Despite its strong charcoal cooking game, this Canning Highway takeaway also shows plenty of love to vegetarians with full-flavoured plant-based dishes.
13.5/20
Lebanese$
Did you ever order dinner from Pizza Hut Como in the late ’90s and had some pimply guy in a faded pink polo deliver it to your door?
Yes? I’m so sorry. My uniform looked like that when I got it and my teenage body was still going through some changes.
I write this because, since 2022, the narrow breadstick of a Canning Highway storefront that was Pizza Hut Como has gone by the name of On Fire: a low-frills takeaway shop that bears zero resemblance to the stark, prosaic Pizza Hut space that occupied the space for so long.
Beyond the dark green splashbacks lining the walls and the plastic orange seats that populate the outdoors dining area, the biggest change between now and then is unquestionably the charcoal grill that’s been built where the Hut’s conveyor-belt-like impinger oven once stood. Hexagonal briquettes aglow in orange and grey fuel the hearth and slowly imbue ingredients with smoke, char and all the other desirables people seek out when – as the shop’s name reference – cooking with fire.
While the grill was already there when current owners Nisrine and Mario Younes took over the shop last May, the quality of the cooking has risen markedly since the change of management: at least compared to the dry and tired chook I tried during On Fire’s first year, anyway.
Today, one can order chicken – birds are sold by the quarter ($10.50), half ($13.50) or whole ($23.50) and available with regular or spicy basting – confident that dinner will be succulent, perfumed with that unmistakable eau de campfire and worth getting your hands dirty for. In other words: a testament to the marinate-grill-baste skincare routine that Mario has formulated for his butterflied, size 14 chickens.
True, On Fire’s charcoal chicken aren’t as big or saucy as the Palestinian-influenced chook Pauly’s does in Noranda, but they’re not without a come-hither quality that will make the drive home feel longer than usual.
You can also hit your RDI of charcoal-cooked chicken via the shishtawook ($8): a skewer of chicken breast given a different, earthier marinade than the bone-in bird. On Fire’s flat-footed version, sadly, does little to counter the argument that breast meat is a tricky part of the chook to cook well. The kofta ($8) made with minced lamb worked till just springy enough, however, is a better example of the things-on-sticks genre. Although some will be powerless to resist the lure of chips to go with dinner, might I draw your attention to the golden turmeric-spiked spicy rice ($10): fluffy, nourishing and so much more than just a side dish. Please consider.
Although meat is the cornerstone of On Fire’s menu, team Younes has gone to a little more effort than most to give vegetarians options other than hummus ($8) and falafels ($10; both of which are house-made and solid). Hunks of fried eggplant ($11.50) are turbocharged with white pepper and, unusually, chicken salt seasoning. Well-browned chips of fried pita bread crunch up the fattoush salad brought to life by pomegranate molasses. Arguably the most compelling plant-based dish, however, is the house-made garlic dip ($8). Also known as toum, this snow-white mass looks a little like shaving cream but makes anything and everything shine. Buying extra tubs to keep in your fridge would not be a mistake.
While On Fire isn’t the Youneses’ first hospitality operation – they previously ran Lebanese food truck The Habibs and Stick House, a stall in the Freo Markets renowned for its skewers of spiralised fried potato – this is their first one that leans so heavily into their Lebanese heritage. (Nisrine is from Beirut, Mario hails from the Matn district east of the capital.) The salty, briny pickles are from Boulus. Welshpool’s Perth Lebanese Bakery supplies the flatbread. Uniforms carry the distinctive silhouette of the cedar tree that adorns the country’s flag.
Like many countries in the Gulf and Levant regions, Lebanon’s appearances in the media aren’t always feelgood stories, especially right now. (While visiting Lebanon in September, the Youneses’ travels back to Perth were affected by Israeli attacks.)
This is a shame. Not only is On Fire an excellent go-to for those in the southern corridor craving gratifying barbecue cooking at an accessible price point, it’s also a reminder that Lebanon is a land of customs and cultures, history and beauty.
And that at the end of the day, its people – like all and any of us – dream of the same things: safety, a chance to make the world better for those that come after us and love. And if there’s a chance to eat something delicious along the way, all the better. How lucky we are that Lebanese migrants have shared some of their heritage with us.
The low-down
Vibe: a terrific Lebanese chicken shop that also shows love to vegetarians.
Go-to dish: spicy chicken and toum.
Drinks: Coca-Cola’s finest.
Cost: about $55 for two, excluding drinks.
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Max Veenhuyzen is a journalist and photographer who has been writing about food, drink and travel for national and international publications for more than 20 years. He reviews restaurants for the Good Food Guide.
