The Lebanese Flower

THE LEBANESE FLOWER

14 Dorchester Street, Sydney

The front entrance

For those of you who used to drive down to Whitney Pier for take-out meals from the Lebanese Flower, there is good news!

They have moved to the centre of the city and better yet, they have expanded.

Take-out orders are placed at the main counter and judging by the traffic while we were there, this is one popular spot. 

This is one of two interesting round windows in the Lebanese Flower, which allows patrons to view Dorchester Street as they are dining.

A great deal of thought has gone into the layout and decor of this little restaurant, making it a very relaxing and casual dining experience.

There is booth seating along the wall that you cannot see in this photo and I can tell you it is so comfortable.

How comfortable were we?  We spent 2 1/2 hours listening to wonderful background music, talking and eating, chatting with the servers, and enjoying our meals.

Comfort, dear readers, comfort.





Now, let's take a look at what we ordered!

Tossed Green Salad and Pitas

This tossed green salad was the first dish to arrive at our table.

Notice the glass of water...the water is lightly flavoured.

This was the first of many surprises!

Those Pitas were for all of us to share as we tried the various dips that came with our meal.

Chicken Skewer, Lentil Soup, Fried Bread Bits for the Soup

This was the next meal to arrive.

But before I tell you how delicious this was, please notice the candle on the table, the coloured napkins (two colours served on alternating tables), the quality of the silverware and the dishware.  Wonderful details that satisfied the eyes, while the tummy was waiting for the next treat.

We all tasted all of the items that we ordered and yes, this was fabulous.

Lamb Kabob with Rice, Fries, Hummus, Salad

Two of us ordered Kabobs - we chose the lamb and the beef and both platters looked the same.
That's a tossed green salad, a white dipping sauce that I personally dipped everything I could into, and hummus along the outside of the dish.

Ask me, just ask me, how good was the hummus?  It alone was worth the visit.

 


  

I sliced open one of the Kabobs just to show you what it looked like inside. Then I ate it. Ooh, lovely.

The servings are quite large, so we all walked out with white Styrofoam containers...which means that all three of us will have the most delicious lunches on the first day of our Holiday Weekend!






I also have to tell you that the rice was unlike any that I have had, so I asked the server "What is the spice on this rice?"  He smiled and said that it is his mother's secret recipe.  Oh my, my, my, but it is melt-in-your-mouth-who-knew-rice-could-be-this-good rice.

Date Pistachio Cookie

This was one of two desserts that we ordered and you can see that we were excited to try it - we almost forgot to get a photo of it. And again, this is not quite what it seems.

Although it is called a cookie, it is really quite like a date square. A two-step date square.

Just after you bite into the date cookie, you get a Pistachio Explosion! I personally love pistachio and this was just such a tasty surprise.

Baklava

And yes folks, finally, after all these months, I finally got to have Baklava again for dessert.

I sliced this one open for you so that you could see how dense this serving was.  It was just enough to end the meal with a sweet taste.

I wish now that I had placed an order of Baklava to bring home to eat with the left-over Kabob.  This might very well require a run into Sydney before lunch tomorrow to get a serving or maybe a cookie...or one of those desserts that we were told are always sold out within the two hours after it comes out of the oven.  I just can't remember the name of it...

As many of you already know, the Lebanese Flower is a family-run restaurant and two of our servers are actually the children of the chef.  By the way, the chef gave us a big smile and wave as she was going into the kitchen, which was so sweet of her. I think there is a lot of love in that kitchen. They are beautiful people and made us feel welcome and appreciated. 

And I have to tell you that we were beaming when we left - we smiled all the way home. In fact, we broke one of our UAG rules on this outing - we were so pleased with our dining experience that we allowed them to photograph us!  Us and our smiles and our full tummies.  And our absolutely delicious left-overs.