Golda welcomes everyone to celebrate at their Mimouna, a little-known Moroccan-Jewish Passover feast.
With Passover – arguably the most popular of Jewish High Holidays – around the corner, Golda’s head chef Rotem Papo will be looking to his Moroccan family roots. On Thursday, 8 April, Golda will host a one-off Moroccan/Israeli dinner feast including elements of the Mimouna, a little known post-Passover tradition amongst North African Jews.
The feast will feature interpretations of dishes from Rotem’s upbringing, including house-made frena bread; tomato & chilli matbucha with Lebanese cucumber; Harira soup, chicken & lemon pasta with lentils; Moroccan slow-cooked snapper with capsicum & coriander sauce; lamb neck tagine with pumpkin & dried apricot; baby cos lettuce with pickled garlic & date dressing. Dessert will include the most popular of the traditional Mimouna foods, the mofletta – a thin, layered flatbread filled with butter and orange honey, as well as chebakia – a Moroccan sesame & honey cookie served with sesame ice cream. Full menu available here.
Guests can expect a one-night-only exclusive 5-course menu designed to be shared with friends and eaten family-style, for $85pp. An optional drinks match is also available for a further $60, with Golda’s signature cocktails and full wine list also available à la carte. Reservations essential. Bookings via this link.
Popular with North African-Jewish families, a Mimounais a festive celebration that occurs after sunset on the final day of Passover to mark the end of the traditional ban on leavened food products or chametz. The celebration is open to everyone and traditionally the evenings are full of music, dancing and friends, all fuelled by the sweet flavours of the Mimouna delicacies.
Rotem remembers his family Mimouna taking place each year in his grandparents’ two-bedroom apartment in Israel, which would always be packed with people. “About 500 people would come and go through the night,” says Rotem, “and my grandmother would be in the kitchen, flattening and cooking mufleta so it is hot and fresh to eat. They had an open-door policy and everyone was welcome; it was a real party atmosphere and I hope to recreate it at Golda”.
‘Mimoun’ means ‘lucky’ in Arabic. At a Mimouna, families traditionally lay different symbols on the table to symbolise luck, fertility, health and prosperity, with an emphasis on the number “5”, such as five pieces of gold jewellery or five beans arranged on a leaf of pastry. The repetition of the number five references the five-fingered hamsa amulet common in both Jewish and Muslim North African and Middle Eastern communities from pre-modern times.
Golda : Mimouna
162–164 Commercial Rd, Prahran VIC 3141
1300 465 321
Date: Thursday 8 April, multiple seating times from 6:30pm
Price: $85pp, with optional wine match for $60pp
For bookings, click here
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A Moroccan Mimouna Feast at Golda
