Café Sunshine and SalamaTea Restaurant

We had their Falafel and Dolmas in AO.
They were delicious! We’ll going to try their restaurant for dine in for sure soon! Thanks guys!

This gem of a café is somewhat hidden in the Sunshine station precinct. Interior decoration is tasteful and tables are of a good size to accommodate the generous dishes. We had the Persian Breakfast and the Potato Pockets. Both meals were delicious, fresh and prettily presented. The sour cherry tea was much favoured. A tempting array of desserts was on display, but we were sated from the breakfast menu. Staff a well-trained, polite and very handsome. Read their website for an appreciation of their social enterprise creds.

The coffee here is outstanding. They use a high quality brand and bean which rotates on a regular basis. If you are a coffee aficionado then this is the place for you.

The menu is breakfast food focuses and mainly vegetarian and vegan. The only meat on the menu is bacon. Try the fetta omelette!

The staff are friendly, welcoming and hospitable. Food is of a great standard too. Thanks to all!

Omg this place is sensational. The best Middle Eastern food we've ever had including food in Dubai. The baklava was like none we 'd ever had. All the food and cocktails were first class. If this cafe was in the East it would be totally full. Hardly anyone there-crazy. Don't people in the West know great food?

Sunshine’s hidden gem! Friendly & popular with the locals. Delicious vegan options & a cozing little cafe’. Definately not my last visit. All our dishes share a unique taste, I’m thinking it’s got to be in the cheese! Loved the savoury feta truffles in the Persian breakfast. Everything came out spectacular. Sunday vibes definite win this morning! Go!

This place is incredible. Everytime we go here its been some of the most delicious food imaginable.
Also Hamad is a great person with an interesting story.
This establishment should be protected at all costs.

Came here for lunch and had a lovely dining experience and delicious food. Staff are friendly, cafe feels homely and casual with lots of variety on the menu. Falafels were crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside (perfection!) and complemented nicely with the refreshing salad and hommus and beetroot dips. The fried potato pockets has a fantastic crunch as you bite into the delicious potato filling. Yum! Loved the Saffron tea which was a nice mix of sweet and savoury. Gheymeh had a nice combination of lamb and lentils in a tomato sauce, like a mild curry which I enjoyed with the saffron rice. The toilet has a fun yet zen atmosphere, worth visiting while you are here. Looking forward to coming back to try more menu items.

@salamateahouse Sunshine

Persian Sambuse Plate: Fried Potato Pockets, Relish, Yogurt and Shirazi Salad
? Felafel Plate: Beetroot and Hummus Dip, Fried Halloumi, Shirazi Salad, Lavash Bread
? Olives
Mushrooms

Cafe Salamatea is a social enterprise cafe and restaurant serving delicious Persian food located in the heart of Sunshine. Their mission is to provide employment and training for refugees and people seeking asylum.

Founder Hamed Allahyari was born in Iran’s capital, Tehran, and migrated to Australia in 2012. He previously ran cooking classes with @freetofeedmelbourne, a not-for-profit social enterprise cooking school.

Both the coffee and chai were beautiful. Everything on the menu is homemade. The Potato Pockets were spicy and crispy, the Falafels were perfectly soft inside and hard on the outside. Everything was served on the cutest plates and platters.

A wholesome place to dine, where flavour is guaranteed. They also have a cookbook, available online from most retailers or in store. I will be attempting some of those recipes, but will be back again to try their dinner menu!

They offer refugees and asylum seekers a 20% discount.

2 alcoholic drinks, 2 entrees and 2 mains was $104. Food was not spicy. Lamb curry with red beans was more sour. Sweet and sour chicken was more sweet. Smoked eggplant was cold and had some flavour and texture. Normal bread was nice. GF bread was not so. Saffron drinks were nicely balanced. Pastries looked nice but was quite expensive.

Got given the Salamati cookbook as a gift for Christmas and had to visit and taste the menu from the chef's hands. What a fantastic, affordable and downright delicious place to eat. We ordered the Mirza ghasemi omelette, Persian sambuse plate and hummus with lavosh- all seasoned perfectly. Vegetarian and vegan friendly too, so everyone can enjoy this amazing place! Can't wait to come back for dinner, and hopefully get my recipe book signed!

Excellent Persian restaurant. The food is always great here and just a little bit fancy. Flavours are great. Great falafels and sambuse. Fesenjun chicken is great. A little gem in Sunshine.

The tea's we had were different from anything we've had ever before. A bit too sweet for my taste but still gorgeous.

Food so good and staff and service so generous and kind!
We had my 30th here and Salamatea staff were so amazing - even dancing with us in the shop! Had the best time, and food is so good as usual! Thanks Salamatea! <3

Best falafels I've ever eaten! Such a lovely place to eat. Highly recommend. Service is great with friendly and attentive staff. Thank you. Will definitely be back.

I’ve only ever gone in for takeaway and the iced cordials and it’s always been great - the service and the food.

Excellent Cafe, Great service. Mr Allahyari did an amazing job with our delivery, all on time with beautiful presentation.

Many thanks Hamed for your prompt replies and delivery, we will highly recommend Cafe Sunshine to everyone, best
cafe and best people.

I was licking every last bit off my plate

Food, drinks, dessert super authentic and flavourful

Recommended by a friend, and now will recommend to all my friends

Great Persian food and even better that they offer discounts to refugees and asylum seekers. Great to see that in the community. Will definitely go back!

I've been here multiple times for their coffee, and it is really inconsistently made. On multiple occasions the milk might be burnt (>70C). I suggest to the manager
1) They buy a clip on thermometer to the milk jug and train all their staff to hit 65C. No more variation.
2) They watch and train each barista on workflow. Same dose, same extraction time, same tamping technique. Use scales, timers, thermometers to enforce consistency.

Genuinely terrible coffee and pastries. Almond croissant was frozen hard inside with the crust slightly warmed. Coffee was weak and cold. Service from the young girl was very average. Food might be good but don’t come for a coffee break.