Zaatar

This would have to be the happiest team I have ever met in a restaurant. Here we have the three brothers, Wadi, Ameen and Claude and on their right (left of picture) Nino. Secretly I think Nino is the genius behind the wonderful cheese and meat zaatars that are about to come out of the oven!!
The brothers are the inspiration behind one of our favourite places to eat when in Melbourne and in particular Coburg.

Zaatar is a Middle Eastern restaurant and they create the most amazing food. I love the fact that every time we visit Melbourne and turn up at Zaatar we are given a really warm welcome. Hey, you're back - how are you going? This great venue is just directly across the road from Trivelli (blipped two days ago). As you can see it's also dangerously close to where our family live, but we love it.

They're a very hard working team and I was thrilled today when I found the three brothers all there at the one time. I have been told in no uncertain terms though that I have to go back and photograph all the girls next time. It's a promise.

I love the following extract from the Zaatar website. I can see why they are all so passionate about the food they produce.

WHY ZAATAR? WHAT IS ZAATAR?

We really had no choice, Zaatar is something we grew up with and had no choice but to eat. Our mother told us:
 
‘Zaatar is good for you’
‘Zaatar makes you big and strong’ and our favourite was,
‘Zaatar makes you SMART!’ (This is true!)
We were constantly told of all the wonders of Zaatar and how it was part of the culture of the Middle East. Before too long, we called it our middle eastern Vegemite.


Might be time to head back home and get back on the treadmill!!