Meal #35 - The Arabian Peninsula

Arabesque is, as its name suggests, Arab-esque.

Arabesque
Middle Eastern Grill
Shop 1, 1-3 Carre St
Elsternwick

Lacking the family-run feel and do-it-yourself decoration of recent weeks, Arabesque is a contemporary-style restaurant with a simple, stylish décor; including a large, wall-length, black and white photograph of a busy Arab bazzar. Clearly, the old adage: bad décor means good food, doesn’t apply here. All of Arabesque’s dishes are just as good as a traditional, home-cooked meal.

This week’s dashing diners were Nick, Rami and Caroline.


Arabesque offers a range of banquets that offer excellent value for money, as we discovered after choosing to order the following individual dishes instead:

Entrée/Mezza:


Ma’anek – grilled spicy sausages drizzled with lemon juice and sumac

Vine Leaves – traditional rolled vine leaves with spiced lamb and rice

Main Course:

Shish Tawook – grilled skewered fillet of chicken marinated in garlic and lemon served with almond rice.

Field mushrooms baked with haloumy cheese, chick peas, spinach and Middle-Eastern spices.

Entrée/Mezza:

The Ma’anek possessed an interesting mix of spices, however it was the lemon juice that added the flavour-burst that made this dish jump from good to great. The vine leaves, which were quite similar to traditional Greek dolmas, were strongly benefited by the addition of spicy lamb - giving them an extra kick.

Mains:


Like the Ma’anek, the lemon flavours of the Shish Tawooks were a highlight. The chicken was wonderfully marinated in garlic and lemon, which worked well with the almond rice. The field mushrooms were an interesting dish, however the fact that they were slightly burnt made it difficult to experience the proper effect of the flavours.


Overall:

Arabesque offers great food, and very friendly, and professional, service. The dishes are priced significantly higher than the take-away versions, however, the high quality of the food means that this does not present a problem. We recommend the banquet for anyone interested in trying a wide range of flavours at a better value for money ratio than individual dishes.