Another stop in my whirlwind foodie visit to Melbourne was Maha. In the same group as The Press Club and The Hellenic, Maha is another Middle Eastern fusion restaurant, similar to MoMo as the food is exquisite with French technique melded with Middle Eastern flavours.
We visited Maha on my last night in Melbourne. In fact, we had to rush out in order for me to catch my plane! (We needn’t have hurried though; it was Tiger)
In another basement, this time just off Little Collins St, Maha offers more dim lighting, carved wood but with abstract glass vases used as decoration. An interesting (and not necessarily welcome) twist was the addition of incense burning. While useful for creating atmosphere as we entered, scented smoke isn’t necessarily welcome while diners are concentrating on the flavours they are eating! The welcome was warm, however, and the waiter brought us a non-alcoholic aperitif of shots of chilled hibiscus tea, which I hadn’t had since my Egypt visit!
It was starting to look like the restaurant wasn’t as prepared for gluten-free diners as they had sounded when I made the reservation. After grandly informing us that anything on the menu could be made gluten free, the waiter hurriedly backtracked when we said we wanted to choose from the a la carte instead of the set menu. We had decided that since we had tried a lot of traditional Middle Eastern food, we would like to taste the fusion flavours of the a la carte. Nevertheless, after ordering, the poor waiter had to come back twice to let me know that the kitchen couldn’t offer me m choices gluten free. Now I like steak as much as the next person, but I didn’t expect that this was all that would be available for me for my main course! It was a succulent piece of Wagyu beef however, and I certainly didn’t repine.
The entrees were delicate and delicious. I had the spiced quail, which was luscious. I was a little unhappy that they hadn’t been able to replace the foi gras b’stilla with anything. However, my disapproval turned to joy when the waiter arrived with gluten free pita bread to use with the dips! Redemption indeed!
The star of the evening would have to be the dessert. I ordered the dessert mezza plate. I begged for the peanut butter icecream to be included, since it came in a different dessert that wasn’t available gluten free. Our friendly waiter happily obliged, much to my joy. That icecream was fabulous! The other items on the mezze plate were chocolate mousse topped with Turkish fairy floss, a creme caramel, and another icecream. Yum!