Jawhara — Restaurant in Western Australia

Located on Canning Highway opposite Melville Plaza Shopping Centre and located in the former Miami Bakehouse store is this Middle Eastern restaurant. There is generally plenty of parking out front.

We went on a Friday night, my partner having seen it advertised at the local cinema weeks ago and been intrigued enough to give it a shot.

It is a large dining area, with a Mediterranean theme, and was less than 50% full. We were waiting almost 20mins before anyone came and took our orders - staff seemed more interested in drying glasses and cleaning tables then seeing if we wanted anything.

We decided on the Mediterranean Feast ($35/head) as we were both hungry and wanted to sample as many dishes as possible. First course - selection of dips, zaatar bread, vine leaves and zaalouk - was delicious although we did have to get the wait staff back to explain what was what after they placed the dishes on the table and departed with speed. The zaalouk was the highlight.

The second course - boneless chicken cooked with saffron, confit lemon, olives, crispy potatoes & cilantro; Slow cooked lamb with prunes, almonds & sesame seeds; Saffron rice, and batbout bread - however was disappointing. Firstly the dishes looked nothing like the photos on their website, secondly the size of the servings (for a banquet) were miserly and finally they were fairly bland. I was expecting them to be bursting with flavour, featuring amazing Arabic spices but it didn’t. I’ve tasted better middle eastern meals that have come from a supermarket packet.

We even had room for desert, a rarity when I’ve supposedly enjoyed a banquet. So we grabbed a couple of baklava to go. They were tasty but a little stodgy - guess they’d been sitting on the shelf for awhile.

If you do decide to try Jawhara I wouldn’t recommend the set menus maybe try one of the tagines they might have more flavour...

This epic culinary gem is right at our door step – We will be back!

The friendly staff of Jawhara greet you at the door and introduce themselves professionally. The restaurant’s interior has been done very nicely, great relaxed ambiance and you feel welcome straightaway. The meals has a strong blend of spices while retaining the overall integrity of oriental Eastern Mediterranean cuisine. My partner and I tried the Zaalouk to share as a starter. As a main we chose for Beef Meshwi and Seafood Tagine with a side dish of saffron rice. We shared these both and for me the Seafood Tagine is a must try! The meals were served in time and with a smile! The flavours and textures could not have been better with every component cooked to perfection. We were very impressed and grateful for the fantastic presentation. Portions are quite generous plus very well priced. For dessert we had coffees together with a slice of homemade almond tart and a selection of Moroccan pastries. We studied the menu very well and because we will definitely be coming back, I would love to try the Moroccan Feast for two. During the evening they come to your table and ask you for your feedback. Whilst not applicable to ourselves I did notice there were gluten free, vegetarian and kids options available. We had a chat with, I believe, the owner who is a fascinating person with lots of good stories about the Eastern Mediterranean cooking. Oh, and they are licensed. We did bring our own bottle of wine as we were not sure and that was not an issue. As they do breakfast, lunch and dinner we would love to try the others soon too. The whole evening was a delight from...

Had dinner here with partner for our first Moroccan meal. Parking is easy and the layout of the restaurant is nice and spacious so you can carry a conversation without competing with other dinners. Appropriate music at decent loudness. We ordered two mains.

Mrouzia (lamb with prunes): as presented, it was not a pretty dish; the lamb being slow cooked was tender but a tad too lean. The ras el hanout spices was the dominant flavor - rather muted and sweetened by the prunes, the dish was crying out for something to elevate it. I added the roasted green chilli from the kofta dish and the heat helped greatly. I consider this dish an acquired taste as our palate didnt connect with the spices. Not saying it is a bad dish, we just didnt know what to make of it.

Lamb kofta: lamb nicely cooked with a bit of pink, eats well with the garlic dip and the fluffy saffron rice. Salad was fresh. We asked for the hummus dip to be replaced with baba ghanoush just for a change - it didnt go well with the lamb but that's our fault. We like this dish.

Reasonably priced for this setup and we will come back to try other dishes,...