Rise in the East
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday February 19, 2011
HIJAZI'S FELAFEL53 Wollongong Road, Arncliffe,9599 0726Tue-Sun, 7.30am-8.30pmNot licensedMenuLebanese classics.ValueExcellent, mains under $14.Recommended dishBreakfast of spiced shish in scrambled eggs, accompanied by complimentary salad plate.KELSEY MUNRO starts the day with a bit of spice. Hijazi's Felafel sits in a quiet little hub of Arncliffe among homes and a string of mostly Lebanese businesses, including a grocery shop and a cafe. The family felafel business has occupied this spot for more than 15 years.While receiving plaudits for its fine felafel, the much-loved shop also burst into the news in 2008 when it was targeted by vandals and then sprayed with bullets one night in the lead-up to a hotly contested local council election. (The family had election posters in the window.) No one was hurt but on a peaceful morning like this one, it's hard to imagine such a thing happening.Hijazi's is a bright, clean, large and unpretentious place with a tiled floor and walls adorned with backlit pictures of its offerings. There's a big glass counter full of fresh fruit and vegetables at the entrance. The sons of the family make terrific-value juices when they're home from school and later in the day specialise in mouth-watering Lebanese fruit cocktails with pomegranates and pineapple. There are piles of blueberries, carrots, apple, celery, passionfruit and melons.Further into the shop, another vast bain-marie holds trays of felafels and their traditional accompaniments, including that famously thermonuclear white garlic sauce.There is nothing shy or retiring about the flavours in a Lebanese breakfast. It is an emphatic way to start the day, with garlic, bright pickled turnip, hot chillies and cleansing mint. Afterwards the overwhelming impression is that we've just been hosting a fight between mint leaves and garlic but it's very satisfying nonetheless.The Hijazi family are warm and welcoming, proud of their kitchen's traditional Lebanese offerings and the freshness of their ingredients. They patiently explain some of the less familiar offerings on the breakfast menu, alongside the hummus and other classics.Foul, pronounced "foohl", is a dish of cooked and mashed fava beans, dressed with olive oil and lemon.We waver. "It's traditional Lebanese breakfast," we're told by our hostess, who has cannily clocked our predictable middle-class proclivities for the authentic. Oh, all right, we'll take it. We also like the sound of shish in scrambled eggs, even though we anticipate a bit of grease and garlic with it. Or, in truth, because of that.A vibrant, complimentary plate of multicoloured accompaniments arrives with our breakfast. There are branches of fresh mint, pickled long green chillies and pink turnips, fresh fat tomatoes, hunks of radish, capsicum and purple onion. We stuff down forkfuls of cumin-and-garlic-spiced shish sausage and omelette with torn mint, or alternate pickled chilli with the bread and foul. It's very tasty.We love the pile of warm, soft flat bread delivered to mop up the foul. It's lemony, healthy comfort food but I'd venture the fava bean dip is not going to knock hummus off the top of the pyramid of Middle Eastern cuisine any time soon. Having said that, we clear every plate.
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald