As you may have read, I returned from my jollies a few weeks ago, and arrived home with a tan, a suitcase full of dates (the dried fruit, not a bunch of guys), nuts and baklawa, and a bit of an addiction for tabouleh and felafel. I remember going through a phase of eating felafel back in the uni days, but years of discovering other gourmet treat after treat had dimmed the addiction. My blog post on food in Dubai is still to follow, but a sneak peak reveals that the best meal we had there wasn’t in the Gordon Ramsay restaurant, but in the Lebanese take-out counter in the airport. Seriously. We actually brought food home from an airport takeaway stand.
Whilst away I discovered that my favourite kind of tabouleh , and what seems to be the most authentic, has very little ‘starch’ filler (in the form of bulgar wheat, or for non-purists, cous cous) and actually is comprised around 90% of flat leaf parsley, a little bit of chopped tomato, spring onion, olive oil and heaps of lemon juice. It’s so verdant and healthy-looking, it can just about cure ailments with a single glance. Pile on to some fresh Lebanese flatbread and it’s heaven. I was also loving the felafel, little chick pea fritters, again featuring heavy on the parsley front.
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been trying out various felafel, mostly of a fairly disappointing standard. They all seem really dry, as a result of not being freshly cooked. Passable was the Marks and Spencers ones that come in the Mezze Mix, as the flavour was great, but the texture was rubbery. They might have been better warmed up, but I was having them outside for the first garden lunch at the picnic table of this year, so it meant cold food. I picked up another tub (mystery brand!) from Margiotta one lunchtime and had to practically drown them in hummous and tzatziki before there was any chance these dusty little balls would get down my throat. FAIL!
So, it was with an immense (and quite possibly unfair) amount of expectation that the silver fox and I went out to Hanam’s a couple of Wednesdays ago. I’d read great reports of this Kurdish and Middle Eastern place, and the menu online looked like it could be offering some of the kind of things that might sate my new-found addictions.
The restaurant is propped up on Johnston Terrace, just about opposite The Hub. It’s a bright room, with fantastic views out of the back window towards the old town. As the sun outside began to sink at the end of a gorgeous Edinburgh day, the restaurant had a lovely glow, enhanced by some wee tealights on the tables. The décor isn’t fussy, just a few artifacts and paintings on the wall, and mention too goes to the solid wooden tables and chairs, which I really liked.
I’d clocked ahead of time that there’s a BYOB policy, and so we pitched up with a bottle of wine and a couple of beers. I also ordered a bottle of their alcohol-free Cairn O’Mohr sparkling elderflower drink, which was about a fiver. It’s lovely fruity juice, and I would definitely recommend for a booze-free night. The menu-choosing game was causing some delay, and so the waitress recommended we go for a sharing platter of starters, and another sharing combo of mixed grills for the main course. Seemed like a sensible choice for the indecisive.
What follows is kind of a meal of two halves, in that I really didn’t get very excited about the starters, which I do think is a co-incidence that each all of which happened to all be meat-free. In fairness, the felafel were tasty, and with a great crispy outside from having been freshly cooked. Dunked into the hummous, they were even better. Then there was the ‘kulicha’, which I think I could easily develop a bit of a love for. It reminded me of the Navajo fry bread that they serve in Vacouver’s Bin 941 restaurant. A lovely soft deep-fried bread, not at all greasy, and were perfect for dipping. There was another sauce with yoghurt and garlic that went well with it, but I would say might have benefited from a squeeze of lemon juice. The other items on the sharing plate were not only served cold, but kind of left me feeling that way too. There were torpedo-shaped Kubbe, which were filled with potato and some sad looking little cubes of carrots and peas. and definitely lacked some seasoning . The other main component were a selection of Dolma, which I have to say maybe I’m just not a fan of in general. The rice , whilst it had been well cooked, just didn’t have much discernible flavour, and so when wrapped in the wet vine leaves just created a kind of claggy feeling in your mouth. The tasteless shredded iceberg lettuce and cucumber slices as garnish didn’t really add any exciting contribution to the platter either.
On the flip-side, gladly, I’ll heartily recommend the BBQ meats from Hanam’s, as they were absolutely perfect. First to be mentioned has to be the fact that I not only ate chicken wings, but that they might even have been the highlight of the night. Usually I find these fiddly little portions a total waste of time, but they’d been marinated in some lemon juice, and these were so tangy, with the meaty nibbles a total surprise hit for me. I may even have sneaked an extra one, beyond my fair share. The rest of the meats were all cooked just right, and anyone who’s worked a grill knows that getting the timings right is the key. Smoky and tasty is one thing, but just a minute too long and you’re looking at dried out chewy meat. The lamb fillet, minced lamb, and chicken kebabs all had benefited from perfect cooking times, and the meats were juicy and full of flavour. The main course also came with a pillow of perfect naan bread that was a almost gravity-defying in its lightness; think of the balloon at the end of The Wizard of Oz.
So, Hanam’s for me I guess is the place that I’ll rave about the kebabs and the breads, but probably not the rest of what we had tried. Also, sadly for my wallet, it doesn’t look like it will act as a less expensive alternative to more holidays, in turn leading to being able to try new food and have more of life’s culinary adventures. Phew. I haven’t even put the suitcase away yet…
PS- If anyone knows where to get proper Lebanese flatbread in Edinburgh, drop me a line!
There's a Lebanese restaurant opening in Edinburgh very soon – so hopefully they will do a decent flat bread. I returned from a Jordan trip and went to Hanam's, but it's never the same after having the real thing!
Very exciting – can't wait to find out more! Do you know where and when?
Hello,
I am an Assistant Producer at ITV Productions and we are currently searching for potential contestants for Britain’s Best Dish. In case you haven’t seen the show before Britain's Best Dish is an annual competition hosted by ITV for amateur cooks. In it we look for Britain's best starter, main course and dessert. The winner of the competition receives the accolade of Britain's Best Dish and takes home a £10,000 cash prize. We're starting another series in the coming weeks and will be holding our regional auditions in May. As you are clearly a keen foodie you are just the sort of person we are looking for so if you are at all interested in taking part or know anyone who may be interested and haven't already featured in the Best Dish studio finals, please email ASAP with your name, contact number, and where you're from to bestdish@itv.com and we’ll be in touch soon.
Thanks,
Jude
Just found this place who make home made flatbreads!
http://www.list.co.uk/article/25291-ooud-kitchen-brings-flavours-of-palestine-to-edinburgh/