On Spot @ Eastern Gate

I've already established how strong my love for Lebanese cuisine is, and that's justified seeing as I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. And considering that love for Lebanese cuisine, last night my parents decided to take me to a new restaurant they'd discovered. That was probably the best decision of the day!
My sister kept voicing her evident doubts on taking me there, since they'd only there once and she wasn't sure about their quality control. But after one small taste of the food, I didn't know why she was so unsure about it. The food was perfect.
My Mom had a great time picking out items from the menu. First, we couldn't decide whether how to order the mixed grill as there were 9 people with huge appetites, then we couldn't stop laughing because there was a dish named "Maryia" (pronounced like "Maria") and then my sister couldn't figure out whether to order the Chicken Elizabeth or the Chicken Breast Fillet - there were obvious puns there.
Here's what came to out table...

The Famous Lebanese Mixed Grill

The Maryia

 Maryia, we came to know, was a classic flat-bread stuffed with garlic minced meat. It was light, crisp and delicious.

Chicken Elizabeth

Athena's Fish

Kofta Tagine with Tahini

Everything was great. But the Kofta Tagine was probably the best! My Mom later told me that 'tagine' means that the dish has a gravy. This Kofta Tagine was meat kebabs in a tahini gravy. 'Tahini' is a sauce made from sesame seeds. The whole dish was perfect, I couldn't stop eating and I did NOT want to share this one!

So here's the scores:

Ambiance: 4/5 (The waiters were dressed in traditional Lebanese clothes & they had a fountain in the middle of the restaurant!)
Presentation: 3.5/5

Serving Size: 4/5

Taste: 4.5/5

Overall: 3.5/5

To top off a great evening, there must be ice-cream. And when people say ice-cream, all I hear is Baskin Robbins. Do stop by and try their Flavor of the Month "Sugar 'n' Spice".

Always a delight!

The Arabian Experience

The best part about being back home is being able to spend time with family.... Eating kabsa.
I love being back in Saudi Arabia. There's just something about the food here; a bland yumminess. Sigh.
My problem is I can never get used to desi (read Pakistani) food with all its spices and all the amount of water you have to drink to get yourself to stop breathing fire. My taste-buds are more tuned to the delicious blandness of Arabian/Lebanese cuisine.
My all time favorite would be hummus! I mean, who doesn't like hummus? It goes with everything!

• You can dip fries in it.
• You can eat it with falafel.
• You can eat it with grilled/deep-fried chicken.
• You can use it as a dip for Doritos.
• & if you're feeling diet-like, you can slice up a cucumber and use the hummus as a dip for that too!

I tried introducing a room-mate of mine to hummus once, brought from the Lebanese restaurant in F10.. Not only did she not like it, she made a face that made me go all defensive on account of the bowl hummus sitting in front of us.

But of course, that bowl of hummus was nothing compared to the REAL hummus that you can get here, in Saudi. Creamy perfection, indeed.

Hummus, my love. <3

And how can I forget the staple of Arabian cuisine, the one thing you can NOT miss when you're in any Gulf state: Kabsa. No Arabian dinner is complete without it. It's like as soon as the first spoonful goes into your mouth, you start hearing drum-beats and the image of Shakira belly-dancing suddenly appears in front of your eyes! But what's even better than kabsa is...

... Fish Biryani!!

Thanks to Shawaya House for an amazing dinner!

Stuff like this can only be found in the Gulf. And since I am here for only 4 more days, I ate much more than I should have and was at the point of exploding when my Mom reminded me I had the perfect thing to avert any food-explosion.

Excellent photography, indeed.

For those of you who can't read or speak or understand Arabic, this is yogurt, the peach and apricot kind. And it is very yum. The perfect dessert for when you feel like you're about to explode. It's like a blanket for the inside of your stomach; makes everything feel OK!

"Draw me, like one of your French girls."

In the end, here's a picture of my cat, to wrap things up.

Happy eating!