Melbourne’s Armenian-Lebanese eatery Zareh named Gourmet Traveller’s restaurant of the year
Previous winners of the award have included Saint Peter, Attica, Orana by the late Jock Zonfrillo, and Quay Armenian-Lebanese eatery Zareh has been named Gourmet Traveller’s restaurant of the year, in a category of the annual industry awards that has historically been dominated by European-leaning cuisine and fine-dining establishments. The restaurant’s menu pulls from the Armenian, Egyptian and…
Melbourne's Armenian-Lebanese eatery Zareh has been named Gourmet Traveller's restaurant of the year. The restaurant's menu draws from the Armenian, Egyptian, and Lebanese backgrounds of co-owners Tom Sarafian and Jinane Bou-Assi. Dishes include aish baladi, made with flour milled in the Mornington Peninsula, kafta nayyah with raw minced lamb from Tasmania and Victoria, and hummus topped with spanner crab.
Zareh, which opened in Melbourne in August 2025, is named after Sarafian's paternal grandfather. According to The Guardian Australia, previous winners of the award have included Saint Peter, Attica, Orana, and Quay. Sarafian described Zareh as "a love letter from us to Lebanon, who opened their arms and their country to Armenia".
Sarafian also mentioned that Zareh may be part of a new scene that handles food well but with a more casual approach. The restaurant's win is notable as the award has historically been dominated by European-leaning cuisine and fine-dining establishments.
Brief written by urgent.news from The Guardian Australia, The Guardian — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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