RUMI

The third version of a modern Middle Eastern gem makes all the right moves

- MICHAEL HARDEN

Rumi, Joseph and Natalie Abboud’s modern Middle Eastern restaurant in Brunswick East, first opened nearly 18 years ago, which might have you first shaking your head in astonishment that it’s been around that long, quickly followed by appreciation and relief that it has. It’s like a sliding doors moment, imagining how your life would have turned out if Rumi’s sigara böregi (Rumi’s signature pastry “cigars” filled with a sublime salty-sweet combo of haloumi, feta and kasseri) had never entered the frame. Believe me, the cheese cigar door is the superior choice.