Mama Manoush

Overview

Step into the neon-signed, mural-adorned Mama Manoush and let Mama herself feed you a week's worth of authentic Lebanese food in one sitting. At the insistence of her kids, Elizabeth Kairouz opened her restaurant in Fitzroy in 2014, before moving to a bigger space in Brunswick East in 2017 — now everyone can try her perfectly smooth hummus, baba ganoush and labneh, skewers of charcoal-grilled meats, bowls of tabouli and fattoush, and crispy falafel and sambousik.

Mama's banquet is $45 a head for a generous selection of her best dishes, including dips with traditional pickles and bread, salads, rice pilaf, charcoaled meats and more, plus Lebanese coffee and baclava to cap it all off. If you're really hungry, the mega banquet is $60 per person for an extra couple of dishes from the mezza and grill menus. Out the back in Mama's Garden, there's a smaller selection of wraps, snack packs and sides, where you can fill up for 20 bucks.

There is also a full menu of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and desserts. Try the Mama Bell with Zubrowka bison grass vodka, peach liqueur, clowdy apple, passionfruit and lime juice ($18), a white chocolate, cookie and brandy dessert cocktail served with a baclava finger ($18), or a ginger beer, cinnamon and lime mocktail ($9). Desserts run from the traditional cheese-filled baked pie kanafeh ($18) and mouhalabieh (a custard-like pudding, $10) to choc-hazelnut ice cream served with popcorn and chocolate sauce ($12).