Arabic restaurants are known for offering lavish and delicious spreads that are perfect for celebratory occasions or moments of indulgence, however, less popularly known is that they can also be extremely helpful for your meal preparation at home. Lunch and dinner can be prepared more easily with the help of your closest Arabic restaurant. With countless dishes full of exciting flavours and varying ingredients, it’s one of the best options for any meal. Learning how to effectively order, however, is what can save you time, stress and energy.

Why choose an Arabic restaurant?

Over the years, Arabic restaurants have become extremely popular. One reason is because of its diverse offering of dishes, making it a suitable choice of cuisine for a wide variety of persons. Arabic restaurants are uniquely qualified to help with your meal preparation. Here are some of the reasons why.

• Mezza
  • Mezza is a selection of small dishes served as appetisers. They’re available either hot and cold and can be a wonderful selection of side dishes to add to your main meal.
• Vegetarian and vegan
  • Arabic cuisine has many vegetarian and vegan options with many of them also being gluten-free. If any of your family members have dietary restrictions, it would be extremely easy to accommodate them with Arabic food.
• Healthy 
  • With a variety of salads, vegetable-based dishes and abundance of nutrient-rich ingredients like lemon juice and olive oil, Arabic food is one of the healthiest cuisines you can treat your family to.
• Meat 
  • Arabic restaurants offer a wide variety of seafood and meat dishes. These make easy accompaniments to meals and can easily complement a variety of home cooked side-dishes or, be made into sandwiches.

How do you utilise Arabic food to help in your meal preparation?

Lighten your dinner load

With the wide variety of mezza and side dishes available in Arabic cuisine, it’s easy to cut your work in half by substituting with a number of any of these dishes. Many of Arabic dishes are vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free and thus, it can easily be incorporated into a meal for your family, even if they have strict dietary requirements. We recommend grilling meat or seafood and then purchasing side dishes to accompany it. Our favourite side dishes to incorporate into meals are loubieh, foul, cauliflower and sambousik cheese. Alternatively, if you have leftover side dishes from the night before, you can simply purchase a meat or seafood main to complete your meal.

Cater the entire meal

A simple solution for an exhausting week is to cater your entire family’s meal with Arabic food. As mentioned before, Arabic cuisine’s numerous options make it extremely easy to satisfy even the pickiest eaters in your family. Zahli, Modern Middle Eastern restaurant provides many meat and seafood main courses that can accompany mjadra and kousa. Samki harra and lemon garlic chicken, both options on Zahli’s takeaway menu, won’t only serve as a delicious dinner, but would make for great leftovers–reducing your meal prep even more!

Order tasty iftar

Order something special to break your fast. Iftar is the main meal of the fasting day, enjoyed usually at sunset every day during Ramadan. For your iftar, order a few of Zahli’s mezzes and main courses. We’ve rounded up the tastiest iftars that you can order from Zahli. Included in our favourites are dishes that are high in lean proteins such as chicken breast, yoghurt, beans and cheese. They are easily digestible and contain all of the necessary amino acids needed after fasting. Added bonus? They are delicious!

• Labneh
• Foul
• Sambousik cheese
• Shish tawook
• Lahem mishwee

Indulge in something sweet

Meal preparation does not only have to be defined as savoury. Arabic restaurants are home to many delicious desserts that can provide mid-week indulgence. We recommend rounding off your meal with one of the following desserts.

• Baklava
• Turkish delight
• Rice pudding

It’s clear that Arabic restaurants in Sydney can easily help your meal preparation throughout the week. With countless vegetarian, healthy and meat options available, there’s always something delicious for your family. 

Whether you’re celebrating a special event, trying to make your weekly meals a bit easier, or just in the mood for something special, Zahli, Modern Middle Eastern restaurant is here to provide you with a culinary experience like no other. View our menu online or give us a call on (02) 9318 2228