I always have an eye or ear out for blogging opportunities. With an ear to the ground and a loyal readership that generously share their recommendations with me, I love seeking out new places that I haven’t tried before. So this evening when we drive past Wilsons we see a cafe on the opposite side of the road which has a large crowd gathered around it. I get excited and say “Oooh let’s check that place out!” to Queen Viv and Miss America, my intrepid dining pals and we head towards Cafe Cana. Getting closer, we encounter some curious looks and it suddenly dawns on us that we’ve almost gatecrashed a dinner session feeding dinner to the homeless. Yes, embarrassing but true.

Sheepishly, we head off to Wilson’s, a Lebanese restaurant which opened over 30 years ago and is said to be Sydney’s oldest Lebanese restaurant. And why the rather un-Lebanese sounding name of Wilson’s? Apparently “Wilson” was the anglicised version of the original Lebanese chef’s name.

The sign is cracked and repaired but when we step in, it’s all retro but charmingly so. With a parachute ceiling and what we can assume to be the original fixtures and decor, it’s like a step back in time. Queen Viv recalls seeing older Lebanese men sitting outside on crates on a hot Summer’s night although this cold, wet rainy Winter’s night there are none.

Cinnamon tea $3

There are two other tables but things are quiet here. We order a range of dishes from the menu and they come out in quick succession. Meanwhile I warm myself with the cinnamon tea which is sweet and heady in cinnamon.

Mixed dips $16

We start with the Mixed dips which is not a huge serve but has babaganoush, hommous, tabouli, two crispy felafel and a pile of soft bread. It’s delicious and we learn the standout dish of the night, particularly when you mix the dips and tabouli and a bit of felafel and pile it on top of the bread.

Kibbeh $10

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After our meal at A Taste of Egypt we had a wander down the main mall area of Bankstown. Most of the vibrantly coloured shops that I’d walked past a couple of hours earlier were closed while one remained open where we introduced S and In to the concept of a Bubble Milk tea. Having never tried it before they are intrigued by the concept. And of course being Bankstown it’s incredibly cheap at $2.50 per cup. We try a Mango flavoured Bubble Milk tea, it’s mildly Mangoey flavoured and S and In try sucking up their first bubble pearls slurping up 3 or 4 in one go.

Mango Bubble Tea $2.50

We also buy a Pandan waffle with small shards of coconut throughout for the princely sum of $1. It’s not bad at all, moist with a mildish coconutty taste giving it a distinct taste from a regular waffle.

M spies a Lebanese Sweets shop and as these are some of her favourites kinds of sweets we go in. It’s air conditioned to a cold fridge temperature inside and its glass display cabinets house all manner of sweet honeyed treats dusted with green ground pistachios and nuts. I choose a Baklava, not exactly adventurous but always my favourite. My husband declines a sweet as he prefers fruit to pastry and he’s too busy with the Bubble Tea but we also get some deep fried cream filled syrup drenched rolls, a Eish El Boulboul (Bird’s Nest) and a Burma Pistachio.

Baklava $1.30

I take a crunchy syrup soaked bite into the baklava and it’s delicious, and despite the sweetness from the drenching in syrup it never appears too sweet. Even my husband likes this and tries to eat the rest of my piece (no luck!).

Bird’s Nest $1.30 (front) and Burma Pistachio (bacK) $1.30

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