Christmas in July - Maha

Jess' Choice

Special Guest's - Jane, Brooke, Susie, Josh, Will, Katie, and Jacky

It's a crime that Christmas only comes once a year. Presents, food, wine, friends, family (for those that enjoy there company), holidays. The dinner club decided to share the Christmas spirit and hold a dinner for all past guests, presence and presents compulsory. So off to Maha we went. What a warm and welcoming restaurant. I knew it was a good choice after making the booking, Naomi the bookings girl was prompt and thoroughly assisted me to make sure we were all "set menued" to go. I didn't take a picture of the layout because you have to go there to experience it first hand, even the photos on the website don't do it justice.

We chose the four course soufras, with matched wines. One guest opting out of the seafood options, with no hassle. The kitchen easily catered for her needs. The wait staff were fantastic, friendly and patient with our big group, even offering us the shisha room for after dinner (shame we'd already made plans).

Overall I cannot fault anything about our experience, the food was a delicious twist on the Middle East and the venue was a cosy underground hideaway.

Turkish Delight martini, a little something something to start the night. 

First Course Soufra - Tasting Plate. Beetroot and labne dip, zucchini salad with candied feta, mussel shot, puffed ancient grain salad with an almond vinaigrette, olives.

The puffed ancient grain was the highlight, a perfect side dish. 

Second Course Soufra - Walnut crumbed bangalow pork belly, celeriac & semolina, fried cauliflower, tahini. I'm a sucker for pork belly, I'll order it whenever its on the menu. This by far was one of the tastiest I've  had, the walnut crust added even more crunch. Cause who are we kidding the only reason people order pork belly is for the crunch, so its a massive let down when there isn't any! Double win for this dish, cauliflower anything is another thing always ordered when on the menu. Hands down my favourite (savoury) dish of the night.

Second Course Soufra - Pork and fennel sausages with Tasmanian clams. Salty and soft sausage with a yummy bisque. The clams were fresh and worked well with the fennel and fresh fresh fresh herbs.

Second Course Soufra (for the non seafood eater) - mini beef dumplings. So soft and tender with a yummy yogurt sauce.

 

 Third Course Soufra - Pan fried kingfish with argon butter and hazelnuts. My piece of fish was perfect, moist with crispy skin.  The people I was sharing the dish were not as impressed. I was shocked, mine was delightful. I had to try, they were right, the fish was in edible it had a grainy glue like texture. Weird. What a shame, I had already finished mine so they couldn't even try how good it was supposed to be.

Third Course Soufra - Salad with fatoush bread. Just looks like a plain old salad...wrong. The dressing and the crispy fatoush bread made it. Picking the bread out was like scavenging for the crispy chips left at the bottom of the fish and chips box. Fatoush bread seagulls!!

Third Course Soufra - Slow cooked lamb shoulder with pistachio and green olive tabbouleh. Hell yeah, crispy skin and sweet meat. I don't tend to like slow cooked things, blame my Mum's attempts to create things in the crock pot back in the day (god it used to stink). But this was knock ya socks off good. Mum take note!

 Third Course Soufra - madjool date, roasted almond pilaf. Could have eaten the whole bowl.

 Forth Course Soufra - Turkish Delight Doughnuts. The reason why I chose Maha, however in comparison to the Golden Gaytime (below) these were a slight let down, I guess I was expecting a bit more of a Turkish delight filling not a disappointment though.

Forth Course Soufra - Honey cone!! Crunchy and creamy. Can't remember what it was filled with, nice though.

Forth Course Soufra - Maha' take on the Golden Gaytime. Um delish is an understatement. This was hands down my favourite (sweet) dish of the night.

To yum things up: come here, come here in a big group it accommodates it perfectly, do a tasting menu, come at night, come in the later seating so you can stay, wear stretchy pants, demand the pork belly and golden gaytime. Celebrate Christmas in July!

21 Bond St

Melbourne, 3000

03) 9629 5900