Michael Rantissi - Falafel For Breakfast: Modern Middle Eastern Recipes for the Shared Table from Kepos Street Kitchen

INTRODUCTION

SERENDIPITY is a word thats new to me I cant quite think of its equivalent in my native tongue but I learnt it thanks to my own moment of, well, serendipity, so its one I will always love.

It all started when Kristy (my partner) and I were on the way to the shops and passed the near-derelict site of a once-popular inner-city caf. With Kristys profession firmly in the hospitality industry for 20 years, and me being a chef for almost as long, we were casually discussing how nice it would be to have a place of our own maybe even that place. On our return trip 20 minutes later, lugging bags full of groceries, we noticed a For Lease sign on the side of the building.

The following weeks exciting, crazy, daunting and exhilarating were spent transforming my life as head chef in someone elses business to owner-operator of my own. Luckily, all our dear friends and family members put up their hands to help, and it seemed we knew someone with just about every skill and talent needed to get a restaurant up and running.

We started work and hung out a sign announcing our vision. It said, Once the makeover is complete well be creating breakfast, lunch and dinner menus filled with the fresh, the fabulous and the favourite, all with a Middle Eastern accent. Its food we hope will excite and thrill you, and make you say our favourite words: Oh yum! Oh wow! Thats the most delicious thing Ive ever eaten!

A big promise, yes, but we were full of enthusiasm and optimism.

Soon, the wreck wed adopted emerged looking light, bright and hopeful. Two months later Kepos Street Kitchen was officially open, and the word serendipity unexpected pleasure and surprising good fortune or, as I like to think of it, being in the right place at exactly the right time became part of my vocabulary.

Writing the menus for our little caf was liberating because for the first time I could cook the food I wanted to cook, rather than having to adhere to the philosophy of the restaurant owner for whom I was working.

The starting points for every dish were the flavours and ingredients of my childhood in Israel, and recipes learnt by watching my mum work her way around the kitchen and then presenting the dishes to my dad, brothers, sisters and me. Next came the influences of the classic cooking techniques Id mastered during my time studying in New York and years working in fine-dining restaurants in Paris, Tokyo, London, Tel Aviv and, of course, my new home of Sydney.

Those first menus, and every one since, are a culinary autobiography of sorts a collection of dishes that I love to eat and cook, and, more importantly, the food that receives the most applause from my family and friends when I am cooking at home.

Kristy and I were shocked and humbled when customers started queuing to eat in our tiny restaurant. You couldnt wipe the smile (or the disbelief) off my face. Our most-cherished regulars are the good people of the inner city, but we also have wonderful supporters from farther afield. It seems the Middle Eastern flavours that are so familiar and delicious to me, are what surprise and delight our customers; the food that makes me happy, makes others happy, too.

Soon, a little more serendipity came to pass. At the same time our small patch in Redfern was gaining popularity, cooks and food-lovers beyond started to find inspiration in Middle Eastern flavours. A new culinary vocabulary was being learnt. The generosity and spirit of shared dishes, as we eat in my homeland, was being embraced in restaurants and homes around Australia. The essential spices of the Middle East such as cumin, sumac, cinnamon and saffron and the versatile aromatic mixes for which they are the foundation like zaatar, baharat, dukkah and chermoula were appearing more often in kitchens around the country.