Feasting At Lakemba Nights During Ramadan

Lakemba Nights during Ramadan is back and this month of celebration has a large range of delicious food stalls. This year it is slightly different. Find out what you need to know before you go, what new stalls are there and which stalls are worth the wait!

The name has changed from "Ramadan Nights" to "Lakemba Nights During Ramadan" as the festival's popularity has soared to such huge numbers that the locals that use the festival to break the fast. Ramadan is a sacred month of fasting, prayer, and reflection for Muslims. From dawn to sunset, they abstain from food and drink and focus on faith and charity.

The festival is also only open to visitors from Thursday to Sunday. When Laura and I arrive it's a Friday night and this is the first time we've been before daylight savings. We arrive just after 6pm and the air is filled with the smell of food.

Previously the night markets have stretched along both sides of Lakemba station but this time the stalls have concentrated on the Southern side of Haldon street near the railway station with around 60 stands in the centre of the street to allow for bigger queues. The other side of the station is still open til late at night but it's not so much about the food stalls, just busy local life.

The stands encompass everything from knafeh, kebabs, pani puri, coffee, sugarcane drinks, juices, fish and chips, crepes and gnocchi. This year seems to have a lot of meat and we saw only one solely vegetarian stall.

Some tips: go early to avoid queues. The stands open around 6pm and I recommend making a beeline for the most popular stalls. These are the ones with barricades set up in anticipation of large queues. Dress modesty to be respectful and wear something that you can easily wash as it is very smokey and a lot of people end up sitting on the kerb to eat. Also wear comfortable shoes as you’ll end up spending most of the time queuing. At a few of the larger stands have ring lights set up for social media shooting. Also not every stand is there on every night.

Skewiies: Meat Skewers and Corn Ribs

Our first stop is a great one and it's probably our favourite of the night. Skewiies stands alone, literally in the middle of the closed off The Boulevarde right outside Lakemba station.

This food truck sells 4 types of skewers: chicken, lamb, prawn and rice cake. The meat ones are sold in lots of 5 while the skewered rice cakes are available individually. We order the chicken, lamb and rice cake as well as the corn ribs and take them to the nearby chairs to try. I take a bite of the chicken and my eyes widen. The skewers have such an umami bomb of flavour. Then I try the lamb which is super juicy and the corn too has that same flavour. The only thing is that the food is a bit pricier than other stands ($48.45 total for what we ordered) but the flavour is outstanding.

Albasha Knafeh: Knafeh and Arabic Coffee

If you want to be a bit strategic with the queueing because there are long queues at some stalls, go for knafeh a bit earlier in the night. Laura spots that the queue for Albasha Knafeh and coffee is relatively short as it's around 6:30pm. The guy there puts on a show with sprinkling pistachios and stretching the knafeh. Coffee and a Knafeh is $21.75.

The knafeh is stretchy and crispy with a hint of orange blossom. When comparing their knafeh to Yummy Yummy's knafeh (the most popular knafeh stand), Albasha’s has less syrup than Yummy Yummy so you can taste the cheese more.

I-Juice: Dubai Chocolate Cookie

I love Dubai chocolate anything so when Laura told me about a knafeh cookie I was excited to try it. This is at the i-juice stand. The knafeh cookie ($10) is served cold but has a delicious centre of pistachio cream, chocolate and crispy knafeh. This is a delicious cookie and I want to make something similar at home. Laura prefers it when it has sat at room temperature but I have this weird thing where I love cold chocolate chip cookies so I prefer it straight from the fridge! $10 is a bit expensive for a cookie though.

Bakdash Ice Cream: Pistachio Ice Cream and Lemonade

If you’re looking for a bargain head to Bakdash Ice Cream stand where $7 will get you a freshly churned Dondurma fior di latte style ice cream with crushed pistachios on top. It is here that you can also get a five dollar lemonade which is a bargain amongst the stalls

Deccan Flavours: Haryali Chicken

Due to the success of Shahi Dastarkhwan’s chicken wraps every year many stores now sell haryali chicken (green chicken with coriander and mint). We tried a few places but the best of these is Deccan flavours right at the end of Haldon street. For $30 you get your choice of 2 skewers (we chose Chicken tikka and Haryali Chicken) with naan bread, onion salad and a flavoursome dipping sauce. The chicken is so juicy and moist that I have to check that it’s actually cooked.

Le Wrap: LeTantuni Chicken or Beef Wrap

At Le Wrap they sell LeTantuni beef or chicken wraps for $16 each. These U shaped wraps are tasty and the flatbread is filled with a chicken or beef with a tomato and onion salad. They finish this off with a generous sprinkle of sumac to give them a lemony freshness.

The beef is particularly good - they fill it with beef and then sit the wrap in the beef juices for a few seconds. The chicken doesn't quite get the same treatment, it's just wrapped up so the beef is our pick and the chef is nice enough to give us extra beef on top.

Fried Bar: Camel Bites

Fried Bar sells loaded fries, corndogs and camel bites The camel bites ($15) are balls of camel mince that have been breaded and deep fried bowls served with burger sauce. Bite into one and you'll get a delicious cheesey centre (although we didn't get the cheese in all of them oddly). These are full of flavour and another favourite.

Madura Satay: Chicken Lamb Satay

The longest queue however is for Madura Satay. It is also the slowest queue and the smokiest queue. At this point Laura and I divide and conquer. She keeps lining up for satay and I go to Shahi Wraps for our favourite wraps. I manage to get the wraps and a Yummy Yummy Knafeh by the time she gets the satays and she ends up waiting in line for 1.5 hours for the satays!

We order 10 sticks for $25 with a mix of chicken and lamb. The satay sticks come with extra pot of sauce but the promised rice cakes aren’t there. The chicken and lamb satays are tasty and have a nice char from the grill. The big question though: is it worth a 1.5 hour wait in a very smokey and slow moving queue? Probably not.

Shahi Wraps: Chicken Wraps

We both love the wraps at Shahi Wraps and they're always consistently delicious and tonight is no exception. There are four types of chicken fillings: Malai (white), Majestic (yellow), Chicken 65 (red) and Haryali chicken (green). While I am queuing the clouds suddenly open and there's a 10 minute rain shower that sends many people running for cover. I am so close to the front of the queue and stubborn AF. Thankfully the lovely guy in front of me offers to shelter me with his umbrella.

Every year we order the Malai and Majestic chicken wraps and get one of each for $15.50 per wrap. These are incredible; the freshly made rumali tawa flatbread is so thin and supple. Honestly next year we will get one of each flavour per person and I wouldn’t even be mad. They also reheat really well, just saying….

Yummy Yummy: Knafeh and Cafe

It’s now past 11pm and we’ve been eating, queuing and talking for over 5 hours and this is the latest we’ve been here. The Yummy Yummy guy is always good for a bit of a show stretching the knafeh at this hour even his cries of Yummy Yummy take on a tired tone. I buy a Knafeh for $15.70.

We take their knafeh and sit down at Yummy Yummy Cafe a couple of minutes walk away for a drink which is a friendly place to stop and have a drink and rest your feet. I love sahleb, the milky, thick spiced drink that is so comforting and we also have a refreshing tamarind sparkling water for a total of $10. The knafeh is good although best eaten fresh and hot as there isn't the stretch after waiting 10 minutes. Instead I content myself with sips of sahleb while a light sprinkle of rain falls outside, the crowds undeterred in their enthusiasm.

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever been to Lakemba Nights during Ramadan? Which dishes appealed to you the most?

Lakemba Nights During Ramadan

The Night Markets are located on Haldon Street, Lakemba during Ramadan from 6pm-2am, every Thursday to Sunday from 27 February-30 March 2025.