Review: Zar Cafe | HerCanberra

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Review: Zar Cafe

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As many of us know, Canberra is full of good eateries. But the way our city is set up means they’re not always easy to find. They’re not along a main street of the CBD like some cities, or clustered in particular suburbs. More often than not, some of the most interesting places to eat are tucked away in local shops—but unless you know they’re there and what they serve, you might not even think to look. Zar Café in Mawson is one such place.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh5.ggpht.com/-BVx8-x11Nsg/U_ns6LpPDFI/AAAAAAAAHoM/dLz08fnxOVw/s144-c-o/IMG_4161.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108454826374315674707/ZarCafePalestinianFoodInCanberra#6051128058651282514″ caption=”Foul with pita bread and pickled vegetables.” type=”image” alt=”IMG_4161.JPG” pe2_img_align=”center” pe2_caption=”1″ pe2_single_image_size=”w614″ ]

 

Walking past Zar, it looks like a standard café. But when you get closer and look at the pictures above the counter, or have a read of the menu, you quickly realise that what’s on offer is definitely not your standard café fare. That’s because Zar Café is Canberra’s only Palestinian eatery.

I’d never tried Palestinian food before, so didn’t know what to expect when I went to Zar. My friend and I were greeted by the chef, who asked us if we wanted to order anything specifically, or if we were happy for him to just surprise us. I’m becoming a big fan of going by a chef’s recommendations, especially if I have no idea about the cuisine, so we went with the second option.

First up was a serve of foul, which was mashed boiled fava beans with garlic and lemon juice topped with virgin olive oil, along with some pickled vegetables and some wonderfully puffy-looking pita bread. The foul was definitely a new taste for me, but it was lovely and smooth with a bit of tang, and the perfect thing to dip the bread into. The bread itself was incredible. It tasted so fresh and light, and was delicious even on its own (for those of you allergic to egg, you’ll be pleased to hear that the bread isn’t made with egg, so you can eat it!).

The next dish was a serve of fatet hummus: baked croutons dipped in hummus sauce topped with hummus, olive oil and pine nuts. We were told that this was normally just eaten on its own with a spoon, so we followed suit. While I’m not normally a fan of hummus, this was really, really nice, and fun to eat. The pine nuts and croutons added a bit of crunch to the texture. The fatet hummus ended up being my friend’s favourite part of the whole meal.

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We were then presented with a white cheese manakeesh (flatbread), with fresh tomato and herbs. This was amazing. It looked like a mini pizza but it wasn’t oily at all, it was light and delicious and again had that freshness to it that all the other food had had. This was my favourite dish, I could have happily eaten a whole one on my own. The bread again was just wonderful (and again, not made with egg).

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Next up we were given some Armenian pizza, which we were told originated in Jerusalem, and was meat with spices and lime folded in bread. Although a meat dish, it wasn’t heavy, and my friend and I found this went down very, very easily!

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Some falafel then arrived, and while I don’t normally like falafel, I found these delightful. The outside was wonderfully crunchy, and the inside was delicious and soft.

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My friend and I were getting quite full by this point, but that didn’t stop us tucking in eagerly to the next dish: shawerma (yes, like in the post-credit scene in The Avengers!). We were given veal and chicken shawerma, and it was explained to us that to make it proper shawerma, the meat had to be marinated for 48 hours. It was then usually eaten by itself, with salad, or even on a sandwich. And while it may look like a kebab, it’s not. Like all the other food at Zar, the shawerma tasted incredibly fresh. And although marinated, the flavour wasn’t overwhelming, so you could still get a sense of what meat you were eating. While we got ours with salad, I’m planning to go back and try a shawerma sandwich!

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To end, we were given some walnut baklava, which was my second favourite part of the meal (it was all great, but I really liked the manakeesh and the baklava). While I often find baklava overly sweet and sticky, this was wasn’t too much of either, and had a lovely texture.

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If you like Palestinian food, want to try Palestinian food, or you just like food in general, now I’ve told you about Zar, make sure you go there! The food tastes so fresh because they make everything from scratch, including the hummus and the bread. This means that things you might not usually like (like hummus and felafel for me), taste different there and you might surprise yourself and discover a new love for them. There are plenty of vegetarian options, and so much on the menu to try that multiple visits will definitely be in order. Or one visit with a lot of takeaway. Or several. Just get thee there!

The author and her friend dined courtesy of Zar Café, but they will definitely be going back!

The essentials

The place: Zar Cafe
Where: Shop 7, Southland Shopping Centre, Mawson
When: Mon-Sat 7am-6pm
Food: Palestinian
Drinks: Coffee, tea (including Palestinian tea with sage), soft drink
Contact: Call 02 6286 3337 or visit their Facebook page

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5 Responses to Review: Zar Cafe

linda says: 25 August, 2014 at 12:58 pm

I agree! I strayed across this place at lunch time and go back because it is so obvious that they care about everything they do. Really tasty food, great coffee and super friendly service

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