Ramadan rich with delights

Finding this in-your-face dining experience in the middle of an Australian city is surprising.

A vendor at the Lakemba night markets. Picture: Damian Shaw

On a balmy Sydney evening, credit card in pocket, a world full of dining possibilities out there for the taking, my regular shotgun rider is about to say no to the closest thing I know to a free lunch. Or in this case, dinner. “I’ve got a better idea,” she says. Five minutes later we’re on a train headed west, next stop Lakemba.

It’s Ramadan, and the annual night food market during this month of observance for Muslims has become quite the thing, I’m told. We emerge from the station and follow our noses to Haldon Street; by 7pm, with the weather smiling, it’s already a faintly chaotic crush of street vendors, people, cars and noise. Lots of noise.

From somewhere uncertain, a megaphone fires up at a million decibels: it sounds like a call to prayer in Morocco, or Indonesia, but is in fact a polished, insistent exhortation to buy curry and bread from a particular vendor whose tucker does indeed look excellent.

If you’re a sucker for this kind of raw, in-your-face street food environment, finding this in the middle of an Australian city is surprising. Indeed, an eye-opener.

I guess I’ve always thought of multiculturalism in terms of second inhabitants – Anglo-Saxon Australians like me – blending with nationalities who came later, and how successful or otherwise that has been. Lakemba tonight is about a different version of multiculturalism: a surprising mix of nationalities that are not Anglo-Saxon, connected by religion and food. Indians and Pakistanis, Syrians and Lebanese, Malaysians and Egyptians, Indonesians and Africans, and undoubtedly many more.

An overhead sign says “Bawarchi Multi Cuisine Restaurant” and already I feel their dilemma. At the end of a day of fasting, everyone is out to enjoy food, Arabic coffees and exotic teas, social contact, life. As am I. But where to start?

A nice lady in a hijab asks if I have plans for a camel burger. It transpires that several vendors are doing a roaring trade in the dromedary version of a Big Mac, but it sounds a little unadventurous given the ethnic diversity on show here. When you have guys making murtabak from scratch in front of you a greasy burger seems to defeat the purpose, regardless of the donor animal. And after 20 minutes, the window shopping needs to end.

A camel burger stall at the Lakemba night markets. Picture: Damian Shaw

Pani puri – shell-like, hollow fried Indian pastry orbs filled with vegetables and tamarind dressing – are a great way to start. A little further up the street, one guy is cooking spiced chicken and capsicum kebabs over charcoal and stuffing them in freshly made naan from a real tandoor. This may be the best $10 (cash only, of course) my friend has ever spent. The worst schooner and G&T at the Lakemba Hotel costs twice as much; my sins have been punished.

Back on the street, a strangely gluey Pakistani dish called haleem – like a yellow lentil dhal slow-cooked with beef – is an odd thing to eat on your feet but rather delicious, and new to me. As is knafeh, a bizarre sweet Lebanese dessert made with milky semolina and sugar syrup over a base of stretch curd cheese, like mozzarella. Acquired taste? But it’s as much about broadening horizons as food, and we’ve only scratched the surface.

If you’re booking for Vivid next year, leave a night for Lakemba.