Massaya offers the authentic flavours of Lebanese cuisine in the heart of Strathfield South in Sydney. I love Lebanese food and thanks to a few friends of Lebanese cultural heritage I have been lucky to meet over the years, I have tried some of their culture’s delicious food in their family home. It’s one of those cuisines that tastes so much better when you are gathered around the table because there is a sense of community with them and their family, and their family’s family, and their family’s family’s family. Sahtan! Sahtan! Sahtan! Fresh, flavoursome, well spiced and very generous portions that fills not only your stomach but your soul – that’s how I know authentic Lebanese food is done.
Thanks to an invitation from @spooningaust, we tried some of the delicious Lebanese dishes at Massaya over the weekend. Massaya, which has been opened for a year, is located in the heart of the industrial hub of Strathfield South. Whilst I wasn’t dining in a Lebanese family home, the food we tried tasted authentic as if I was in a family home.
Massaya has a Western and Middle Eastern menu but it was the Middle Eastern menu I was interested in trying. Any dish with with rice, I’m sold. I love rices dishes and love how the Middle Eastern seasonings . Here are some dishes we tried, and there was plenty leftover to take home:
I was first introduced to a lamb mansaf when a friend’s mum home cooked me a whole tray of her lamb mansaf for me to try, and it’s one of those dishes where you have leftovers that last a few days. I love lamb meat and rice and combination of flavours and spices are just superb. Massaya also does an excellent lamb mansaf. Lamb mansaf is a traditional Levantine dish made of rice with minced meat and Arabic spices served with cucumbers and yoghurt.
Another main dish we tried was the kafta mishwee, which included 4 skewers char–grilled traditional mixture of seasoned fresh minced lamb served with chilli bread & garlic sauce.
Fattoush is a fresh zinging salad with lettuce, cucumber, tomato, spring onion, radish, parsley, capsicum, sumac dressing and fried Arabic bread croutons. You can’t go wrong with this dish.
Vegetarian yellow rice with seasoned yellow pilaf with combination of vegetables.
The fruit based mocktails were delicious too and we tried the watermelon infusions with watermelon and mint infused with crush ice and the Massaya lychee mojito a twist of hinted mint with a blast of lychee.
I forgot to ask what Massaya meant. When I googled it, one search says it means ‘twilight’. I went Saturday midday for lunch and the staff were busy preparing for a large function at 2pm. “We have functions every weekend and entertainment in the evenings”, the waitstaff at Massaya told me. Massaya seems to be one of those restaurants where the real party starts in the evening where the shisha room is open for a smoke of fruit flavoured shishas. Sounds like the real parties start at dinner time and I will need to go back and experience that!
Massaya Lebanese Cuisine
608 Liverpool Rd,
Strathfield South NSW 2136
http://massaya.com.au/
See.Taste.Do dined as a guest of Massaya Lebanese Restaurant
