When it comes to my food, I could rant for days – I’m my best and worst critic! But I’ve been a bit apprehensive about posting an actual restaurant review. They can often sound a little toffee-nosed, and I’m certainly not going to be up to any “I’m Matt Preston and I wear a Cravat” standard (we love you Matt Preston!). So, I’ll simply tell you what I think. First off – When it comes to restaurants, if I don’t get a good meal and good service, I usually boycott them pretty quickly. This is not because I’m a horrible mean food nazi, I just think that if I’m going to pay money for someone to make me something to eat – they should know what they’re doing and do it with some sort of courtesy.
It is with great pleasure that I say to you that I will NOT be boycotting Mecca Bah! Huzzah!
I went there a few weeks ago with a gaggle of girls for my sister’s birthday. The place is open and airy, but with a warm, sensual ambiance, using stylised Islamic motifs and geometric patterns to cover the floors and ceiling. Each chair is adorned with ornate cushions, and the table dressed with Moroccan tea glasses as votives.
We gathered in the outdoor area before being shown to our table – which was not reserved as they do not accept reservations, which I think is pretty cool – First in best dressed, and no “reserve sign” deserted tables! We were given our menus and ample time to work out what to eat. The meal arrived shortly after, each dish looking as delectable as the next. This is when I usually get a bad case of Meal-Envy – I just want to try everything! Vine leaf wrapped fish fillets chargrilled with parsley, artichoke and olive salad ($22.50) was passed to the lady to my left, and Turkish Pizza with Spit roasted lamb, rocket, yoghurt & sumac ($19.80) to the lady on my right. I ordered the Garlic chicken kebab, mjaddarah (lentils and rice), yoghurt sauce & tabouleh. ($21.50). It had a perfect balance of spices, the combination of chicken, rice and tabouleh complimented each other well. It was a light, but comfortably filling dish. I nabbed a piece of pizza crust from my sister, just to taste – it was a crunchy and light, perfectly risen dough.
After much deliberation over the dessert menu, I settled on Middle Eastern Halva Icecream and a Pistachio maa’moul. Halva is made with sesame seeds, the flavour was distinctive and texture creamy. It matched well with the maa’moul. This arrived in it’s own rice-paper packaging (obviously not baked in house, but that’s ok!) – a crumbly oval-shaped biscuit filled with nuts, flavoured with rose water, and dusted liberally with icing sugar. The icecreams are sold 3 scoops for $9, however, I asked for 1 scoop for $3 and they gladly sold that to me. To take home, I grabbed a couple of pieces of Turkish Delight. Mmmm.
Right at the end of the night, when there were only a few tables of people left, the kitchen and wait staff appeared and gathered around a table and ate together after their shift had ended. I suppose this is probably not a very ‘professional’ thing to see, but you could really tell that they were enjoying the meal they had prepared themselves. It was great to see that they liked it as much as we did.
Mecca Bah 19-21/1000 Ann St, Fortitude Valley
www.meccabah.com
I’m a big fan of Mecca Bah. The chickpea battered mussels are incredible!