Zaituna Arabic Restaurant in Taman Tasek Johor Bahru

We enjoyed some excellent Arabic dishes at Zaituna restaurant in Taman Tasek in JB.

Zaituna is a simple little shop lot restaurant popular with locals. The quite extensive menu consists of 70% Lebanese dishes and Yemeni, Syrian etc dishes make up the remaining 30%.

Zaituna's kitchen is led by Chef Amr from Egypt. Chef Amr has 18 years of experience starting as a kitchen hand. He was with Intercontinental Cairo before coming to Malaysia 5 years ago. I first met Chef Amr when he was at Wadi Hadi Elarabi Restaurant.

The first things that come to my mind when I think of Arabic food are mandi chicken, mandi lamb, kebabs, foul medammas (kacang pool), falafel and hummus. We had them all, plus a bit more today 😋

The mandi chicken costs RM17 and mandi lamb RM22 (prices at Zaituna are nett i.e. no GST, no service tax). When we are having both, we can ask them to serve it in a sharing tray (dulang) like this 😄

The long grain basmati rice was boiled in lamb stock and spices. The soft and wet rice was well infused with rich lamb and spice flavour and aroma.

The New Zealand lamb was tender and juicy. It had mild spice and natural lamb flavour. Zaituna uses NZ lamb which has less fat and gaminess than Aussie lamb, so it is good news for folks who prefer less fat and gaminess in their mandi lamb. I love this 😋

Beneath that char outside, the chicken was fall-off-the-bone tender and juicy with mild spice and chicken flavour.

Mixed grill platter of lamb cubes, kebab halabi, shish tawook, Lebanese kafta, meat arayess and lamb chops (price RM75).

The grill meats were tenderly firm and moist with spice and natural meat flavours.

Nice grilled lamb chop. The thin slab was tenderly firm and moist inside. Good mild gamey flavour complemented by savoury spices.

Arabian dishes are eaten with several complementary dips similar to the Malay, Indonesian etc custom. There's sesame dip, garlic dip, and this fiery looking pepper dip which is savoury sourish spicy. The right dips certainly make the food taste better.

Foul Medammas Lebanese style with fava beans, chopped garlic, onion, herbs and spices like cumin i.e. vegetarian (price RM9). Eaten with house made fresh soft unleavened flat bread.

(Known as kacang pool in Malaysia and Singapore. The famous version by Kacang Pool Haji contains beef or lamb.)

Hummus - finely mashed chickpeas served with olive oil and lemon (price RM10).

Falafel - chickpea paste and parsley blend made into little cakes and deep fried till the outside is browned and slightly crisped (price RM9). Eaten with savoury sourish spicy pickled chili peppers, garlic dip (paste), hummus and soft unleavened bread.

Zaatar Mana'aosha (price RM13).

My first time tasting this dish and oh..... I love it because of the interesting layers of savoury flavoursome spices. The soft unleavened flat bread is topped with powdered thyme, sesame seeds, and other spices.

Tabouleh - a salad of finely chopped parsley, tomato, bulgur (grain) and onion seasoned with salt, lemon juice and olive oil (price RM11).

👉 Reasonably priced freshly made authentic Arabic cuisine in a comfortable environment. Wide ranging menu including meat and vegetarian options with something for everyone.

Disclosure: Please note that this was an invited tasting. I will gladly come back as an ordinary customer.

Please note that Chef Amr has left Zaituna to start his own restaurant.

Restaurant name: Zaituna
Address: 27, Jalan Glasiar, Taman Tasek, 80200 Johor Bahru, Johor
GPS: 1°29'14.1"N 103°43'31.2"E 🌐 1.487261, 103.725344
Waze: Zaituna Restaurant
Tel: 013-735 6645
Hours: 11:30am - 11:00pm (opens at 2pm on Fri)

Halal

Date visited: 10 Nov 2018