After a long working week we’re looking forward to getting stuck into the weekend, but we’re not in the mood for travelling too far for our food, so since we are already in TOAD Towers in the Khalifa Park area, we head the short distance over to Al Seef Village Mall to eat at a Lebanese restaurant named Zaytinya.
The restaurant is immediately noticeable when arriving at Al Seef Village, and we are greeted and shown to our table by friendly staff. Outside seating is available, but the inside is spacious with a large open kitchen and its modern décor provides a comfortable setting for a relaxed meal.
Our informative waiter is keen to tell us what the daily specials are, and being Thursday, our options are bamieh bil lahmi – okra and lamb stew served with vermicelli rice – or kibbeh shish barak – stuffed kibbeh balls and stuffed pastries with minced lamb and pine nuts cooked in a yoghurt sauce.
Before making any rash decisions, we peruse the rest of the extensive menu. For the health conscious, the list of salads will be appealing; a Zaytinya salad consisting of rocket, lettuce, zaatar leaves with shredded cheese and sliced black olives sounds refreshing, while the list of cold mezzes leave us with a tough choice. We opt for the hummus – a hearty puree of freshly boiled chickpeas and tahina sauce – and a chunky fattoush combining tomato, cucumber, fresh herbs, olive oil, vinegar and pomegranate sauce with toasted Arabic bread chips.
Of course, we’d need more than just the complimentary pitas to accompany our perfectly creamy hummus, so we select meat sambusek, grilled halloumi and mushroom lamb fillet cubes from the hot mezze section. Arriving in double quick time, the stir fried lamb fillet cubes with mushrooms, onion and Lebanese spices is a delicious appetiser – the meat is succulent and the portion size is just right. The meat sambusek is some of the best we’ve tried in the city. The minced lamb with pine seeds is well seasoned and packed generously into a perfectly flaky pastry crust. The grilled halloumi is well presented on a bed of olive salad with sprinkles of zaatar that complement the salty cheese well.
A selection of typical Lebanese grills awaits for main course, including chicken shawarma platter, kafta dajaj – minced chicken with parsley, garlic and fresh ginger – and for the more adventurous, sawda mashwi – grilled lamb liver. We opt to play it safe with a mixed grill to share with our companion.
Our platter of shish taouk, lamb cubes, lamb kafta and kafta dajaj (chicken) arrives in good time and there is ample food to share between two. The stand out kebab in the well-presented mixed grill is the shish taouk – the cubes of tender chicken breast have been marinated in garlic and yogurt and are creamy in taste, providing a melt-in-the-mouth sensation.
Zaytinya has left us extremely satisfied; a combination of efficient staff, a relaxing ambience and high-quality Lebanese cuisine makes for a thoroughly recommendable dining experience.
The bill (for two)
Hummus Dhs22
Grilled halloumi Dhs32
Fattoush Dhs24
Meat sambusek Dhs22
Mushroom lamb fillet
Cubes Dhs36
Mixed grill Dhs55
Total (excl. service) Dhs191
