Date18 June 2025 & 10 November 2025Date KnownExactDescriptionI met with Leila Khazma on an afternoon in Fairfield while she was doing her weekly grocery shop, collecting ideas for the seasonal menu she leads as head chef at a wine bar in Blackheath. Born and raised in Fairfield by Egyptian and Lebanese parents, Leila has seemingly done it all. A sense of adventure runs through her family. Her father moved to Darwin in the 1970s, where his first job was helping communities rebuild after Cyclone Tracy, and her mother arrived in Australia in the 1990s from Iran, marrying Leila’s father soon after. Fairfield is where Leila and her brother were raised, and where her family still lives.
Leila’s journey has been wide-ranging. She experimented with medicine and engineering before dabbling in production ceramics, but it was in the kitchen that things clicked. “Everyone does hospo at uni,” she said. “I realised I was really good at it, and I didn’t want to leave.” From food pop-ups to running the kitchen at P&V Paddington, Leila now leads the kitchen at Frankie & Mo’s. While shopping, she stopped at a market stall and picked up a huge bunch of Molokhiye. “This is Egyptian,” she smiled. “This is home food.” Her dream is to open a Lebanese restaurant that recreates the feeling of coming home after school and being fed. “I’m a Taurus and all I do is eat,” she laughed.
Despite moving around and now working in regional NSW, Fairfield remains her centre of gravity. “I love the familiarity of bumping into people you grew up with,” she said. “Speaking your language in corner shops and being greeted by strangers who see themselves in your face.” For Leila, Fairfield is where she never feels like an outsider. “Fairfield is always where I come back to. There are so many people who share the same experiences and stories,” she reflected. “When you see Arabs outside the west, we latch onto each other. I remember my mum hearing someone speak Arabic in the grocery store when I was a kid and following them just to talk.” For Leila, Fairfield is the place that shaped her sense of home, food, and belonging, and the place she continues to return to.
- Chloë Nour, February 2026PhotographerChloë NourNotesThese photographs are part of the 2025 City Photographer project.
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Image ColourColourTypeDigitalCopyrightPartial restriction. Please contact Fairfield City Heritage Services for image use.AcknowledgementChloë Nour 2025 Fairfield City Photographer. Image courtesy of Fairfield City Heritage Collection.
