In the year - or is it the decade? - of the pop-up, Chic Pea is one of the best. By day, Summer Hill's Plunge Cafe serves lattes and short macs. On Friday and Saturday nights, it changes stripes, morphing into a relaxed but stylish Middle Eastern eatery.

The room is peopled with parents and children settling in for an ''I can't be bothered cooking'' treat, glamorous 40-something mums on a girls' night out and hipster inner-westie couples who count themselves lucky to have discovered their new local gem.

Chef Fouad Kassab is a software engineer by day and a self-taught cook who admits that, when he came to Sydney in 2001, he couldn't cook a thing. He is better known as the creator of thefoodblog and an expert on Lebanese and Middle Eastern cuisine.

Being able to write about food does not necessarily translate into being able to cook great food or run a successful restaurant, however. Serendipitously, in the case of Kassab and his business partner, Hesham El Masry, who owns Plunge, and their take on Middle Eastern comfort food, it does. Their whole-foods philosophy embraces pasture-fed meat from Feather and Bone, free-range chicken and eggs, and no industrially produced seed oils or preservatives.

We use chunks of dense, house-made potato and almond bread to scoop up creamy hummus, which has a kick from Turkish chilli and smoked red peppers, and textural crunch from toasted pepitas. Maple-sweetened roast beetroot is paired with tangy labna.

Chicken shish is a revelation, cooked sous vide for several hours then grilled and sprinkled with lemony sumac and julienne red onion and served with a garlicky toum (like an aioli). It melts in the mouth.

Beef and pistachio kofta are almost as good, served atop gloriously smoky baba ghanoush and sprinkled with tart pomegranate seeds. We're almost too full to do justice to the siyyadiyeh, a spiced snapper pilaf with wonderfully crunchy golden roasted almonds, and ask for a doggie bag to take the leftovers home.

Not content with ordering everything on the menu, we also try the special, dry-aged biodynamic beef skewers served with fried, caramelised brussels sprouts laced with tarator (tahini and lemon) sauce.

You can BYO, but there's a cracker of a wine list, well matched to the food. Dessert is a choice of two dishes including sublime rose ice-cream served with fresh fig and poached quince, and atayef ricotta-stuffed pastries covered in a heavenly date and butterscotch sauce.

If the aim of the ephemeral is to leave you wanting more, Chic Pea certainly succeeds.

THE LOW-DOWN
Do … come with a group so you can try everything.
Don't … worry if you're gluten free - so is the whole menu.
Dish … chicken shish taouk with toum.
Vibe … classy but laid-back Lebanese in an attractive setting.