I
t took Joseph Abboud some time to nail the description
for his newest Melbourne venture. He was conflicted about
labelling the food at Bar Saracen “Modern Middle Eastern”
because calling it modern “implies that what we do at Rumi- and that Lebanese food in general – is not modern”.
“It’s a living cuisine and we’re eating it in Melbourne where
I was born, though my background is Lebanese,” he says. “So it’s
inevitable that you take in your surrounds.”
The solution? Abboud says that his new city bar and diner is
“of Middle Eastern appearance”.
The recipes here have been taken directly from Bar Saracen’s
menu and prove his description to be apt. Designed to be eaten as
meze, these dishes offer a lively, big-flavoured mix of traditional
and contemporary food, rooted in tradition, but not tied to it.
The kafta nayeh, for example, is a very traditional Lebanese
raw-meat dish but is modernised here with the use of wagyu.
The okra recipe belongs to the tradition of fried vegetables in
Middle Eastern cooking, while the pickled eggplant uses a classic
Lebanese pickling technique. A beetroot dish is served with a
familiar pairing of labne and dukkah, but then mixes it up – the
beetroot is thinly sliced on a mandolin, threaded onto a skewer
and cooked over coals like a kebab. Hummus is topped with
grilled calamari rather than the usual chickpeas or lamb.
“I wanted to pull together a group of recipes that would make
a really flexible meal,” says Abboud. “At Saracen you can have a
couple of snacks at the bar or sit down and have one dish at a time
or get a group of friends together at the chef’s table and have a
feast. It’s the type of flexibility that suits the food I like to cook.”
Abboud believes that Bar Saracen is, essentially, a modern
Melbourne restaurant. “We’re trying to tell a story – there’s a link
between how a culture is received and how its food is received.
Ours is another angle. Some of the food goes back hundreds of
years, some of it we came up with last week.”Bar Saracen,
22 Punch La, Melbourne, Vic, (03) 8639 0265, barsaracen.com.au
4 (200gm) large uncooked
king prawns, peeled,
deveined and finely chopped
100 gm haloumi, coarsely grated
100 gm Greek sheep’s feta,
coarsely grated
2 tbsp finely chopped
flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp dried isot pepper
(see note)
2 egg yolks
6 fillo pastry sheets
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
1 tsp nigella seeds1 Combine prawns with
cheeses, parsley and isot
pepper, then fold through yolks.
2 Cut fillo into 9cm x 45cm
strips and keep covered with a
damp tea towel. Place 2 strips
on top of each other, place
2 tbsp of filling at one end, then
fold one corner of pastry overPrawn börek
MAKES 8 // PREP TIME 20 MINS // COOK 10 MINS (PLUS DRYING“Filled pastries have a very long history in the Middle East,” says
Joseph Abboud. “The original, sanbosag or sanbusaj, became
samosa in India, sambousek in Lebanon and sambusa in Ethiopia,
to name a few. Börek, which are a great snack, are another.”filling to form a triangle. Repeat
folding from side to side in a
triangle shape until there is one
fold left. Brush end with water,
make the last fold and press to
seal and form a triangular parcel.
Trim excess pastry if needed.
Repeat with remaining fillo and
filling and refrigerate uncovered
to dry (1 hour).
3 Heat oil in a large deep
saucepan to 180°C. Deep-fry
börek, in batches, turning
occasionally, until golden and
cooked through (3-4 minutes;
be careful, hot oil may spit).
Drain on paper towels, sprinkle
with nigella seeds and serve.
NoteIsot pepper, also known
as Urfa biber, is a dried Turkish
chilli available from Middle
Eastern food shops.
Drink suggestionAn IPA such
as Colonial Australia IPA. ALL PROPS RESTAURANT’S OWN