Girl Meraki

Book - Rumi

$40.00

Chef Joseph Abboud's food looks Middle Eastern because its proud origins are a little bit Lebanese, a little bit Persian, and a little bit Turkish - but it also represents the heart of an honest and enduring eatery in inner Melbourne's Brunswick, named for the 13th-century poet.

This is food cooked with an egalitarian ethos and, yes, with soul. Forget veg-forward, this is hierarchy-free food; salads, fish, veg, meat and toum (with almost everything) all command their place in a meal at Joe's table. Regulars will give thanks for classics like the three-cheese Sigaras, the Rumi Meatballs and the famous Lamb Shoulder; everyone else has the joy of discovery ahead.

To roll call a few, there's a Fattoush for Every Season, a delightfully 'inauthentic' Broccoli Tabbouleh, Joe's mother's Eggplant M'Nazleh and The Quail That Anthony Bourdain Ate.