Video
Read full review
2014-10-16
1056 views
I'm usually too lazy to write restaurant reviews these years, but seeing so many bad reviews for Ziafat, I think I should just be fair to it and let people know my enjoyable dining experience.I phoned the restaurant to make a reservation a day in advance. Surprisingly the waitress on the phone asked me only the time and the number of diners, without asking my name or phone number and the reservation was done. I was thinking, maybe it's Wednesday and the restaurant is not too busy so they would j
I phoned the restaurant to make a reservation a day in advance. Surprisingly the waitress on the phone asked me only the time and the number of diners, without asking my name or phone number and the reservation was done. I was thinking, maybe it's Wednesday and the restaurant is not too busy so they would just take a note of someone is showing up a day later.
The restaurant is located in the building right next to iSQUARE mall (with entrance facing Nathan Road). There's also a large standing banner outside the building so it's really easy to find the restaurant. The building isn't as scary as my impression from reading the previous reviews, at least the lobby and corridors were adequately lighted and clean.
We arrived at around 20:10, which my reservation was at 20:00. We were seated by the corner of the restaurant, which was a large table for ~10 diners but we're actually just a group of 5. Within an hour since we arrived the restaurant was almost fully filled, with mostly Middle Eastern diners.
We ordered 2 lentil soup, 2 mutton soup, 1 arabic salad, 1 falafel, 2 hummus, 2 butter naan, 2 cheese naan and 2 Ziafat grill platter. The portion and quantity were perfect for 5-6 diners to share, and the girl who served our table made some recommondations of what to eat, or if the quantity ordered is enough for the group.
The soup was served first after a short while of waiting. There're probably a lot of herbs in the lentil soup, which makes it taste exotic yet delicious. The mutton soup was full of garlic aroma, though my companions seemed not really enjoying it with the grease on top. (I finished them all )The salad was good, although I couldn't relate anything Arabic with it.
From previous reviews I see some diners complained about the dry falafel. Come on... They're not Thai shrimp cakes! You can say you don't like its dry texture, but complaining of overfrying seems a bit unfair for this Middle Eastern delicacy. For me, I'm not used to the dry texture either, but at least it's our first time to try Arabic cuisine so it wasn't and shouldn't be an issue for us.
I've heard of hummus for quite a while and always wanted to try it. It looks simple but it tastes great! The very smooth and creamy texture was so awesome. Great match with naans.
The grill platters were served the last, we all like the nicely spiced meat and finished them very fast (that I've forgotten to take pictures of them!)I ordered Arabic tea (small) after enjoying the food. The tea was very refreshing.
We paid $716 for the meal (including 2 bottles of water at $10@). Quite an decent and affordable choice for trying something new. I enjoyed the visit very much and would definitely visit again.
Other Info. :
I bet the restaurant serves Arabic cuisine prepared traditionally, so that many of the Hongkonger diners didn't enjoy the exotic food. The restaurant was almost fully filled with Middle Eastern diners, afterall it's just a Wednesday evening. They seemed to enjoy the food, so did I.
The girl and the lady who served our table were extremely polite and friendly. We ordered 4 bowls of soup but we asked for 5 extra bowls for sharing. Considering that's quite a ridiculous request (which I immediately regret and thought we should instead ask for 2 bowls), the lady was still friendly and got us 5 soup bowls. Thank you and sorry for the extra dishwashing work!
I worked in an Arabian airline and since then I started to gain interest in Arab culture. Having been serving hundreds of Middle Eastern passengers everyday, I realized they're actually very friendly, especially when they know you're interested in their culture and living. After the meal I tried to talk to the waitresses with my very limited Arabic, they got so surprised and their smiles totally brightened my evening! That's why I wanted to make a visit to this restaurant, not just trying exotic food but to get myself immersed in a true Arabian atmosphere.
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
Post
