How not to make Shawerma!

When Yalla Yalla restaurant first opened in Soho it created a lot of buzz in the foodies quarters and it became an instant hit with the über crowd (I am so sorry for using that word but the option was the equally annoying in crowd). It had all the right ingredients to create a buzz; trendy location, no booking policy leading to long queue at lunch hour, small menu, communal tables and wooden benches, and the list goes on.

Despite wanting to go, mainly to try their pomegranate molasses chicken livers, I never got around to do it until last week. I had an hour or so to kill between work and a colleague leaving drinks. I was really in the mood for Shawerma so I was delighted when I discovered they have a pop-up branch in Shoreditch. A short bus ride from where I was.

I got there around five thirty in the evening to a fairly empty mini food court in what appears to be a converted building site.  The place was cleverly designed to fit in with the trendy nature of Shoreditch. Food is prepared and served from what looks like a converted burger van topped with an over sized sign with theatre style lights.  It wasn't particularly peak time so there was me and three Shoreditch-arty-type couples complete with the compulsory Pete Doherty hats.

I hesitated for a second when I ordered as I wanted to try their supposedly excellent mezze however I couldn't see chicken liver on the menu so I went for a lamb shawerma wrap and a Coke.

On the van display there were stacks of ready made Arabic bread wraps ready to be reheated in a sandwich press. I assumed these were the chicken shish and kafta sandwiches they have on the menu. All pre prepared since there was no sign of a charcoal grill or smoke indicating freshly grilled meat. 

P.S. I absolutely hate this recent trend of serving Lebanese food. Whoever popularised this style needs to be banned from the restaurant trade (see the equally mediocre Comptoir Libanais).

I felt sorry for the poor soles, knowing no better, who would end up eating pre-cooked reheated sandwiches. I, however, will enjoy a freshly made delicious Shawerma sandwich. After all the shawerma was being cooked on site. The meat looked nice a crispy on the rotating spit. 

Or that what I thought!

Not in a million year I would have imagined somebody would actually pre-prepare shawerma sandwiches and stack them on the display to be heated and served to paying costumers.

One of the best things about shawerma is the contrast between the meat and the other component of the sandwich. Crispy meat with smoky over caramelised edges against the cool tahini sauce and sharp pickles. Needless to say this was completely lost in Yalla Yalla crime against shawerma. meat was stodgy with uniform bland texture. Tomatoes were completely cooked. And to top it all up, cucumber pickles were hotter, much hotter, than the meat.

For the life of me I can't understand why they decided to serve shawerma this way. There is no excuse apart from laziness to explain it. The meat was there cooked and ready to go, the chef was hanging around doing something or the other, and I ended up eating such an awful sandwich made from meat cooked the morning or a week earlier. Who knows!

To give credit when credit is due, the Toum sauce served with the shawerma was great. Absulotely spot on.

For a place that describes itself as achingly hip (double cringe) it needs to do a lot better. London has some of the best street food in the world. Yalla Yalla doesn't need to look so far for clues. The fantastic Big Apple Hot Dogs is just up the street. Or may be pay a visit to White Cross Street market to see how its done. Hundreds of people descends on the food market at lunch hour. All happily fed freshly made food despite the queues going around the corner.

Yalla Yalla Shoreditch pop up restaurant doesn't belong to the vibrant London street food scene. It belongs to food court at Lakeside shopping centre.

Sirop

Most of my memories, happy and sad, are related to my teen years and early university. It was the best time of my life. I spent my childhood in Saudi Arabia with my family. I didn't like that place and the whole fifteen years I spent there are like a giant memory black hole. I hardly remember the place. I never speak about it and it doesn't feature in any way in my life. Moving back to Syria was the best thing that ever happened to me. New friends, new school and a huge sense of belonging to the place.

Now-a-days, part of every holiday I spend in Damascus is a visit to my teen years food haunts. The sights, smells and flavours bring back so many happy memories. The food occasionally doesn't live up to the memories but that might just prove how much our taste change as we grow older.

One place in particular is an exception. My memories of that shop dates back to my childhood. It was part of our summer holiday tradition to go with my mum to eat Sujuk sandwich in Sirop my favourite Armenian place on Al-Salehiyeh pedestrian street.

Sirop is a little gem of a shop. The place has not changed an inch since opened in 1963. The bright outside exterior takes you into this tiny shop. The smell of sujuk and pastirma spices fills the place and force into ordering couple of their tiny but absolutely delicious sandwiches. They serve a very small menu of sujuk, pastirma, Kashkaval cheese and Halloumi all served in small soft bread rolls pressed flat in a sandwich maker.

Apart from the great food the place is worth a visit just for the retro feel it offers. Their original cashier machine is worthy of a place in a museum. Next time you are in Damascus make the effort to go grab a sandwich. You will not regret it.

Al Khawali Restaurant, Damascus

I just came back from two weeks break in Syria. I was planning lots of food research and stories and even a culinary trip to Aleppo. Instead I spent the majority of my time running from the Court House to the Ministry of Health to the Civil Registry offices trying to sort out paper work and chase a signature here and a signature there. Like the good old days.

One thing I managed to do though is a visit to Al Khawali Restaurant. There is a general consensus of the Syrian on line community and tourists that this restaurant is the best in Damascus. I never tried the place so I decided it is about time to give it a go. I headed there with my wife and family on a week day lunch. A seven of us.

You couldn't have picked a better setting for an Old City restaurant. The place is located mid way down Street Called Straight from the Bible (Via Recta or Medhat Basha Street as it is known today). It is the same street Ananais walked down to find the blind St Paul to baptise him and give him back his vision.




The restaurant is located in a beautiful restored old house with a great covered court yard that serves as the main dining hall. You enter the dining room through the VIP hall, a wood covered room with traditional Mosaic Damascene furniture. The walls are full of pictures of the great and famous who dined in the restaurant from Gloria Arroyo the Philippines president, John Kerry US presidential candidate, Joshka Fischer German Foreign Minister to many singers, actors and other famous media personalities.

The menu was a bit disappointing. It was a mixed affair of the usual Mezze/grilled meat combo and characterless western dishes. What brought my attention back was the Oriental main dishes section which included few authentic Damascene dishes that you rarely see on restaurant menu. We ended up ordering two dishes from that section.

We started with few mezze dishes to share Hummus, Mutabal, Baba Ghanoush, Fried and grilled Kibbeh and Kibbeh nayeh (raw kibbeh). We also tried Al Khwali hummus which is an interesting combination of hummus, cumin and sun-dried red peppers paste. All the mezzeh dishes were excellent. The only glitch was the hard Bulgur granules in the raw kibbeh dish. They needed to be soaked in water a bit longer.




The salads were equally good. We ordered rocket salad, fatoush and my dad favourite, lettuce hearts with Roquefort cheese dressing. Not a Syrian salad but very popular in Damascus it is on every restaurant menu.

Between the seven of us we ordered six main dishes; mixed grill, shish tawook, lamb chops, chef special of chicken in creamy za'atar sauce, basmashkat and stuffed vine leaves with lamb steak. The last two were the chices of me and my wife and both came from the "Oriental main dishes" section of the menu. Basmashkat is a dish of a very thin steak folded and stuffed with rice and ground meat mixture then cooked in a nice tomato sauce. It is a rare Damascene specialty that you hardly ever see on restaurant menu.

As a whole the main dishes were good but not as good as the mezzeh and salads. One of things I didn't like was the Bharat (Syrian mixed spice) mix they used. It was heavy on the cloves side and wasn't really to my taste. I am not a big fan of Bharat and I never use it in my cooking but after all this is individual taste.

The meal finished with complementary sweets and a nice cup of tea served in beautiful retro tea pots.

Best Falafel in London

I have recently started a new job. It is a good hospital and a better position so I am happy, but the best thing about the new hospital is the Doctor's Mess. It is one of the best in the country. There is a serviced bar serving food and nibbles from lunch till 8 pm, a help yourself nice coffee rather than the usual awful instant and best of all Gin & Tonic for £1.80. Who can complain!

Two Fridays ago I had lunch with my juniors in the mess. They suggested the Falafel meal as the best dish on the menu. At £3.50 the meal was great value for money with cous cous, hummus, salad, few olives, pita bread and falafel. Everything on the plate was great apart from the falafel; they were awful! More like cardboard balls! Dense and dry, truly awful stuff!

I didn't tell the guys I was disappointed with the meal. I thought if you are not into Middle Eastern cuisine and If the only falafel you ever tried came from a salad box or a sandwich out of a fridge this would make a decent version in comparison.

Real falafel should be crisp on the outside; light and fluffy in the inside. Falafel should never be baked in an oven. DEEP FRY is were falafel belongs. It should be freshly cooked in small patches, never reheated and never put in a fridge. Sandwiches should be made fresh to order and eaten straight away. That is the only way to enjoy falafel as God intended.

Few places in London can keep up with such high standard. Many Middle Eastern restaurants around London make a decent falafel but like most things in these restaurants it is hit or miss. One place never disappointed me, Mr Falafel in Shepherd's Bush. I can say with clear conscience this is the best falafel in London, and trust me I know my falafel. My dad is world champion in eating falafel. He would eat the stuff happily every single day of his life so we had lots of falafel in our household over the years.

Mr Falafel is located in Shepherd's Bush New Market, 5 minutes away from Westfields Shopping Centre. It started as a small kiosk at the entrance of the market but recently they moved into a shop which offered few tables to eat in and allowed them to expand the menu to include foul and hummus and experiment with new flafel sandwich combinations. The place does a brisk business around lunch time, so expect some queues of all kind of people from BBC employees to market traders.

The standard falafel sandwich comes in three sizes; small (£3), medium (£3.50) and an XL sandwich that is beyond most people ability to finish (£4.50). Arabic flat bread used as a wrap with the excellent falafel, salad, cucumber pickle, screaming fuchsia turnip pickles, tahini and optional chilli sauce. The mixed falafel sandwich is essentially the same with the addition of fried vegetables. The new sandwiches on the menu includes an added avocado, feta cheese or makdous. I haven't tried any of them so I can't comment if these combinations work or not.

Another thing you wouldn't fail to notice in this shop is hygiene. Although the shop is located in a fairly dodgy looking market, the place is spotless. Ahmed, the owner, is hygiene obsessed. He cleans his hands with alcohol gel and wears disposable plastic gloves every time he handles food. Work surface get cleaned after every batch of sandwiches he prepare. We could do with people like that in the NHS.

On a last note, the place bills itself as "The best Palestinian Falafel". As Ahmed explains in a Guardian article "We also wanted to put 'Palestinian' up on the shop. I think people are keen to hide the name; we weren't .... we felt it was important to show a more positive image - that Palestine can be about good food, not only conflict, suicide, invasion and occupation."

If you want to try real falafel, forget Falafel King, forget Just Flafs, and head to Shepherd's Bush. This place is the real deal.

Mr Falafel

Units T4 - T5

New Shepherd's Bush Market

Uxbridge Road

Shepherd's Bush

London W12 8LH

Monday - Saturday 11 am to 6 pm

http://www.mrfalafel.co.uk/default.html

Narenj restauant review

An excellent review of Narenj restaurant in Damascus Old City by The Epicurean complete with Bible Act about Via Recta (Straight St. or Medhat Basha St. as we call it in Damascus). Go there and read it. Very interesting read.

Eat and Drink in Damascus, What the Lonely Planet left out

On the plane in my last two trips to Syria, Western to Syrian passengers ratio was more than 8:2. On both occasions not a single free seat on the plane. I can't explain how happy this makes me. Since 2005 Syria has been in a relative isolation. The Bush administration stupid strategy of "you are with us or against us" leading to class Syria within the Access of Evil really damaged Syria's image in the West. Over these few years Syria has been unfairly represented in Western Media leading to further stigmatising the image of the country.

Now this tide has turned. Western visitors tourists and politicians alike are queuing to visit the country. Tourism is on an all time high and the country's image in the media and people minds has significantly improved. Positive articles and reports of beaming tourism are published almost every week on the BBC website. A quick search of the national papers travel pages over the last year showed 7 articles in the Guardian, 6 in The Times, couple in the Independent and the Telegraph and even the awful Daily Mail published 5 articles since the turn of 2009. Even Jamie Oliver's magazine featured Damascus and Beirut in its third issue.

This high rise of tourists influx into the country was not matched with a much needed improvement in tourist information. For the Western visitor information on the net or on print is rare and hardly reliable. The leading traveller's guide to Syria remains The Lonely Planet. Every other person including myself is carrying the blue book in the Old City. Typically everybody is doing what the book is telling them to. This is most obvious in Laila's restaurant case. The place got major praise from the guide and when I went there everybody inside was a tourist. To my great disappointment the place was awful. Food is cold and tasteless, service is slow and the dining room (inside yard) was cold and uninviting.

That disappointment brought this post. If you don't know where to eat in Damascus hopefully you will look here and get some ideas. These places are not all for the average two days visitor. Some of them need a special trip and some are only for the most adventurous of gourmets but all of them are local favourites. Here is my pick of the best food in Damascus:

1. Narenj: To me this is by far the best restaurant in Damascus. They serve a very good collection of modern Syrian dishes. Their menu show case some local specialties from different regions of Syria. You would never have the chance to sample these dishes if not for this place. What makes this restaurant a cut over the rest apart from the great food is the attention to details. The restaurant is located in the middle of Medhat Basha St. (Straight Street) By the Roman arch.

2. Fateyer Al-Shaalan: Although there is hundreds of Fatayer ovens all over the city this one remains the locals favourite. They serve all the usual Pizza-like breads with different toppings. The place may not be easy to find, the best place to get there is taking a taxi to Al-Shaalan and wounder about to see the "Tanabel" market (Lazybones market) where all vegetables are ready prepared and wrapped in individual plastic bags ready for the pot, Fatayer Al-Shaalan is around the corner. Check the photos below and I am sure you will make the trip.

3. Bouz Al-Jedi: Don't let the shabby exterior fool you. The place is always packed with the full spectrum of the Syrian society, from workers and builders to arty-type Higher Institute of Theatre students. The place serves Foul and Fatteh. If you don't know what these are, watch this space I will be writing about them soon. The restaurant in Al-Shaalan around the corner the Fatayer place.

4. Midan Jazmatiyeh: This is foodies heaven in Damascus. The street is lined start to finish with food shops and restaurants selling all kinds of stuff. Arabic sweets in shop windows in huge 5ft piles. Cheese, olive, Falafel, Shawerma, Fatayer, grills, camel meat kebab all in one place, you will never know how to start and where to finish. The place is open day and night but don't go there before 10 in the evening when it is busiest and most atmospheric. The next two places are in this street.

5. Al-Mouselli Shwerma: I will let you read what Tim Franks from the BBC wrote:

"Two unreservedly happy memories. I ate the best shawarma I think I will ever have... It came from al-Mousali, a road-side emporium with a few plastic chairs, in the Jazmatiyeh district of Damascus. The meat was beef, unusually. It was as flavoursome as the roast at the Savoy Grill. It came in a delicate sauce of sour pomegranate. It was wrapped in evanescently thin laffa bread, and came with fresh vegetables and tankards of just-squeezed fruit juice."

6. Mahabeh, Midan Al-Sham and others: These places are not for the faint hearted. These various size restaurants are located at the start of Al-Jazmatiyeh St. They specialise in all kinds of offal dishes as well as the usual kebabs. Food range from the absolutely gorgeous to bloody awful depend on how far can you go. Here you can sample Sej'aat (rice stuffed lamb intestines), brains sandwiches, trotters or the all time "classic" of testicles and spinal cord fatayer. This Syrian style "Nose to Tail" eating.

7. Al-Halabi Restaurant: Although this restaurant was in the Lonely Planet, I couldn't leave it out. It is the place of a very special evening. The poshest ( and priciest restaurant in Damascus) located in the Four Seasons Hotel. Read my review here.

All photos are courtesy of my friend Tammam, Thank you.

Al-Halabi restaurant and Michelin stars

I just got back from holiday in Syria. I was there for eight days and it was a non stop eating affair. I have no idea how I managed to keep the damage to my waist line to a minimum.

Way before I arrive home my mum usually would prepare a list of all my favorite dishes to cook while I am on Holiday so every lunch is a culinary affair. Some time days are not enough so my mum would double up and cook two dishes instead of one to make sure I am well fed before I go back to cold dark London. On top of that there is the compulsory dinners at my grandma's, best friend, aunt and uncle. Add to that a couple of meals out, a breakfast here and there... and you end up with few extra pounds and an upset stomach.

Now back were we left. In my first post on this blog I was wondering if Al-Halabi restaurant could be my Syrian Michelin starred restaurant.

In short, No.

To start the sitting was fantastic. The dinning room was beautiful, the decor was traditional Damascene executed to perfection and the staff were wonderful. The restaurant specialises in Aleppian food hence the name Al-Halabi meaning "the Aleppian".

The menu included the usual Mezzeh/starter dishes cold and hot. Most of these were straight forward traditional dishes. Some others have some kind of a twist to left them up. This was mostly a shy attempt with various degrees of success. We ordered Mutabal (smoked aubergine and tahini dip) which was the best I have ever tasted. The Lamb Tongues Salad (very adventurous on my wife behalf) failed miserably to deliver on flavour. The meat was under seasoned and so bland the only thing I could taste was the olive oil.

The rest of the menu reflected the exotic nature of Aleppian cooking compared to that of Damascus and the rest of Syria. Historically Aleppo was a flourishing commercial centre and with its location on the Silk Road ingredients, spices and indeed influences came from all over the world. Allepian food contains more spices compared to the Damascene salt and pepper. In addition it uses fruits in main dishes which is almost unheard of elsewhere in Syria or the rest of The Levant.

Example on the menu included Kebab Karaz (Cherry Kebab; grilled kebab in a sweet and sour cherry sauce with a sprinkle of Cinnamon on top), Kibbeh Safarjalieh (Kibbeh cooked with Quince and Pomegranate Paste) and Kibbeh Sumakieh (kibbeh with aubergine with Sumac sauce).

We ordered the excellent cherry kebab and a dish they called Lahmet Hanano which is baked lamp with warm tahini sauce. I really enjoyed the later but I knew I would before even tasting the dish as I am a big big fan of tahini. One thing I am still trying to figure out is how they managed to heat the tahini without curdling. If anybody have an answer please share your wisdom with me.

All in all, Al-Halabi is a very good restaurant serving excellent food but I can't say that they achieved the Michelin quality cooking I was hoping for. So the search is still on for that special restaurant or chef that can elevate traditional Syrian cooking that little extra notch.

Can Syrian food be of a Michelin Star quality?

Benares was the first Michelin star restaurant I have been to. I was so impressed at the time. Two years on and after sampling food in few fantastic (mainly French or experimental) restaurants, it seems OK.

The food in Benares was excellent, the place was spotless, the service was nice and friendly and the poppadoms were the size of 50 p coin, but it is still OK. I don't think Benares problem has anything to do with cooking skills or presentation or service ..etc. The problem (and sorry if I am going to offend anyone) is Indian food is not compatible with the "fine dining" concept. Indian food is not supposed to be presented, cooked or eaten this way and no matter how much you reduce your spice level it is still spice the only thing you can taste. Try the Chicken Tikka Foie Gras on the menu and you will know what I mean.

So, does this apply to Syrian food?

I always struggled to find ways to improve traditional Syrian dishes. To give it this extra dimension to elevate it to a Michelin Star quality. The concept of vegetable and meat cooked in a stew like way and served next to rice give you very small space to maneuver. No matter what you try it is still mezze, veg and rice, or some kind of a grain pilaf. I bought a couple of Syrian cook books to see what else you can do but it is still the usual combinations.

I managed so far to create one dish of Seabass and warm lentil salad that have the potential to improve. It is still no where near a Michelin standard but with some changes it might get closer. This dish is not particularly authentic Syrian but you can definitely taste Syria in it. Great! but, lets face it, it is still a single dish.

I was about to give up but a new inspiration came along.

Silvena Rowe came on Saturday Kitchen program on BBC1 and cooked Kenafeh wrapped king prawns with pine nuts taratur. The dish looked amazing. I haven't tried to cook it as I am waiting to taste the original but I can imagine the flavours really working together. I was so excited.

Many people reading this will be thinking, What does this recipe got to do with Syrian food. Guess what! this recipe is from a restaurant in Syria.

For those who doesn't know Silvana Rowe she is a Bulgarian chef dubbed "Queen of Eastern European Cuisine". Lately she has been interested in Eastern Mediterranean cooking. She spent time travelling around the area sampling food and bringing recipes and ingredients to the UK.

She tried this recipe in Al-Halabi restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus. I know the dish doesn't sound authentic Syrian and I accept I have to try it first before judging but if it taste of Syria I will pass it as Syrian.

If this dish is anything to go by and the rest of the menu in Al-Halabi is of dishes of the same level of execution I might be up for a winner. Could Al-Halabi be my Syrian fine dining experience? I will have to see.

I am off to Damascus this weekend and I can't wait to go there. I will till you what I think when I come back.

Watch this space!