Four nights. That's how many nights you have left to visit one of Sydney's most vibrant and family-friendly night food markets. The Ramadan Food Festival in Lakemba is a community iftar, the breaking of the day's Ramadan fast at dusk.
The markets kick off at 5pm, as the sun sets, with festivities running until 4am. It's a delicious event, and incredibly cheap. Rug up, bring a pocketful of cash and travel around the world via Lakemba.
Ful medames fava beans, a traditional dish to eat for iftar
Grilled meats on the barbecue
Boiled corn
Cooking saj flat bread
Spreading Nutella onto saj flat bread
Flipping paratha dough
Adding beaten egg and onion to paratha dough
Filled paratha folded into martabak
Cooked chickpeas, fava beans and lupin beans
Camel burgers being cooking over charcoal
The queue for camel burgers is always hectic.
Fresh carrot juice stall
Carving chicken doner kebab
2 Smokin' Arabs
It's worth checking out the pop-up by 2 Smokin' Arabs, a BBQ competition team who have temporarily taken up residence in a former newsagency on Haldon Street.
Carved beef brisket
Brisket box $20
Hot wings
Chicken tikka skewers cooked over charcoal
Caramelised chicken tikka skewers
Barbecued corn skewers grilled over charcoal
Knafeh served in kaak
For dessert, it's hard to go past a serve of knafeh. At this stall you can get your knafeh served in kaak bread...
Knafeh
but we had ours served straight onto a plate. It's a textural party of warm cheese, crunchy semolina and sweet syrup drizzled across the top.
Palestinian knafeh
The Palestinian knafeh comes with saffron-tinted kataifi pastry and a sprinkle of pistachio nuts.
Oozy cheesy Palestinian knafeh
The Palestinian knafeh is much cheesier in flavour with a more noticeable stretchiness. Guaranteed fun when you're hovering on the footpath with a plastic fork!
Palestinian knafeh for one
Kaak bread with cheese grilling over charcoal
Still hungry? Do what we did. Get a grilled cheese sandwich, Lebanese-style. Kaak bread is stuffed with a haloumi-like cheese and toasted over charcoal.
Melted cheese inside kaak
Oozing hot cheese. Nutty toasted sesame seeds. And crisp and toasty bread that's slightly smoky from the charcoal.
Turkish coffee
And if you still want to party on, get a Turkish coffee brewed in hot sand. You'll be going all night!
The Lakemba Ramadan Food Festival runs every night from 5pm (sunset) through to 4am. Crowds tend to peak 8pm-10pm. The final night will be Thursday 14 June 2018.
Food stalls are set up along Haldon Street near Lakemba rail station, between The Boulevarde and Gillies Street. Some nights you will also find stalls along Railway Parade.
Due to the popularity of this event, street parking tends to fill quickly so take public transport if possible.
Related Grab Your Fork posts
Lakemba Ramadan Night Market 2019
Lakemba Ramadan Night Market 2016
Oh boy, all the carbs!! The paratha looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteI'd go for the Knafeh - and possibly slip in some meat on the side...
ReplyDeleteHi Bianca - The paratha is awesome. Love that it's made fresh before your eyes!
ReplyDeleteHi Petra - You'll have to try both types of knafeh!
I'm annoyed the South East Asian places close early but vibe doesn't really kick off until later. I want both!
ReplyDeletedamn I haven't had knafeh in ages and now I'm craving
ReplyDeleteOh my, that cheese toastie!! I really regret not being organised enough and going this year, but glad I could vicariously live through the markets via your great post, Helen!
ReplyDelete