pillowy centres and roasted skins.
The creme cheese was creamy and smooth, mellowing out the spices of the potato, which were cooked perfectly with pillowy centres and roasted skins.
Main Course
For our shared mains we had the slow roasted lamb shoulder served with fermented capsicum burnt butter; smoked aged rice and a cos salad.
The lamb was very tender, with a moderate gamey taste. There was a nice charred taste to some of the pieces. It was laid upon some hummus and covered generously in a savoury pumpkin sauce. We were so full at this point that the 4 of us struggled to finish the lamb. I think we left 10% of it behind 😥.
The lamb was very tender, with a moderate gamey taste. There was a nice charred taste to some of the pieces. It was laid upon some hummus and covered generously in a savoury pumpkin sauce. We were so full at this point that the 4 of us struggled to finish the lamb. I think we left 10% of it behind 😥.
The rice had a lot of depth of flavourful smoke, from the ageing process to the toasted fennel seeds to the sauteed greens combined in-between. It had a dryer texture than what we’re used to (Japanese white rice) but it was the perfect partner for the greasy lamb.
Finally, the cos salad had a mildly sweet taste, cutting through all the lamb grease with its refreshing leaves. It was dressed with radicchio, braised fennel, tahini and honey.
Dessert
The dessert was a re-edition of the Turkish rice pudding dish, sutlac. The bottom layer was a moist toasted rice parfait, followed by a thin hardened layer of honey and topped with sweet sesame nougatine and a cold scoop of macadamia ice cream. This was a very refreshing and creamy bite that was not overly sweet at all. There was an enjoyable tinge of acidity towards the end, thanks to the sumac squeeze.
Service
We were soooooo rushed by the staff. Mind you, we had 13 dishes to finish and 3 cocktails each and we had to shove everything down our throats so fast as if we had been hungry our whole lives.
The reason for this was because the restaurant required every patron in the 6PM reservation slot to be finished with their meal and out the door by 7:55PM sharp because their 8PM slot started on the dot. We found this silly because the 8PM slot was allowed to sit and chat till midnight. The restaurant should consider changing the 2nd seating to 8:30PM like Sydney restaurants.
Besides eating like a reverse waterfall, the service was actually superb. It just sucked that we weren’t able to talk to our friends properly or enjoy our food either because the staff kept coming back every 5 minutes to ask us “are you done with that?”
The reason for this was because the restaurant required every patron in the 6PM reservation slot to be finished with their meal and out the door by 7:55PM sharp because their 8PM slot started on the dot. We found this silly because the 8PM slot was allowed to sit and chat till midnight. The restaurant should consider changing the 2nd seating to 8:30PM like Sydney restaurants.
Besides eating like a reverse waterfall, the service was actually superb. It just sucked that we weren’t able to talk to our friends properly or enjoy our food either because the staff kept coming back every 5 minutes to ask us “are you done with that?”
Review
The food was delicious with lots of strong flavours and interesting textures. The service was a mixed bag. We would love to come back another time during their later eating slot and actually enjoy the dishes properly. Overall, we recommend Maha Restaurant but please book the 8PM time 😁.
Thanks for reading! Happy eating.
Thanks for reading! Happy eating.
