Sefa Kitchen

When Utku and Sally Ayhan hosted a series of sustainable, ingredient-focused pop-up dinners back in 2012, the demand was huge. Inspired, they decided to make the experiment permanent. Taking a small, communal indoor-outdoor space on Bondi Road's busy bar-restaurant-crossover strip, they've joined the party with a blend of Utku's Turkish heritage and chef Simon Zalloua's deft take on modern Lebanese. That translates into a yummy share-plate menu of za'atar-dusted fried haloumi in honey, crunchy parcels of brik pastry filled with dandelion, chicory and fetta, and raw kingfish with the crunch of bulgur (cracked wheat) and spiced muhammara paste. Beef short ribs and eggplant is a great riff on sticky, slippery and luscious. And cardamom cream with tea-soaked dates and gooey Lebanese ice-cream (booza) is a dessert worth savouring over and over again. French doors and a tiled bar counter add a vaguely Mediterranean note.