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The concept of a dinner and show is the quintessential night out. Ideally featuring dulcet ditties and delicious delicacies, it is the simultaneous stimulation of your mind, heart, soul and belly.
This was the experience I enjoyed at the Gulf Hotel Bahrain’s Zahle restaurant where I experienced Chef Ahmed Ghalia’s expansive Lebanese feast along with the magical melodies of Ayman Zbib.
Chef Ahmed, who has been cooking at Zahle for the past 16 years, has perfected each dish with a little twist.
Lebanese food, a cousin of Arab cuisine and a descendant of Levantine fare, is found all over Bahrain and the Gulf, and is one of the few international cuisines judged based on a single course. While there were three full courses planned, it’s adjudicated almost exclusively on its mezze starter.
If you just arrived in the Middle East or have been living under a rock, you may not have encountered a mezze yet. A collection of small dishes like hummus, mutable and tabbouleh, it’s served with the regional bread, usually as a starter, but sometimes as a snack or culinary accoutrement.
Chef Ahmed had prepared a miscellany of mezze for us, including hummus, muhammara, tabbouleh salad, stuffed vine leaves, moutabel, Jibnah Baladi cheese, mixed pickles, olives and a fresh vegetable platter.
For the first time in my short career as a food reviewer, the words, “This might be too much to finish” escaped my lips.
Coincidentally, this is often the highest compliment you can pay at any Middle-Eastern feast, which aims to fill you up and then some. It’s traditionally polite to not finish everything on your plate, conveying to your host that you are full and then some.
Along with the mezze, we were treated to fresh bread made by Chef Ahmed and his team in a special brick oven. Unlike Bahraini kuboos, Lebanese bread is much more similar to a pita. And with the fresh chicken and lamb tikka grilled up for us, I made mini-shawarmas, which has become my signature move at this point.
The grills were perfectly cooked, with that signature char on the outside but soft and melty on the inside, the flavours blending perfectly with whichever accoutrement I picked, from the moutabel to the Jibnah Baladi cheese, which is imported every week directly from Lebanon.
As we started to slip into a food coma, we were rescued by Chef Ahmed’s assortment of Lebanese desserts, ranging from kunafa to baklava.
And this was just the beginning of the evening. As Sunuj Deen, food & beverage manager at the Gulf Hotel told me: “Zahle is not just about the food. Yes, the food has to be fantastic but so does the accompanying entertainment. So we like to feature renowned Lebanese singers alongside time-honoured belly dancing routines to create an unforgettable night out for our guests.”
The band took the stage at 10pm, with the main feature of the evening, Ayman Zbib taking the stage at midnight.
Now, 90 per cent of people I have met in this role have mistook me as an Arab, with more than half of them trying to converse with me in the language and some demanding a family tree when I tell them I am not Arab, I have always found Arabic to be a deeply melodic language. I find English to be a very utilitarian language. Yes, you can serenade with it, but the words generally need to be bent to one’s rhythmic will.
However, an Arabic speaker could be talking about the weather and paired with the right oud accompaniment, I’d think it was K’naan’s newest song. I enjoyed a few of these lullabies as Ayman took the stage, finding myself wanting to raise a lighter in solidarity as one would at a western alt rock concert.
While I enjoyed the music, I chatted with the chef and Joseph Khairella, Zahle’s restaurant manager who informed me that this was merely a preview of the Lebanese Festival happening at Zahle from November 19 to 22, featuring a special set dinner menu with renowned Lebanese singer Assi Bitar and Dabke Band. On November 23, there will be a brunch menu. Most intriguing to this bread-lover is the special guest who will be flown in from Lebanon just to bake the Saj bread.
Of course, if you want an early Lebanese dose, the restaurant is open Monday to Wednesday from 7pm - 1am and Thursday to Friday as well as Sunday from 7pm - 2am. For more details and to make a reservation, call 17746417.
l Scan the QR code for a taste of the Zahle evening experience.
