Eat out: Cafe Sunshine and SalamaTea

Greetings contestants, and welcome to episode 846 of the disaster show no one subscribed to. As you know, ratings for the pandemic had been sliding steadily downhill as we made moves towards normality, but that has all changed after an action-packed week of rogue cases, quarantine scandals and of course the cordoning off of 36 suburbs. Depressing viewing, right? But don't tune out. The fate of some restaurants in or near the danger zone depends on it.

Exhibit A is Hamed Allahyari's Persian brunch and banquet restaurant, which trades as Cafe Sunshine by day and SalamaTea by night. Sunshine finds itself snuggled between, but not actually in, two locked down zones, meaning business evaporated as early as last week. Here's why that's extra spicy for a business like his.

Allahyari's story is as common as it is shocking. At 19 he began to question his religion, a criminal offence in his homeland, Iran. When discovered, he had to flee. The fate of four friends who were caught remains unknown. He never said goodbye to his parents, instead, calling them from Indonesia to say he had found an opportunity in Australia. It was a lie. He was chancing the dangerous trip to Christmas Island, and made it, eventually being granted asylum.

Despite being a chef in Tehran, Allahyari's limited English saw him rejected by 60 restaurants. Finally, through the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, Allahyari became one of the first hosts for Free to Feed, an organisation that employs refugees to teach cooking classes while telling their stories. After 200 classes, he began catering. Last year, with the help of business partner Jen Morillas, he won a grant to open the Sunshine cafe.

The venue sits on Dickson Street, with peachy walls and a cabinet as radiant as a rave, with beetroot dips, saffron rice, and a rainbow of his own Melbourne-Persian bliss balls.

The house isn't dry. You can get tap beers from Two Birds and wines that come in sterilised, refillable bottles from Rewine in Brunswick East.

Before shutdown, people were travelling and waiting an hour to get at the banquets featuring that Persian staple, fesenjoon, a sweet, nutty stew of chicken in walnut and pomegranate molasses, bracketed by his father's herb, onion and cumin-fragrant labne dips and syrupy baklava with a hint of ginger.

Like everyone, Allahyari adapted to takeaway during the Great Lockdown and it's food that stands the test. My fridge is stacked to the brim with buttery, golden saffron rice peppered with pistachios and barberries; intensely rich slabs of almond meal-based Persian love cake, a vegan version of the fesenjoon (still sweet and nutty but textured with carrots and fried tofu instead of chicken).

I'm fully stocked with fuchsia beetroot dip, a chunkily robust black olive dip and kashk e bademjan, which, with its smoky eggplant base, is reminiscent of baba ghanoush, but crowned with a layer of salty tangy yoghurt whey.

Despite being outside a lockdown zone, SalamaTea is so close that Allahyari has opted to go back to takeaway.

That means you might have to wait to get at the Persian omelettes, cooked in zinc pans, and including a high-octane sweet version made with dates and cinnamon. Ditto house-made sour cherry tea, like tangy Ribena.

But don't wait for take out. Partly because all the staff are refugees who, with few or zero entitlements, are in a particularly dire situation.

There's the rub. No hospitality business is getting out of this unscathed. It can be overwhelming knowing who to help, especially after it feels like we've been doing it for so long. So let me make it easier.

This week, help the west – those in lockdown, and those, like Allahyari, who will be tarred with the same brush. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Grab your forks, and keep digging out as many survivors as you can.

The lowdown

Contact 21 Dickson Street, Sunshine, 0401 034 959

Delivery Via multiple apps, or pick up.

Cost Dips and mezze $15, mains $24, banquets $80.

Go-to dish Fesenjoon with saffron rice ($24).

Also try Allahyari's online cooking classes, running fortnightly from mid-July. Follow @salamateahouse on Instagram.

Help the rest of the west

Eat

West Footscray's pizza haven Harley & Rose is back to slinging premium pizza and the wildest wines in the west. harleyandrose.net.au. So is new Filipino star Chibog, which has enjoyed very few weeks of dine-in since it opened in February. chibog.com.au.

Drink

Ascot Vale has a bevy of great bars for takeaway beverages, including Ascot Vale Cellars, ascotvalecellars.com.au, the Vale Bar and Eatery, thevalebarandeatery.com, and Union Wine Store, unionwinestore.com.au.