| Tamara is the perfect Lebanese getaway in the heart of the busy City Stars |
| By Nadine El Sayed |
| A shopping mall and an upscale specialty restaurant don’t exactly sound like a match made in heaven. Only this time, Tamara is. Tamara, the recent addition to City Stars’ era of restaurants, lives up to its description as an upscale Lebanese restaurant that brings authentic tradition taste to the table. And authentic taste they do bring to the table. Located right next to the Golden cinema, it offers an alternative to the mainly fast food chain of restaurants in the mall. So next time you’re in the movies, it might be worth swinging by. Featuring a double-height ceiling that gives a sense of a funkier Beit El Soheimy, the restaurant’s space blends funky with traditional, playing around with wood carvings and white, grey and cream shades. The height is smartly utilized to give a sense of grandeur through the three floors available for seating, the upper one overlooking the kitchenette — which my nephew took for dinner and a show by the way. My family and I hit Tamara for dinner, and with a two-year-old nephew, you’ve got to be really careful where you sit if there’s shisha involved. The two-floored space has a non-smoking upper area for families like ours. So we headed upstairs where the staff was friendly enough to adjust the air conditioner’s temperature for us as well as the fans to take the shisha smoke away— I suppose we are quite the demanding family. The service was rather friendly and cooperative, with the waiter offering to bring my nephew milk and bearing with us through the hesitations over the long menu. The only take on Tamara, however, is that the service was rather slow — that milk never came, neither did the extra ice we asked for or the side plate of rice. The food, however, more than made up for the slow service. We ordered appetizers to share and they started us off with a plate of varied breads, olive oil dips and yum olives. The bread, homemade, was served hot, with a crunchy outside and soft inside — it was delicious enough that we ordered two baskets and filled up on bread and olive oil. Then came the lentil soup (LE 25), hummos (LE 20), fatoush (LE 20), and vine leaves (LE 25). The hummos and fatoush were nice and the hummos was just the right consistency, but both not to be compared with the stuffed leaves. We also ordered the maqanek with lemon, or oriental sausages, (LE 30), which my family devoured in seconds, and the Halloumi cheese, which were a bit too oily for our taste. Then came the fatayer (pie) with spinach (LE 30), which had the right tinge of lemon and perfect crispiness to the crust and meat is sambousek (LE 30) and mannakeash with thyme (LE 25). Both the sambousek and mannakeash were a hit with us, cooked and baked to perfection but not overcooked to be too dry and the topping and filling were just right. Although I didn’t order a main plate and was satisfied with just appetizers and side dishes, my father ordered the Lebanese kofta (LE 60) and said it was delicious. We tried the konafa for desert but it was a controversial one, while I liked the maward (rosewater) flavor in it, the rest of my family didn’t, so this is a tricky one. With the cheque, however, came delicious bites of individually wrapper assaleya (hard candy) that took me back to school days with its chewy texture and perfect sweetness. It was a nice touch to top off our dinner feast. I would strongly recommend that you go for the side dishes and appetizers and share it with the table, it will give you a chance to try out everything and eat a variety of Lebanese delights. The side dishes’ sizes are also not small enough for you to eat on your own, so make sure you share with your partner or don’t order too many if you’re on your own. On the table next to us — yes, I know it is inappropriate but the smell intrigued me — I spotted a chicken fettah served in a copper bowl that looked mouth-watering, will definitely try it next time. |
Be Social
Comments
Leave a Comment