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New restaurants in town
The latest culinary delights Muscat has to offer �guaranteed to light up your summer
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| Prices listed are for an average meal (per person), excluding drinks. |
Sidewalk Café and Deli, 24 563058
It might be modest in proportion �a recessed square at the CCC shopping centre �but Sidewalk is a welcome addition to Muscat's café scene. That list has been mostly comprised of well established international chains, which now have to contend with a fresh new player. And Sidewalk isn't playing by the rules. It's cooking up its own, and has lots of surprises up its sleeve.
First of all, you will get more food here than at any other coffee shop (that's the 'deli' in its name). From breakfasts that start at 8am to after-dinner coffees that end at 10pm, Sidewalk has something for everyone. Pancakes with eggs, waffles with sausages and
scrambled eggs with cheese are just some of the ways you could start your day here.Of course, these are in addition to the teas and coffees, encompassing brews ranging from America to Assam. Snacks include fried shrimp and fish fingers, while sandwiches could involve roast beef, smoked turkey or just classic egg over French bread.
Later on, try what they call 'tummy fillers,' the Spudz and the Pita Pocket. We had them for dinner, and found them filling, well cooked and very tasty. They were also so unlike other meals you can find elsewhere that we realised Sidewalk just cooks up its own recipes, disregarding convention. The Spudz involved a large plate of three different groups of food. They didn't have much of a relationship with each other, but were excellent individually. The first was the star of the dish, a potato baked to absolute perfection, within its jacket. It came topped with a creamy and very tasty chicken sauce that was excellent with the whole potato beneath. Then came a portion of a salad of assorted greens and a helping of pasta. The last bit was a bit of a surprise �a spicy treatment that was mildly interesting on its own, but hardly what you would expect with the rest. Still, it was original at the least, and made for an interesting meal. The Pita Pocket had the same accompaniments �pasta and salad �and
consisted of bits of tandoori chicken within pita bread. This combination was even more way out than the first, but if you're adventurous you'll appreciate the portions individually. Helping were filling, but we went all the way and stuffed ourselves with a plate of French fries with a dribbling of cheese �quite sinful but irresistible.
Still have place left? Belgian waffles, blueberry pancakes, muffins, cookies and hot brownies should take care of that. And you can have all of this ensconced within a comfortable little pocket of a restaurant, seated with your back to the open entrance and the mall. You will love its walls of terracotta and burgundy, warm lighting and friendly staff. The food we tried was excellent, and the staff are trying hard to create a good impression. Try it out.
Wadi Hadramout Restaurant, 24 475282
Ever eaten Yemeni food? Wadi Hadramout, named after one of the most famous and historically drenched regions in Yemen, now offers you some very special delicacies from the southernmost country in the Middle East. This focused selection is as much an experience and cultural appetiser as it is a meal, adding up reasons you must visit it.
While open for lunch and dinner, the best time to get there is noon, when meat and rice cooked underground are unearthed. You will be soaked in the little room as steaming kilos are hauled out of the bowels of Hadramout, but we guarantee you it's a sight not to be missed. Sealed underground and cooked over glowing wood, the juices of the meat gradually seep into the rice below. This is mandi, and although this is originally from Shabwa in Yemen, it has been developed and perfected in Jeddah by the Hadrami community.
The oven, a one and a half meter deep underground affair, is filled with logs of the wild Somor tree. The wood is lit and is left to burn to heat the oven. Meanwhile, the carefully selected lamb meat is prepared in large portions and spiced with salt and saffron. The rice is first cooked aside and brought to a specific degree of preparation. Then comes the placement of the rice and meat. By now, the burning wood has already turned into smaller pieces of charcoal and is lying at the bottom of the oven. The huge rice container is lowered down by three or four men and sits on the glowing wood. Then a net of the smaller meat chunks and chicken pieces is placed on top of the rice dish, and over this comes spears of larger meat pieces, hung over the mouth of the oven. It is then sealed from the top by using wet cloth all around a heavy steel lid. The flames have long gone since there is no more oxygen inside. Only the stored heat in the oven's bottom and surroundings is cooking the food. The rice gets all the dripping juices from the meat on top until the oven contents are ready to be extracted in three or four hours. When the meat and rice are out, the rice is mixed so as to spread the juices from the top.
In addition, don't miss their mathbi, a Yemeni barbeque, madfoun, meat wrapped in foil with potato and buried and madghout, pressure-cooked with rice. To end your meal, try the subtle Yemeni khunafah, made on a specially designed range and then dribbled over with sugar syrup. Wadi Hadramout, like its geographical inspiration, deserves to be a cross-cultural attraction, an introduction to Yemen.
Al Reef al Lebnani, 24 485775
Barely a month old, this Lebanese restaurant is already creating a buzz around Al Khuwayr. The first question is, do we really need another Lebanese restaurant? Al Reef will answer your query with excellent food, spotlessly clean interiors, great service and enough reasons to choose it over others.
The first thing that will surprise you is its atmosphere. While most restaurants that serve Arabic food are generally Spartan in their décor, in keeping with their on-the-go feel and food served in minutes, this one is different. You will love its buttery orange-brown walls, wood panelling, dried flowers and elegant wooden furniture. Framed photos of Lebanon are up on the walls, mixed with a couple of oil paintings. The atmosphere is classy in a warm, homely way. Service is prompt and friendly.
We started off with fresh carrot juice �and couldn't believe our eyes. It must be the biggest helping of fruit juice in the city, coming in what is more like a jug than a glass. It tasted great too, without a hint of anything added. If you're not too hungry you could almost make a meal out of it.
Our food came fast, as Lebanese music played in the background. We had a grilled fillet of hammour, served with tartar sauce, chips and vegetables. The helping was huge, and the fish handled well. We had it in its garlic and lemon option, but found the garlic smeared over a bit too strong �the only hiccup in an otherwise good experience. As an accompaniment, we ordered potatoes with garlic and lemon, and they were excellent. Chopped up pieces came fried golden brown, mixed with herbs and garlic. A very unusual and tasty dish �quite strong in its taste with its ingredients. You must try it.
There are two sections of the restaurant, and you'll find their bakery and confectionary on the other side. There's a huge range of Lebanese delicacies to choose from, and you'll the love the search for your favourite. A must-try, Al Reef is opposite the new Safeer
building in Al Khuwayr.
Caffé Vergnano 1882, 24 692370
You have to be different to offer something that will stand out of the upmarket blend of coffee and gargantuan chains that has become a characteristic of coffee shops. And Caffé Vergnano, the latest entrant, has created a buzz that is setting coffee cups jangling across the city. 'The Italian Coffee Lounge' oozes class, art and pedigree, as it should considering it brandishes its 124 year old lineage on everything from its logo to the froth over its coffee cup. The only branch in the Middle East, it's other outlets can be found in the most fashionable of cities, like Milan, Nice, Munich, London, Düsseldorf and Turin.
Although offering a huge range �some more whipped cream and hazelnut than coffee �the café looks to the simplicity and originality of their espresso to prove their quality. Anything less just isn't coffee, they insist �hand picked coffee beans are convection roasted between 220-225ºC, ground and extracted. Then the espresso is served at 67ºC, and the rest is up to you. Behind it is a blend that has a higher content of Arabica beans, which they insists offers 'a pleasant acidic tingle along the middle and front of the tongue, and concluding over the taste buds on the centre and rear.'
We must admit we didn't follow the taste all that far down our throats, but we guarantee you this establishment will be a rewarding experience. The interiors are superb, and we'd be happy sitting here no matter what we are served. There's a wall of gorgeous red with black and white framed photographs, delightful little two-seater sofas to the side and tables of wood and dark granite that will keep you inside for hours.
And your visit needn’t revolve around caffeine either. We got there around noon, and were hungry enough to order sandwiches. You can choose between a few types of bread, and ours came grilled with coleslaw as accompaniment. Not as good as the coffee, but satisfying nonetheless.
Al Afeel Restaurant, 24 787499
Offered a choice of either Indian cuisine or Chinese, we chose to order two kinds of biriyanis �mutton and prawn �and fish curry.
Our mutton was cooked to
perfection, and was much fresher than the seafood. It came laden with cashewnuts, almost too much for us. If you’d like something lighter, try the fried chicken and the fish curry, both of which were cooked really well. While nothing exceptional, this is a nice enough place for those in Darsait in search of no-nonsense food. Alternately, you can try Dasaprakasha next door, brand new too.
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