Around Arab Street

Met up with my longtime girlfriends - more than 10 years of friendship - at Arab Street last night. We checked out a Turkish retaurant, and I brought them to have "gorgeous" (as Jug put it) mint tea at a Deli Moroccan.

So here are the real stars of last night 1st...........

The story unfolds..........

AlaTurka

Located next to Kampong Glam cafe (opposite the sarabat stall), this restaurant's business has improved by leaps and bounds.

I 1st checked out this restau on a lazy Sunday afternoon with my younger sister after shopping at Beach Rd Market for outdoor travel gear last year.

That day, we tried the Mezze Tabagi - or mixed platter of ME dips with Lavash bread. This costs around $14 and I can safely say it was this that made something in me click. It was delicious! The bread was hot, newly baked and absolutely delicious. In fact, I think it makes a good meal for 1 person on it's own too. I have this every single time I visit this place. The feedback from my makan compadres so far has been positive too.

We ordered Falafel too - which is sort of like a chick pea vadai. I thought this was a bit hard to bite into, but it was good all the same.

The rest of our dishes came shortly - ordered Balik Sis (skewered marinated fish with pilaf and vegetables), Shish Tawouk (chicken skewered kebabs) and Bulgur (broken wheat or barley pilaf). The bulgur was nice...tasted a bit like tomato rice as Jug observed.

The fish was delicious though we wished it were a wee bit more tender.






I have been recommending this restaurant to my boss, my colleagues etc. I actually brought my boss here once and he liked it a lot. He came back with his wife on 2 other occasions. Being a Friday night, the restaurant was more crowded than I had ever seen it on the 3 other occasions that I have been there.


Service staff are very polite and nice. But I think that there has to be some consistency in the quality of their food. My chicken kebabs, which I am sure were as delicious last night as the previous times I have been there, were raw. Jug took a piece that was well cooked (good for her!) and proclaimed that they were delicious. Unfortunately, I happened to pick a big piece, that was raw near the skewered part.











The boss was instantly apologetic and removed our kebabs in order to replace them. However, because it was full house last night, that took a tad bit longer than usual...which eventually turned out good for us...cause we 3 were already full with the falafel, mezze tabagi and fish kebab which we shared!




To sum it up - when the owner sheepishly removed the raw chicken kebabs from the table, I said 'its ok, I'll still be coming back and I still like your restaurant." So, I guess I'll still be going down and let's see whether quality is really deteriorating progressively, or yesterday was just a genuine mistake.











DeliMoroccan












Located across the street from Kampong Glam cafe, along the walkway leading to Sultan Mosque is a little Moroccan deli run by a very affable, smiley and friendly Moroccan named Jamal.


I eat here every week after belly dancing class and this last week alone, I have been there thrice.


But I never tire of it because the food is truly amazing, and the owners really welcoming and nice. As Jamal says to me, 'your friends are my friends'.

Jamal says he is very thankful to me for bringing my friends there. I never actually did it for him or the shop. I just think my friends should enjoy and know of good food whenever possible! Which is why this blog was set up in the 1st place.

;-))

What me and my belly dancer mates and friends love about this place, are its chicken kebabs. Which are truly, sooooo delicious. I've never tried anything like it before. And you won't believe how cheap they are - they are sold for $4 a plate.


They don't look like conventional chicken kebabs either...they are chicken fillets marinated in Moroccan spices grilled on a hot plate. They come served with a small serving of yoghurt, tomato and chick pea salad. You can ask for bread - costing 50 cents - the buns used for kaya bread in olden days. They go really well together....and make for a filling meal...though you wouldn't believe it at 1st sight.


Don't you ever dare think about leaving this place without trying their Moroccan mint tea. Honestly, it's so refreshing. On a separate visit with Gail and Grace, we had 8 pots between the 3 of us. I couldn't sleep till 4 - more because I kept having to go pee, than from the caffeine overdose. It's sweetened green tea, infused with mint leaves. There are mint leaves in your cup so you pour your tea over it...and enjoy!!! It's so good I crave it often. It's $2.50 a pot.


So...at DeliMoroccan, humble as it may look....you can have a wholesome, satisfying meal for $6.50. Why do you think we keep coming back?




One thing to point out though - your food and drinks may take some time to be served so this is probably not the place for a rushed dinner. You have to remember that Jamal, is the waiter, chef, cleaner cum PR manager so things take time. But you will be well rewarded with the delicious kebabs and tea.


On one occasion, they looked so harried and were rushing all over the place that I felt this great compulsion to walk up to the chef and ask him if I could help him in any way. The staff here are really nice...and maybe that's why I didn't feel like I was a customer - more like a friend.

TRY It!!!!