I've eaten in so many restaurants now, I've had to stop counting. The most scary part of it all is - just not wanting to know how many. How many calories I've put away, how much money I've spent and how many bottles of wine I've consumed. We're living in strange times and one which we've all become over indulging vultures. Food surrounds us these days and we're all cooking less often, and eating out more. Lebanese food is one of though cuisines i really do forget when thinking of my next dining choice, but never again. Honest prices, huge portions and packing bags of foreign flavours - it's immensely satisfying.
Moutabel, is perhaps one of those immensely satisfying things to eat. It's such a rich, fresh dish that oozes flavour and for every piece of grilled and butter laden flat bread that goes into it, you just can't stop coming back for more. Smoky aubergine, smooth tahini, garlic and a good helping of olive oil and pomegranate - what's not to like about this middle eastern classic.
Grilled halloumi is one of those dishes that can leave a scarring weight upon the hips in all its grilled, buttery simplicity - but depending on how it's cooked, it can be easily overdone to the point of comparing it to a cross between playdough and an elastic band. Mamounia Lounge thankfully know how to cook it to pure perfection. It was salty, buttery, slightly charred and coated in a good lashing of herby olive oil. By halloumi standards, it doesn't get much better than this.
I've done this dish absolutely no justice in the slightest. It's really dark downstairs in the restaurant and we all know the flash on a mobile phone can make even the most delicious of dishes look hideous and boring. And that's exactly what my camera did here, but it couldn't be further from the truth. A extremely large plate of what was called sojuk sadah. Homemade Syrian lamb sausages made with cumin, sumac, garlic, peppers and paprika. They were gorgeous and very well cooked - and there was so much of it. For £7.00 this really was a bit of a bargain and shouldn't be sniffed at.
Prawns were cooked over a charcoal grill and came splurging out of their sliced open shells - and let me tell you, they were lovely. Juicy, very meaty and not at all overcooked. An overcooked prawn is an absolute tragedy and so when these beautifully paprika seasoned examples arrived, i couldn't have been happier. Portion sizes were still on the ridiculously big side. At this point in the meal we were seriously struggling - and i have an insatiable appetite compared to most.
A side of deep fried cauliflower sounded like a good idea, but in fact it was a tragedy. Limp, soft, soggy and barely crisp. This needed to be cooked with either a coating of delicious batter, or the oil needed to be a zillion degrees hotter, the cauliflower drained and barely pre-cooked before going into the oil. A nice idea, but one which quickly needed to be rectified, or taken off the menu. Talking of menus, it's absolutely huge. I don't know how they cope, or even how much food wastage must be going on in the kitchen but a smaller, more concise menu would be much more attractive and with its mammoth array - could easily put people off. Too much choice can sometimes make a restaurant seem a a little cheap.
The main course, which my flash again did it no justice. Was a delicious plate of grilled goodness. Moist skewers of succulent herb infused chicken, medium-rare cooked morsels of gorgeous lamb and some very well seasoned kafta. This was an excellent mixed grill, which for all this meat at only £18 - it really was a bit of a bargain. You could easily order this and need nothing else, there really was that much of it. A little heavy on the paprika, but otherwise a fantastic dish.
Chocolate fondant for dessert was a nice ending. Extremely chocolatey, cooked fresh to order and getting anywhere near it with a fork seemed to set this thing to explosion mode with lusciously thick, oozing chocolate sauce coming out of it, it was very good. In fact most things here at Mamounia Lounge were surprisingly good. I don't know why, but i came here with doubts. It could have been the lavish decor, Lamborghini cars parked outside or the men dressed in shiny suits - either way i was proved wrong. The food here isn't going to break boundaries, hell it may even confuse you but if you settle in, enjoy a little belly dancing and love a good cocktail - you'll have a great night, and leave full from delicious food, and hopefully a little drunk.
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