✍️ 6 Dec 2024. Went to prowl Taman Universiti today - retracing my footsteps as here was one of the first places I explored after starting Johor Kaki blog in 2012.
One of my top favourites, Restoran Parsia is now Al Hayfa Arabic Restaurant.
This little corner here used to be Restoran Parsia's impressive, huge tandoor oven. I miss it. I love Parsia so much that I posted four articles on it.
Anyway, since I enjoy all types of cuisine, I decided to try Al Hayfa. Stepping inside Al Hayfa, the interior was reminiscent of Restoran Parsia.
I was alone, so I requested for kubideh lamb kebab which came with mandi rice, relish and soup.
The staff asked whether I want one or two skewers, sounding like one is not enough for me. Just RM6 for the additional skewer, so I replied two 🤭 Total price RM17 nett.
Turned out the kebabs were huge - thick and a foot long.
But, they were not hard to finish as they were nice!
The mutton was tender with a slight chewiness in a good way from bits of tendon / sinew. Not overly greasy, very mild or subtle mutton gaminess with complementary spice flavours and aroma.
Mandi rice was soft, moist long grain Basmati which tasted savoury with stock and was fragrant with spice.
The relish was pulpy spicy hot, tangy zesty, savoury.
It's magic.
Every spoonful of complementary flavours from lamb, rice and relish.
Boomz.
It doesn't blow your mind with robust flavours but by its finesse and well balanced flavours, aroma and texture.
Not much to say about the soup. It was salty with spice in the aftertaste.
Enjoyed the kubideh lamb kebab with mandi rice a lot. I'll be back to try Al Hayfa's other dishes.
Restaurant name: Al Hayfa Arabic Restaurant
Address: 63-01 & 64-01, Jalan Pendidikan 4, Taman Universiti, 81300 Skudai, Johor
Tel: 11:30am - 10pm (Mon off)
Hours: +6011 1182 7947
Written by Tony Boey on 7 Dec 2024
I hesitated to try this because Parsia Restaurant was one of my favourites too. Now that it has your stamp of approval, I'll definitely give this a go!
ReplyDeleteI was tempted to say that your affordability is now our prohibitive, with you being a 2.2 million blogger and all. 😆But honestly, RM17 is a solid deal—especially if that kebab turns out to be foot-long!
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