Two Dinners

We so enjoyed our last foodie experience up at Arab Street, that we decided to head back there on Friday evening for some more Middle Eastern delights. Unfortunately though, this time’s experience couldn’t be more different from the fabulous Turkish food we enjoyed at Alaturka. We’d heard good things about Al-Tazzag, an Egyptian restaurant on Haji Lane, so that was our destination of choice, but as I said, not a particularly good one.

It started with the hummus. Now let me explain, Mr Greedy Glutton had a bit of a hummus ‘habit’ when we lived in the UK, which he has managed to kick since we moved to Singapore, except for rare occasions such as this. I therefore had to carefully prepare him for the disappointment before he tasted the Al-Tazzag hummus, which was, in a word, awful. I don’t know what else to say, it just didn’t taste like any other hummus I have ever tasted, and definitely not in a good way.



The Baba Ghanoush was equally as bland and disappointing, and even the pitta was stale… oh dear, not a good start.



Unfortunately it didn’t get any better after that. I ordered the Chicken Sheesh Kebab, which was, again, really pretty tasteless, but worst of all came served with frozen potato wedges!



At least mine turned up though, which is more than can be said for Mr Greedy Glutton’s Koftas… after 15 minutes and not being able to even locate any member of their waiting staff, we actually got up and left, deciding that if the rest of the food was anything to go by, it wasn’t worth waiting for anyway.

We were obviously still hungry by this stage, so we went in search of more food. Unfortunately Alaturka was already closed, so we took a seat outside at Amirah’s Grill next door, and ordered up a couple of Chicken Shwarmas. They weren’t great, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them or return for another one, but they were a massive improvement on where we’d just come from.


To say we went home disappointed is an understatement… ah well, you win some, you lose some… I’m just glad that this wasn’t our first experience of eating in this neck of the woods, or we might not have returned in a hurry…

Al-Tazzag – Haji Lane
Amirah’s Grill – Bussorah St

Turkish Delight

When we lived in Edinburgh, there were two things we used to enjoy about our visits to London (apart from visiting all our friends obviously) - Dim Sum and Turkish food, both of which were sorely lacking in our hometown. Since moving to Singapore, we've had Dim Sum a-plenty, but we hadn't yet ventured into any Turkish restaurants.

Well, all that changed on Friday evening, as we made our way up to the Arab Quarter and settled into a table at the cozy Alaturka restaurant on Bussorah St. Unable to make a decision on the starters, we opted for the Mixed Mezze plate which came served with Lavash, their 'balloon bread with sesame seeds'. We were slightly disappointed with the mezze - the aubergine in tomato was delicious and their dolmades were pretty good, but nothing else stood out and half of it went back to the kitchen (partly because our main courses arrived before we were even half way through the starter and there was no more room on the table!)



All was forgiven once the main courses arrived. We had chosen the Karisik Kebab, which was a combination kebab (lamb, kofta, chicken breast, chicken drumstick), served on an enormous copper platter, with chillis, rice, vegetables and salad. It was truly awesome, every mouthful was heavenly... the meat had been perfectly cooked and the accompaniments were also delicious.



Alongside the kebab, we had also ordered our old favourite, Imam Bayaldi - stuffed aubergine. Again, this was absolutely to-die-for, with its filling of tomato, herbs, onions and pine nuts (and what else, I'm not sure - I was too busy wolfing it down to take too much notice). Both dishes were also served with little candles underneath to keep the plates hot, which we thought was a nice touch.



We took a little wander afterwards to see what other potential dinner spots we could find, but to be honest it will be hard to see past Alaturka (although obviously for research purposes we will need to try a few others also!)

We left this restaurant very satisfied, and very excited to have found such a great Turkish restaurant... in the city we live in... no more visits to London to get our fix...

Alaturka - http://www.alaturka.com.sg/