Archive for August, 2007In the last two months we’ve eaten out almost every night. While fun at first (no dishes! No carrying shopping bags!) the enjoyment waned around the one month mark and there are now times when going out for dinner feels like a chore. But every now and then we find a place with excellent food and atmosphere, and suddenly the magic of eating new food in a foreign city is rekindled. Leila’s Restaurant and Terrace in Damascus was one such place. The restaurant is on the rooftop of a building that overlooks the beautiful Umayid Mosque, and the evocative stone street that borders it and meanders away into the Christian Quarter. The food is from the Levant, with a strong Lebannese influence. There is an imaginative vegetarian selection that goes beyond Fattoush and Tabbouhleh.
Thanks to a small mix-up with our waiter, we tried both the goats labneh and the standard labneh. The comparison was interesting because the dishes were clearly distinct. The goats labneh was quite sharp and had a solid texture. The standard labneh had a much softer, richer taste, and a yoghurt like consistency. Both were lovely eaten with fresh pitta bread.
We couldn’t resist trying the omelette seasoned with sumac. The omelette was thin and delicate, and the sumac added a strong, slightly paprika-like flavour which I really liked.
We also ordered the lentil kibbeh, which we’d heard was recommended for vegetarians. Kibbeh turned out to the unfried lentil patties which we’d first tried in Istanbul at Zencifel Nature and Peace restaurant. The kibbeh were spicy, and mixed well with the labneh. There were also eggplant kibbeh on offer, which I’d love to try.
Leila’s does not serve alcohol (not unusual for Syrian restaurants), but we didn’t miss it with the deliciously fresh mint lemonade on offer.
For anyone visiting Damascus, Leila’s makes a beautiful choice for dinner, particularly if you want to try good quality versions of dishes from the region. Bear in mind that Leila’s is very popular, so it’s best to reserve a table, particularly if you want to eat around 9pm with the locals. Wandering through Damascus’ busy souq, we stumbled on an iconic ice cream shop called Bekdach. The long line of eager ice cream eaters outside the shop told us immediately that it was something special, so of course we went in. Inside there was a feverish level of activity. Customers pushed and shoved their way to the main counter to purchase a token, then pushed and shoved some more to exchange the token for a sweet, light ice cream dipped in toasted pistachio nuts. The whole scene was slightly at odds with the vaguely retro charm of the shop, capped by the glass chandelier hanging down from the ceiling.
At first I was distracted by the process of making the ice creams (not the young men making them, I swear). The ice cream is initially put in a large silver tub, and heavily pounded with a large wooden staff. I was lucky enough to have a go, and even though I tried really hard not have girly stabs, my best efforts were Mr Burns-esque compared with the experienced staff.
After being pumelled, the huge mass of ice cream is deposited at the front of the shop, where another expert kneads and stretches it until it’s ready to be eaten.
With my appetite whetted, I leapt into the fray to get myself some icy goodness. It was tough work, but after a few minutes I came out victorious!
Syrian felafel is delicious and makes a great, cheap vegetarian lunch. Freshly baked pitta bread is lined with round, flat pieces of felafel with a dent in the middle. Stuffed in afterwards are tomato, cucumber and lettuce, with a lash of tahini sauce and a pinch of salt for good measure.
But where you’re spending a bit of time in a country, it’s nice to know that you don’t have to eat felafel all the time. In Aleppo, in Northern Syria, my eyes and nose swooned when we passed a small roadside food seller outside the main souq on Bab Antakya. He was frying large strips of vibrant red capsicum, and the smell was zooming through the air.
We stopped by afterwards, and happily tried some when he confirmed the food was vegetarian. Along with the capsium, he quickly fried a pre-made burgul pattie, then put both in a pitta bread. It tasted great, and was helped down by the many glasses of ayran (a fermented yoghurt drink with salt) he gave us. At the time he assured us that this was his idea, and it’s true that we didn’t come across it again in Syria. I highly recommend you seek him out if you’re in the neighbourhood.
Another great roadside find in Syria is juice bars. In Aleppo they line up on Sharia Yarmouk at the clocktower end. For between 30 - 40 Syrian pounds (about 60 - 80c Australian) you get a huge glass of blended fresh fruits, like orange, banana and mango. A great thirstbuster and even meal replacement! Crossing the border from Turkey to Syria a lot of things change, not least the food. Gone are the green and white bean casseroles, the stuffed eggplant, and the use of dill. In their place, are a fresh set of flavours with a strong Lebanese influence, like smoky tahini, mint and lemon dressed salads.
A Syrian meal begins with shared mezzes that luckily include a range of standard vegetarian salads and dips. A perennial favourite of ours is hummus, often served with a thin consistency and a lovely tahini flavour. This is a good way of mopping up the pitta bread that invariably comes with the meal, (and for which you’ll invariably be charged extra).
Two favourite eggplant dips are baba ghanoush and muttabal. Baba ghanoush is made from mashed, chargrilled eggplant and usually is not mixed with tahini.
Muttabal is an eggplant dip that is mixed with tahini and yoghurt, to give it a far creamier consistency and more smoky taste.
There are two main salads vegetarians will come to know, love, and survive on in Syria: Tabbouleh and Fattoush. Fortunately, most places make them well, and their parsley base is a good way to get a hit of iron. Tabbouleh is the simpler of the two, but the fresh parsley, tomato and burghul dressed with lemon makes a great meal on a hot day or night.
Fattoush is distinguished by the toasted or fried pieces of pitta bread that come with the salad base of tomato, cucumber and parsley. Depending on the restaurant, ingredients like white cheese and lettuce may also make their way in there. While these dishes are standard, some restaurants will offer extra vegetarian dishes, like vegetable soup (served with a tomato base and cinnamon), stuffed vine leaves, and eggplant casserole. A note of caution - beware long lists of salads with vague names. Often the ingredients and dressing are almost indistinguishable, and they seem to be there just to bulk out the menu. Awhile back, Vegetable Japan tagged me with the 8 random things about me meme, which seemed like a convenient way of explaining what I’m up to at the moment. 1. Today I saw my second official wonder of the world, Petra in Jordan. Those Nabateans could do things with a chisel and rose coloured cliffs that have to be seen to be believed. 2. My first wonder of the world was the Colosseum in Rome, some ten-ish years ago. I wish that I paid more attention to it now, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the Sistine Chapel which was truly breathtaking. 3. My favourite book of the trip so far is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, because it’s the last one and it didn’t disappoint me, and because by a stroke of luck I managed to get a copy in Rhodes and read it amongst the thick stone walls of the medieval city, which was very atmospheric. I have high hopes for A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, based on the amount of times Andy laughed out loud reading it in a taxi yesterday. 4. Two of my favourite cities so far are Istanbul and Damascus. 5. Over the last few weeks I’ve been reminded how hard it can be to distinguish avarice from kindness, and generosity from greed. There have been times when people trying to “help” us by selling us something, but equally there are times when people have offered us great advice or simply wanted to talk to us out of interest or friendliness. I need to be less suspicious, I think. 6. I miss having my own kitchen and being able to cook, even if it’s just a toasted sandwich. 7. I am most looking forward to travelling in India. In our brief sojourn in Mumbai we saw a Subway at the airport which was divided into lines for “vegetarians” and “non-vegetarians”. I love the way their universe is oriented. 8. Even though my feet are cracked, I dream of good shower heads, and my head is spinning from constant change and newness, I am so glad that Andy and I took six months off to travel. A couple of readers have sent me a tip and a mystery for everyone at home in Sydney. First, a reader recommends the Bella Vista Fountain restaurant in Baulkham Hills, which offers an a la carte menu as well as yum cha (great news after the spate of Veg yum cha closures early this year)! If I was in Sydney I’d be down there this weekend to try it out. As for the mystery, an inner west reader has asked if anyone knows what happened to the Metro Vegetarian restaurant on Liverpool Street in Darlinghurst (or any of its operators). Apparently it was big in the 80s, and so popular that people often had to wait for 40 - 60 minutes to get a table. Any information on the restaurant, its menu or owners would be appreciated. Cheers Kate I guess you could say that Turkey is the land of the sweet tooth - possibly because there are so many sugary sweets that no-one has many teeth left!
Lokum (or Turkish Delight) is probably the most famous Turkish sweet. You can buy it at almost any bus stop or town, however Istanbul has finely honed the art of traveller’s sample boxes, which come securely packed for the ride home.
Along with rose flavour you can try cardamon, hazlenut and my favourite, pistachio (or even better, pistachio covered in cocunut). It even comes with a marshmallow centre.
Baklava is another popular dressert in Turkey, so we felt morally obliged to try some in Sutanahmet.
We also tasted the smooth vanilla slice with fresh banana,
and a fig slice.
I’m not that big on super sweet food (which probably disqualifies me from writing about food in Greece, Turkey or the Middle East), so my favourite dessert was sutlac, a creamy rice pudding baked until it caramelises on top, or else sprinkled with cinnamon.
Just before we left Australia, we heard a funny story about friends who travelled hours (and then more hours) by bus to a small town in Turkey which is renowned for its stretchy Turkish ice cream. Sadly, the town served only the regular stuff.
Cappadocia is not far from this town, and when we were there I was surprised to see the mythical Turkish ice cream being whipped and stretched elegantly out of an ornate brass tub. In memory of Tiff and Andrew’s ice cream odyssey, we tried one at the Goreme Otogar (unfortuantely the guy on duty wasn’t trained in stretching, so you can’t tell from the photo just how special this ice cream is, but at least he had a big spoon. |
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