Lakemba

I spent a few hours in Lakemba with O, her son H, and Bob the Builder. It's a suburb in Sydney's south-west which is known for its concentration of people from Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries, a demographic reflected in the shops and restaurants along the main street. On an extremely hot and sunny day, we ate delicious Lebanese food at Jasmin (30b Haldon Street), a friendly restaurant with delightful murals (including one of the Tuna Steak Isles, shown below). Bob the Builder looked on as we tucked in to grilled chicken served with chickpea sauce, excellent, silky babaganouj, juicy lamb sausage, fresh tabouleh and falafels. Afterwards, we wandered down the street, ending up in Patisserie Arja, where we had the most incredibly rich dessert, kanafeh, consisting of pastry, sweet, ricotta-like cheese, topped with semolina and baked, and served with cream and chopped pistachios.