Laian Restaurant — Restaurant in Geraldton

Not only is the food incredible, this is a beautiful story. Syrian refugee Nadeem Turkia opening up his dream restaurant, Laian, backed by locals after they were blown away by his food. And we were too. Man this is good, soulful and love infused food.

My wife loves middle eastern food and we came across Laian while in Geraldton. Firstly, Nadeem is the type of person you meet and instantly feel like you’re going to be life long friends. He has a beautiful, genuine energy filled with passion. And it shows in his food.

We ordered the moussaka and tasting plate for two (should read four!). Servings are generous here, like you would experience when visiting someone’s home.

The moussaka was rich, layered and warming. Like something your Nan would make on special occasions and you’d look forward to.

The tasting plate featured shakshouka , dips, bread, falafel, kebabs, spiced mushrooms, ful medames, and salad. Every element was delicious. It was fresh, hugely flavoursome, authentic and best of all, felt home made. It’s pure, made with love.

The baklava was sensational. The best I’ve had. Beautifully balanced, just sweet enough and spice driven with lots of clove.

Nadeem came around to each table to check on his guests, and had a chat. Every table nodded enthusiastically at how good the food was. Big smiles all round.

More restaurants should be like this. It’s Nadeem and his heritage on a plate. It’s love, it’s a story, and it feels like someone’s cooked for you at their home.

We can’t...

Decided to try this establishment as I'd heard a lot of good things. When we got there, we were surprised to find the menu was a '2 course' or ''3 course' as I'd seen imenu pictures posted by the restaurant that had individually priced items. Decided to go ahead and eat there anyway and chose the 2 courses for $55.

Given we were there at around 6.30 and there was only 2 other tables (1 with about 5 patrons, one with 2) when we were wanting to order, service was surprisingly slow. Took a while to be attended to and then it was about 20 minutes before our trio of dips and 2 lamb skewers came out. Very small portions, especially the lamb. Flavours were very nice though. The entree plates sat on the table for a good while before staff finally removed them and called mains away at 7.30, later than what we were hoping because we were hungry.

I had the linguine as I had heard it was great and my partner had the goat. The portion again was quite small. The goat was a bit salty and the 'local seafood' in my linguine contained minuscule prawns and calamari rings that I'd be surprised if they were fresh as they were chewy. Given the previously charged price for the trio of dips was $12, based on that, either my meal or my partners had to be worth $43...which they definitely were not. Portion sizes did not match price charged. Only major positive was flavours in most items were very nice.

Good to experience, but based on slow service, portion sizes and price, I will...

My wife and I came for dinner at the restaurant tonight, 10th of August. From the moment we arrived the wait staff were welcoming, friendly and very informative when we asked questions about food.

We had the trio of dips for starters, no photo unfortunately as we couldn't wait to get into it! Overall really delicious and very generous serve.

For mains we had the Chicken Maryland and the Slow Cooked Goat, again no complaints with either of these dishes, delicious and generous in sizing once again.

Lastly we had the dessert which was made by chef Tim! Poached pear with a delicious mix of oats, vanilla, syrup and nuts! Absolutely 10/10 dish, would recommend this to anyone!

Even upon leaving the lovely ladies were happy to chat and very receptive to all feedback. Pricing was very fair and we were so happy with the atmosphere and experience!

Will absolutely...