Lebanese delights at Maroush in Eltham

My sister's stay in Australia is coming to an end and last night she and her husband took us out to dinner to our local Lebanese restaurant Maroush - and, as I said, last night, we really do not go there often enough - for the food is delicious and the setting is nice too - in spite of the trains rumbling past the window every now and then across the road. You can't hear them - just see them.

I had in my head that Lebanese and Persian (i.e. Iranian) food were the most admired cuisines of the middle east, but the perusal of my middle eastern cookbooks this morning did not quite bear this out.

"Lebanese restaurants with their typical menus have come to represent Arab food everywhere around the world. So big is their reputation that when a Syrian restaurant opens in London, it calls itself 'Lebanese', and when hotels in Egypt put on a special Egyptian buffet, the dishes are Lebanese. How did this come about? One reason is that the Lebanese are famously bons vivants who know how to make the best of their culinary heritage. They are also great entrepreneurs and they were the first in the Middle East to develop a restaurant trade. That trade spread to Europe and elsewhere when the civil war forced many to seek their fortunes abroad in the 1970s and '80s."

Thus writes Claudia Roden in her introduction to the Lebanese section of her book Arabesque. I also learnt from her that Lebanon is tiny - half the size of Wales, and that it has only been a country since 1946. So I can see why there is some argument as to whether their cuisine is uniquely Lebanese. I think Lebanon is more of a mix in a religious sense than many of her neighbours though - after all this was largely what the civil war was all about. And this affects the cuisine. Also the split between the coast and the mountains.

The most notable thing about the Arabic cuisine - for this is really what Lebanese food is - Arabic - is the mezze dishes.

There are literally hundreds and hundreds of them, and the largest section of the Maroush menu is the mezze. Delicious little morsels that are served together - some of them supremely simple - like Claudia Roden's dip which is just a mixture of yoghurt, feta and mint. We all chose to go for the banquet menu last night and the first part - appetisers of two dips and tabbouleh followed by more substantial mezze, really made up the major part of the meal. Indeed, instead of the banquet you could probably just share all the mezze on the menu. So some of them were not very original - hummus and baba ganouj, for example, they were completely delicious - and, doubtless, authentic as their website declares.

In fact these middle-eastern delights have become so ubiquitous that they can be used as a throwaway laugh in the New Zealand film Hunt for the Wilderpeople where some very unsophisticated New Zealand hunters are shown tucking into their baba ganouj for a snack in the wilds of New Zealand. I thought that was one of the highlights of the film in a way - not only was it funny but it also showed how multicultural and accepting in some ways the whole world is. If you love the food you should love the people. Such a pity that at the same time a tiny country like Lebanon can have so many political troubles, be so beset by violence and so inundated by refugees from their neighbouring troubled countries. I do so hope it doesn't meet the same fate as its neighbour, Syria.

At least the Lebanese of Eltham seem to have found a happy home. Maroush is a very popular restaurant - deservedly so - it has been there for very many years now and is always reasonably busy - last night seemed pretty busy for a Thursday. And they have Lebanese wine too! And Middle-Eastern food is one of the very top cuisines of the moment - again deservedly so, with the Lebanese leading the charge it seems.

Very reasonably priced too and the service was excellent - friendly and well-informed. And it's a nice room - well they have two separated rooms and a tiny courtyard around a fountain.