Lygon Street: Carlton’s Islamic makeover as Ramadan comes to Melbourne’s Little Italy

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The sun is setting over Lygon Street. Electronic dance music thrums from a popular Italian eatery, but next door at Yemeni restaurant Mandina Kitchen, prayer mats are being unfurled.

The Ramadan nightly buffet is being served and Muslim diners officially break their fast.

Ameen Almutawakel, Karan Bhatia and Mugdad Rassan break fast at Yemeni restaurant Mandina Kitchen on Lygon Street.Credit: Simon Schluter

Sam Manasfi, a Lebanese immigrant who came to Australia from Beirut 20 years ago, puffs a cigarette after finishing a meal of lamb, rice and hot tea.

He's travelled from Maroondah in the city's east to for this traditional meal, something that's difficult to come by in the outer suburbs.

"Even just here at this one restaurant it brings in all the nations – Lebanese, Yemeni, Syrian or whatever," he says. "[Breaking] fast is like Christmas Day – day after day. All the families come together every day."

For 70 years, Lygon Street has maintained its status as Melbourne's Little Italy, with generations of iconic restaurants and grocers.

Sam Manasfi, originally from Lebanon, enjoys a cigarette after a Ramadan buffet at Mandina.Credit: Simon Schluter

It's claimed the famous strip had Australia's first espresso machine and was the birthplace of the controversial "Aussie" pizza.

But in 2023, especially during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the south end Lygon Street has taken on a new life, with cuisines from Arab and Muslim cultures just as common as Italian food.

For the past month, vendors between Queensberry and Grattan streets have served Ramadan fare to worshippers each night after sunset, amid clouds of shisha smoke and twinkling strings of lights.

There's fare on offer from across the Muslim world: Pakistani (Khabbay and Ziyka restaurants), Indonesian (D’Penyetz & D’Cendol), Egyptian (Leyalina and Cairo Nights), Iranian (Mixity), Afghan (Kabana), Lebanese (Tabouli), Turkish (Nefes, Lambs, IloveIstanbul) and shisha bars El Giza and Balcony.

"It was Little Italy definitely, when everyone was Italian – but not any more," says Sonny Bestawros, owner of Cairo Nights, which opened in July 2021.

Bestawros worked on Lygon Street eight years ago and watched the subtle cultural shift take place. His family decided to set up in a 140-year-old double-storey Victorian building that once housed Italian trattoria Villa Romana.

"It's changed so much. There's a bit of everything down here now," he says.

Bestawros is expecting a packed house this weekend as Ramadan ends with Eid al-Fitr, a religious festival that will be observed by more than 800,000 Muslim Australians.

On Friday and Saturday night there will be belly dancers and on Sunday a traditional oud player.

"We really try to bring that Egyptian party experience," Bestawros said. "Everyone's singing along".

Cairo Nights, like many restaurants on the strip, has been offering buffets each night during Ramadan. The meals usually start with dates and karkadeh (hibiscus tea), followed by a soup, mains, and baklava for dessert.

The restaurant also specialises in charcoal-grilled meats – lamb kofta, chicken, quail – and seafood clay pots. Then there's the Egyptian dessert om ali, a bread-and-butter-style pudding made with pastry, nuts and spices.

Sonny Bestawros and his mother Jacqueline at their family Egyptian restaurant, Cairo Nights, on Lygon Street.Credit: Simon Schluter

Diners often stick around after a family feast to smoke shisha water pipes, he says.

"It's standard – for many people it doesn't feel right to eat and not have shisha," he says.

Diners enjoy smoking shisha after a meal at Cairo Nights.Credit: Simon Schluter

"Everyone can come together and eat together here," he said. "Our backgrounds are actually not Muslim, however we have a huge demographic that are. But we get Chinese, we get Australians, we get everyone."

Mandina Kitchen opened in April 2021 when Lygon Street was struggling with high vacancies and the effects of lockdowns. The property has housed an Italian restaurant, an Argentinian restaurant, and most recently a Chinese restaurant over the past decade.

"Since we’ve opened we have a lot of customers interested because the Yemeni cuisine is considered to be one of the popular cuisines in the Arabian Peninsula," owner Mohammed Alhamed said.

"People like to come and have that sort of an experience, it reminds them of their home," he says.

"For the other people like ... the Australians and other backgrounds, they would like to come to have that sort of an experience."

As well as a special Iftar buffet, Mandina is also hosting a baloot tournament, a popular card game played on the Arabian Peninsula.

Egyptian restaurant Leyalina was one of the first Middle Eastern restaurants to open in the southern end of Lygon Street in 2016. Owner Nader Tawfek says his customers have changed.

"When I started eight years ago, the ratio of my customers was 60 per cent from gulf Arab countries and 20 per cent Australian, and 20 per cent Egyptian, but nowadays it's about 60 per cent Australian," he said.

Tawfek has been busy preparing special Iftar banquets for customers throughout Ramadan and says there is more competition in the strip for Muslim customers.

But while business has been good during Ramadan, Tawfek says his business was still struggling to recover from the pandemic.

"I can see there are less gulf students from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and I think this is affecting Middle Eastern restaurants in general," he said.

But one diner, Iraqi-born Mugdad Rassan, who grew up in New Zealand, said the food he’d eaten during Ramadan on the strip would keep him coming back.

"Coming to Melbourne and seeing all these Middle Eastern restaurants ... this food is amazing," he said.

"I’m comparing this with my mum's cooking – which is a pretty high bar – but this is great."

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