Where the snacks are free every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.
Collingwood locals will no longer need to make the pilgrimage into the CBD for first-rate Middle Eastern cuisine, with Shane Delia set to open his third Maha venue, a cocktail-focussed meze bar, on Smith Street in February.
Called Maha Bar, which is a play on the Arabic word marhaba for welcome, the new meze bar invites patrons to step inside for a biodynamic wine or arak infusion paired with Middle Eastern-inspired hors d’oeuvres.
Whether you’re settling in for the evening or just swinging by for a drink, the meze menu will offer both small and large sharing plates, alongside a number of single piece offerings, priced from $4-$10.
Diners can expect fresh and fragrant dishes like pan-fried chickpea dumplings with asparagus and tomato, duck breast with a spicy red pepper and walnut muhammara dip, and a refreshing yoghurt curd served with ginger jelly and watermelon granita.
Naturally, Shane will weave in a number of dishes from his native homeland, Malta, onto the menu, including hobz biz-zeit or ‘bread with oil’, which sees Baker’s Bleu bread topped with sundried tomato paste and salted Maltese cheese.
Like sister restaurants Maha and Maha East, Maha Bar will also offer a banquet menu – or soufra – with a vegan option available. “Up to 40 per cent of the menu will be vegan, because the region calls for it as well as our health,” says Shane.
“When you start with beautiful produce as a base, it’s not hard to make delicious food.”
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In tribute to the great bars of Malta where meze is gifted to drinking customers every Sunday, Maha Bar will serve free snacks on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Drinks will revolve around bespoke cocktails, including a dedicated selection of arak infusions, made using the region’s famous anise liqueur. The beloved Pomegranate Sour from Maha will also be making an appearance.
Wines will focus on biodynamic and vegan drops, “but they won’t just be cool and funky and Collingwood,” says Shane, “we’ll also have some offerings from the big end of town.” Beers will include Brick Lane Brewing Co’s full range (of which Delia is a part owner) alongside brews from Israel, Lebanon, Turkey and Malta. “All the regions we source inspiration from will have representation on the drinks list.”
Delia’s go-to design studio – Studio Y – has once again been engaged to oversee the interiors, which feature the same upscale contemporary stylings for which the Maha group is known.
The dimly lit venue will feature a mix of comfortable high bar seating, dining tables and enclosed leather booths, completed by classic wood panelling and artworks by Lebanese/French artist Raphaelle Macaron.
“The Middle Eastern elements will come through in the artworks, the music, the flavour profiles in the food, as well as the attitude that we bring,” Shane says.
Maha Bar is slated to open at 86 Smith Street, Collingwood on February 20, 2020.
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