Our restaurant critics’ picks of the latest and best eats around the country right now: Thievery, Sydney.
The name might be a loose reference to Ali Baba and his mates, but this hip new Lebanese diner is already stealing hearts on Glebe Point Road. It’s a collaboration between the Eat Art food truck team, chef Jordan Muhamed and former Nomad chef Julian Cincotta, who consults on the menu. The look of the two-storey terrace is as much bar as eatery, and with 961 Lebanese beers on the list and arak in some of the cocktails there’s plenty of interest in the glass. On the plate it’s smart takes on Middle Eastern street food: burnt butter amps up the hummus, and the baba ghanoush is spiked with sheep’s milk yoghurt. Kibbeh nayeh is reimagined as raw kingfish with cracked wheat and Aleppo pepper, there’s a tabouleh san choy bao, while “LFC” gives Lebanon its time to shine in the fried chicken stakes. A snapper option from the short, sharp kebab menu combines the savour of juicy fish with a good dose of almonds and chilli on two rounds of fluffy flatbread each a bit larger than a taco. Never mind the Mexican craze: streetwise Lebanese is more than due its moment in the sun, and Thievery makes the case with light-fingered ease. And it does brunch Saturdays to boot.
Thievery, 91 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe, NSW, (02) 8283 1329.
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