If you needed another reason to put Armenian-Lebanese food on your radar, here it is. Melbourne’s Zareh has just been named Restaurant of the Year by Gourmet Traveller, one of Australia’s leading food and travel publications, at its annual restaurant awards celebrating the country’s best dining spots.
And the win is especially exciting because Zareh is far from the traditional fine-dining formula that has long dominated the category.
A Taste of Lebanon, With a Little More
Opened in August 2025, Zareh is the work of co-owners Tom Sarafian and Jinane Bou-Assi, whose Armenian, Lebanese and Egyptian backgrounds all make their way onto the menu.
Think Egyptian aish baladi made with Australian-milled flour, Armenian-Lebanese kafta nayyah using locally sourced lamb, and hummus topped with Australian spanner crab. The kitchen is centered around a wood-fired oven and charcoal barbecue, bringing together Middle Eastern flavors with Australian produce.
Basically, it’s heritage food with a Melbourne passport.
More Than Just a Restaurant
Named after Sarafian’s grandfather, Zareh is also deeply tied to the story of Armenian migration to Lebanon. For Sarafian, the restaurant is a way of celebrating the country that welcomed Armenian survivors of the genocide and became an important center of Armenian life.
He described Zareh as “a love letter from us to Lebanon, who opened their arms and their country to Armenia and went so beautifully to let us in … It’s a cross-cultural celebration.”
A New Kind of Australian Dining
Zareh’s win is also a pretty big deal for the wider Australian food scene. Previous Restaurant of the Year winners include renowned fine-dining names such as Attica, Quay, Saint Peter and Orana.
Sarafian admitted he initially felt a little out of place among them: “I guess it’s imposter syndrome because it’s not fine dining, but we may be part of the new sort of scene that handles food [just] as well … but a bit more casual in their approach.”
And honestly, we’re very into this new scene. Zareh’s win is a reminder that Australia’s dining culture is being shaped not just by fine-dining institutions, but by the migrant stories, family recipes and Middle Eastern kitchens that have become part of the country’s identity.
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