Soon after I met the Mr he introduced me to his other love, fatayer, and it soon became a firm favourite on our Friday morning cycling jaunts. We’d stop at a little place called Village Bakery on our way back from Villagio and look at what everyone else was ordering and try whichever looked most appealing (if you have room for two try the chilli and the zaatar extra).
For me fatayer has been my savior to the usual egg-based (which unfortunately I can’t eat) dishes that seem to dominate restaurants’ breakfast menus. And if I do tire of zaatar I can always opt for spicy chilli and tomato, meat, cheese, and any number of combinations. It’s like eating pizza for breakfast without the guilt of melted cheese… unless you choose cheese of course.
After a windy tennis game (the weather, not us), we tried the new-ish Arabic café on the block… Sandwich Factory at The Gate Mall.
What we ate:
Hummous – Breakfast version
This was nicely presented with a sprig of mint and some hot, puffed up pitta. The taste and the thick and creamy texture was good too… there wasn’t a scraping left in the bowl.
Meat Fatayer & Zaatar Fatayer (manakeesh)
Some things taste much better than they look. Although the meat fatayr looked almost unappealing in all its beige glory, with a good squirt of the accompanying lemon it’s forlorn looks were soon forgotten and it didn’t hang around long enough to grow cold. Ditto the Zaatar version. Both had a nice thin and crisp base that had bubbled up in places (for me these are the best bits). And you can tell that their dough and breads are made in the café every day – everything feels and tastes freshly home-made.
The service was good. The restaurant is modern, bright and clean. And the food was fresh and nicely presented. It’s definitely worthy of a returning visit (many most likely) and we’d like to pop back at a later time of the day when we can tuck into shawarma and the grilled food too.
The damage: 38 QR – A bargain we’d say
L& M rating: 4/5
Also checkout our Baladna breakfast review
Lemon & Mint
I don’t always remember Arabic food names despite that I lived here about half of my existence, though for sure this is one the best stuff I’ve put in my mouth. Let alone a better alternative for your crappy pizza.