Five of Sydney's best Middle Eastern restaurants

• Five of Melbourne's best Middle Eastern restaurants

Smoky, exotic, fresh, vibrant and made for sharing - is it any wonder Middle Eastern food is having a moment? Here are five of our favourite Sydney restaurants - plucked from the Good Food Guide 2020 - that are taking Middle Eastern food to heady new heights.

Efendy

Good Food Guide score: 14

Try this: The full Turkish breakfast on a Saturday

This must be the only surviving Victorian mansion where, surrounded by stained glass windows, artfully exposed brickwork and a wall plastered with kitsch Turkish film posters, you can enjoy a plate of charcoal grilled lamb's testicles. Never fear though, they're not obligatory given such a lively, colourful selection of inventive, well-balanced dishes from all over Turkey, including roast cauliflower hiding slices of sucuk – the spicy sausage Turks love to love.

79 Elliott Street, Balmain, 02 9810 5466, efendy.com.au

Stanbuli

Good Food Guide score: 14.5

Try this: The dolma-stuffed mussels

There are kebabs aplenty this side of town but thanks to a select few eateries, like this one from ex-Porteno chef Ibrahim Kasif, Turkish food is no longer undersold as a boozy late-night snack. Here you'll find a feast of colour, fragrance, smoke and spice and a shared style of eating synonymous with Istanbul's convivial meyhane tavernas. Grilled flatbread is a must, as is rich lamb kofta cooked over charcoals and topped with pickled chillies.

135 Enmore Road, Enmore, 02 8624 3132, stanbuli.com.au

Kepos Street Kitchen

Good Food Guide score: 14.5

Try this: The cauliflower salad bejewelled with pomegranates

There are plenty of chefs in Sydney who continue to plug away without much commotion, keeping the dining room buzzing by consistently serving food that is simply tasty. Michael Rantissi has been doing that very thing at Kepos Street for years, serving Turkish and Middle Eastern food in a leafy corner cafe in Redfern. There's rich, flavoursome shakshuka, textural falafel at lunch – some of the city's best – and, at night, elegant dishes such as grilled swordfish skewers in a smoky sauce.

96 Kepos Street, Redfern, 02 9319 3919, keposstreetkitchen.com.au

Nour

Good Food Guide score: 14.5

Try this: The outrageous falafel crumpet

Let's hear it for the falafel crumpet, a modern Middle Eastern mash-up topped with tahini, pickled onion and a soft-yolked quail egg, it gets dinner off to a flying start. Follow with plump prawn dumplings under a rich yoghurt foam with nutty, crunchy chickpeas, or a lush, warm hummus topped with stewed chicken bits (heart, liver, leg), unleavened yoghurt flatbread and crunchy radishes.

Shop 3, 490 Crown Street, Surry Hills, 02 9331 3413, noursydney.com

Tayim

Good Food Guide score: 14

Try this: The Tayim plate, for a little bit of everything

Old world meets new inside the restored, heritage-listed sandstone walls of The Harbour Rocks Hotel where head chef Ran Kimelfeld is serving zhuzhed-up versions of familiar Middle Eastern street foods. Tayim's plate for two is a generous launchpad of crunchy, herby falafel and a rainbow of sides spanning pickles to tahini, hummus, labne and pita.

14 Nurses Walk, The Rocks, 02 8220 9952, tayim.com.au

The Good Food Guide 2020 is available now from newsagencies and bookstores, and via thestore.com.au/gfg20, $29.99 with free shipping.