There are a lot of Leb restaurants in western Sydney, and I haven’t met one that I didn’t like. But there’s a difference between one that you run into to get a felafel roll, and a schmancy one where you go for a posh dinner.
So I went to the Arab film festival last week, and before the film me + my friend went to El Phoenician for dinner. She kindly agreed to eat veg*n food, so we went for the vegetarian banquet. And it was delicious.
First came out Leb bread (fresh and deep fried) with hommos, baba ganoush, pickles, tabouli and labne (she had the labne). Then a massive platter with felafel, coriander potatoes, lentils, snow peas in tomato sauce, fried cauliflower, tahini sauce and some other stuff. It was amazing.
They have Lebanese wine as well (but you can only get it by the bottle).
So far, it’s my favourite fancy restaurant in Parramatta.
328 Church St Parramatta
http://www.el-phoenicianrestaurant.com.au
