Showing posts with label Hummus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hummus. Show all posts

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Heavenly Lebanese fare at [Mama Malouf]

There are not many Lebanese restaurants around in Hong Kong.
Mama Malouf serves Middle Eastern food with playful modern twists.



After seeing pictures on social media, I knew the food was going to be good because it was similar to the Leb food in London and they also do hummus bowls while the pickles looked promising.

Started with the Mezze which are a must
+++++
MAMAS MEZZE - HUMUS, BABA, TARAMASALATA, PICKLES - 138

All my favourite dips with hot and soft flatbread.
The pickles were really refreshing and strong with a good salty and sour kick.

+++++
CHICKEN LIVERS WITH FETA MAYO & PICKLED CHILI - 78

This was chunky liver pieces on creamy feta mayo.

+++++
SMASHED EGGPLANT WITH LEBANESE SALSA & ZATAR MANOUSH - 98

I love anything with Zatar, the more the better and the flatbread was coated with a delicious layer that was aromatic.
The smashed eggplant accompanied it nicely.
+++++
SHISH TAWOUK WITH PEPPERS AND ONION, ALMOND RICE & TOUM - 178


This is another must order as the pieces of chicken were chunky and tender on a bed of fluffy rice.
Adding the dip to the rice and chicken makes it taste even better.
+++++
BAKED CARROTS WITH FETA MAYO & POMEGRANATE - 58

The carrots were too pretty to eat, almost as if they were freshly plucked from the soil. Each one was roasted perfectly with a soft centre topped with delicious creamy mayo and ruby pomegranate jewels.
+++++
Finished with the COFFEE & CARDAMOM ICE CREAM SANDWICH - 68.


Although it was coffee, It reminded me of Indian masala chai.
The icecream and filo pasty tasted really good together and the delicate filo layers hung the ice cream nicely.
+++++
For drinks, had the harissa which tasted like bloody mary.
For improvements, it would be good if you could choose the level of spiciness.

+++++
Overall, I loved everything so I will gladly come back if I am in the area.


[Mama Malouf]
93 Catchick Street
Kennedy Town
www.mamamalouf.hk

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

[Falafel TLV] A big portion of hummus that satisfies your craving

Discovered this fantastic joint because I was checking out a restaurant nearby.

Basically they serve hummus and falafel which are both my favourites.
This place is called Falafel TLV so you can tell it is from Israel because of TLV ie Tel Aviv.
The menu was quite simple and they even serve desserts and drinks.

Anyway, the hummus and the falafel are a must so I had the Hummus Tahini and falafel.
The hummus are made with fine Bulgarian chick peas.

+++++++++++
Hummus Tahini:

It was so comforting to see this huge portion of hummus because it is just how it is served in London.
The taste and texture was really creamy that it was perfect with their soft fluffy pita bread.
The portion of hummus was generous that second orders of pita bread were needed.
It was good for sharing and sufficient to dip three pita breads.
+++++++++++
Falafel:

The falafel was uniform in size and they were nice and crispy. The oil is changed daily which guarantees the quality.
Each bite was delicious and had a lovely smell of cumin.
+++++++++++
On the table, the AMBA sauce (mango sauce) was addictive because it was really refreshingly savory yet strong that it goes with anything especially falafel and shawarma.
++++++
They also sell condiments imported from Israel and they even have my favourite Zaatar!!

For drinks it was either Lemon and mint of Banana tamar which is milk, banana and dates.
I went for the banana tamar which was quite palatable.
++++++
Finished with the Malabee which is a rich pudding made of cream milk, rose syrup topped with coconut and crushed peanuts.
It was similar to a milk pudding but the creaminess was stronger and it has a curd like texture.
[My Malabee didn't contain the rose syrup because I requested it without]
++++++
Restaurant: FalafelTLV
Facebook: FalafelTLV




Saturday, March 31, 2012

Old Sham versus New Sham @ 清真夏姆阿拉伯餐廳

This used to be called "Sham", an Islamic fast food restaurant serving grilled/fried chicken with rice/chips/bread.

My review here before renovation:
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2023517

After my first meal at SHAM Fast Food I was hooked, and went twice, but then the third time is was closed for refurbishing.
When I found out it had re-opened, I was so keen to eat that food again, however, from the new pictures, I realised it wouldn’t be fast food.

I walked in, sat down, browsed the menu, ordered the Set dinner that includes a choice of starters, mains, dessert and soup, however the waitress with bad English said that the main dish was fixed, and also you could only choose one dish.

Their paragragh regarding the set menu, requires cautious browsing, if you skim it, it looks like you can pick two dishes from the chef mains.

That set costs $190 per person, which is quite a jump from the prices before as a fast food chain, the prices before ranged from $13-$85.
The most expensive one at $85 was a family size meal including 3 drinks, 3 pieces of bread, fries, and chicken.

Anyway, after I was told the choice of mains was fixed for the set, I picked other stuff on the menu, the waitress took my order and asked what about the other person, so I said we were sharing it.
Then after 1 minute, she came over again, and said there was a minimum order of $100 per person, and the current bill came to $105.

IF IT HAD CLEARLY STATED THAT ON THE MENU OR DISPLAYED IN THE RESTAURANT I WOULDNT HAVE BEEN SO ANNOYED.

But anyway, I chose other stuff to make up for the $95, after noting my order, she said that it still wasn’t enough!

For crying out loud! My arithmetic is Sham Shat, but hers was more sham shat than mine.
I had to verbally add it in front of her!
I said the existing bill was $105, and the addition of the hummus was $30, the falafel was $40 and the chicken wings were $30, so that’s $100 right.
Then after she froze there for a few seconds, she said Oh yea!

Finally sorted for ordering, I was waiting for the food.

The hummus came first, which was a generous portion with very hot bread, then came the falafel, it was slightly dry, but nice.
The main dish I ordered was the chicken Taook with potato puree and salad, the chicken thigh was tender and juicy, and the potato puree which looked like paste tasted very interesting, it was not starchy at all, the texture was a bit like Mado's ice-cream.

Was then served the Arabic rice, which tasted as good as before, with bits in it.
There are several versions, sometimes it has peas, this time it had short pieces of noodles.

Overall the food was really really good, but if you have been here before, its like paying 150% of the fast food price served here before, although the food is slightly finer with out the chips, drinks etc.
The chicken wings were not spectacular, didn’t taste of lemon or parsley, as stated.

While we were there, another customer came in, after he ordered, he was told about the minimum charge, at that time we found out that waitress was from China as she spoke mandarin, and her accent was a bit different to the English accent of HK people.

That moment, I really wanted to FAKE UP some mandarin and ask her, where is the shop or on the menu it saids about the minimum charge, but I figured, I could just fake it enough in mandarin to ask, but probably not understand her reply.

Finally finished the meal, there was no 10% service charge, but I didn't expect there to be any.
When we left, took a quick glance to see if there was any notice for minimum charge, but there wasn’t, only when we were outside the restaurant, we found this one piece of paper stuck on the front door stating the charge, AS if you would notice that! The first thing I would look at before going in a restaurant is the menu, and if there is anything in there I want to eat!

Overall I felt the service was not that good, if she spoke better English, it would have made communication much easier. Secondly, they need to make that sign more prominent in the restaurant or menu too regarding minimum order.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The chefs are back! @ Oh Food

I have always loved Arabic food ever since I tried Sham Fast Food.
They used to be inconveniently located between Fortress Hill and North Point.
Now they are located in Wan Chai and close to the MTR.

Every time I attempted to submit this review, there is something new at the restaurant.
They now do breakfast but it is Chinese style.
I hope to try it one day, but to get breakfast it is a bit of a challenge and too early for me.
I was going to write about their set meals but now they only offer sets during lunch time.

The mains cost around $50.
From starters to the mains, it tastes really delicious.
However there are four chefs so sometimes it tastes different.
I have now had to change this review radically because I wrote that they should have apricot juice and smaller portions but now the apricot juice is back and the portions are just right.

There are lots of new items on the menu such as the chocolate eclair but there is no space for it here~!

Hopefully one day I will be surprised with this arabic omelette thing, I tried it from some Arabic students, it was plain omelette that is dipped with spices and oil and eaten with pita bread!

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Arabic tea:
I found the tea quite interesting, it is made from lots of herbs and the prominent herb I could taste was Lemon grass.
Sometimes it is strong you can't see through the glass and sometimes it is lighter.
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Minestrone soup:
See above picture with the drink.
It tastes better than the Chinese soups pretending to be minestrone soups, it actually has real pieces of noodles and it has spices in it as well.
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Arabic salad:
This is just plain tomatos, cucumber and lettuce, but they have spiced it up with secret spices and vinegar.
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Fava Brown bean salad:
This is one of my favourite appetizers, the beans are really nice and the tomato balances out the dryness.
Again it is spiced up by the spices and cumin is one of the spices.
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Mushroom soup:
This tastes like chicken soup with some mushrooms.
The mushrooms are the chinese type.
I found really cute small pieces of mushroom in the soup!
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Green pea salad:
This is a new item on the menu which tastes even better than the Fava bean.
There are fresh mint leaves in it.
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Egg and sweetcorn soup:
I was expecting this soup to be similar to the chinese one, but this was really good.
although it was watery, it had spices, sweetcorn, spring onions [ the green part and the root part] and onions.
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Hummous sandwich:
It was lovely bread with generous hummous and diced mushrooms
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Sliced mutton with cheese and beyani rice:
This was really nice with green peppers, I would have loved more cheese though.
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Beef steak with brown sauce:
This is no longer on the menu however it has been replaced with beef and potatoes which is much nicer.
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Beef Kebab with arabic rice:
This is another good item, it is rolled beef patty mixed with lots of coriander.
Beef kebab
Beef kebab
 
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Fried chicken with fries:
This was a thin chicken escaloupe with yummy fries topped with spices.
Similar to McD's shake shake fries in England with Curry powder.
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Chicken sheesh taook with arabic rice:
Another favourite dish of mine, the chicken is really juicy and tender.
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Pasta in white sauce with cheese:
The prawns were extremely fresh.
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There is a choice of arabic rice or Beryani rice to go with the main dishes.
The Arabic rice is lighter of the two. It is similar to the rice served in asian chicken rice, it is slightly greased with oil, sometimes the chef puts vegetables in it.
The beryani rice is more aromatic but different to the spicy Indian version, however they are both soft and fluffy.
The Arabic version of the beryani rice is not spicy

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