Wednesday 30 January 2008

Oman: Lebanese cuisine

When the chaps decided on a name for their Lebanese restaurant, it is hard to imagine what they had in mind when they settled upon the name of ‘Automatic’. Nonetheless, we took our seats in the empty Lebanese restaurant near the Blue Mosque and perused the menu. 

While waiting for our order, we watched the show outside as locals pulled off the road, tooted their car horns for take away service, waited impatiently and departed without leaving the comfort of their cars or burning unnecessary calories in the process.

Two elderly English ladies arrived and sat on an adjacent table. They were obviously not locals as they had little idea about basic Arabic dishes, and were thrown by the lack of wine on the menu. They later wrestled with enormous fruit cocktails which strained their wrinkly cheeks.

After an interesting salad starter, my Shish Tawook arrived, followed by Mrs M’s kebab with lemon and yoghurt. The food was simple, but very good. To finish, we had an exceedingly tasty Lebanese bread pudding.

We left the ladies grumbling about the cold and retuned home surprisingly satisfied with the Automatic experience.

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