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| - I mean, the prices aren't astronomically high, but they aren't super cheap either. I eat a lot of Middle-Eastern food in Scarborough, where it's authentic and cheap, so I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from here, other than nicer ambiance than I'm used to.
Between five people, we ordered the sampler platter ($14.95), the hallum salad ($10.95), the ma'anek ($7.50), the grilled salmon kebabs ($18.95), the lahmeh ($18.95), and the eggplant main ($15.50). We weren't starving when we left, but we weren't particularly full either.
The sampler platter sounds more impressive than it actually is. You get to choose three out of the four items: hummus, babaganoush, tabule, and labni. We got the first three. For $14.95, I'm not at all impressed with the portion. The hummus was alright, but I prefer Me Va Me's. I like the babaganoush here more because it's got a more smokey eggplant taste, but my dad preferred Me Va Me's. I can't comment on the tabule because I was on a strict no-sour no-bitter food diet that day, so I played it safe. The platter did come with an endless supply of whole wheat and white pitas, but that only does so much to impress me when the sit down Me Va Me at Bathurst and Steeles does an endless supply of freshly baked laffa. I'm comparing this to basically the exact same dish at Me Va Me, if you're wondering why I keep dropping that name. There are more options there to sample from as well...
The hallum salad was arugula and cheese. It's the least attractive salad starter I've seen at an establishment of this caliber. More color and texture would have helped a lot. The hallum was the saltiest I've ever had. I love arugula so I can't complain there. My aunt rather enjoyed this. I did as well, but it could have been much better.
The ma'anek is marketed as ground beef with Middle Eastern spices and pine nuts. They're cocktail wiener sized little sausages. They were tasty, but for like 6-7 sausages, they're rather overpriced. The predominant spice was cinnamon here.
We substituted the rice that came with the salmon kebabs for salad. Bad idea. Dad said the salad was really sour. The salmon wasn't dry, but it doesn't stand out for being amazing either. Two skewers here, if I recall correctly.
The lahmeh, two veal tenderloin skewers, came with rice and grilled veggies. There could have been more rice. All in all, a very solid dish, but I could get similar for at least $5 cheaper, so I expected to be more impressed.
The eggplant was our favorite of the night. It was drizzled with tahini and came on a bed of mujaddara (lentil and onion rice) and topped with pomegranate seeds. This was rather pretty. The eggplant is fried straight up, and it's juicy and delicious. I'm a sucker for fried eggplant. The mujaddara was a hit with everyone. We could have ordered a few more of these. This was alright for the price, I think, but it still could have been significantly cheaper.
With my cousin's Caesar, we came to about $110 before tips, I think. Not including the Caesar, I think I could have had a meal of a similar caliber for about 3/4 of the price elsewhere, but for the location, I suppose it's alright.
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