Thursday, March 30, 2006

Baladi Lebanese Cuisine, Singapore

Fom left: garlic dip, tahini, tabbouleh, fattoush, and hommos. RA by KBall

Hey that wasn't too bad. Baladi is at 709 North Bridge Road near Zam Zam (6396-6451). We grabbed the Platter Baladi Special for S$24 (US$14), which includes just the right amount for two people: grilled lamb chop, chicken shish taouk, beef kafta, garlic dip, tahini, tabbouleh, fattoush, and Lebanese bread. We also added some hommos and stuffed grape leaves. It started well. The hommos was tasty, the fattoush was fresh, and the tabbouleh was so surprisingly well-done that I actually liked it and wanted more (I normally hate parsley). The chicken was grilled just right, and the lamb chops were tender and tasty. That was impressive, especially considering the crap we've been getting at some of the nearby places.

Grilled Lamb ChopStill, there were a couple things to pick on. The beef was a bit dry, and the sides for each platter were identically boring, each featuring the same tomato, pickles, and French fries formula. It would have been much better had they put these all on one big plate together with some fluffy rice. The service today was also rather unpolished, and they didn't have some of the speciality drinks like kamareddine (the jallah date-based drink with pine nuts and grapes was decent though...and I usually don't like dates).

But that's just nitpicking. This is good enough for me to want to come back and try others on the menu, including hopefully some combo platters for someone to bring back to the office (it reminded me of the old Green Cedar places before they shut down). This was a relieving find.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey hey,

I went to this place too and like the laid back ambience associated with the place.

Friend said...

I went their last month and the food was quite bad. I had to ask them to recook the chicken since it was not cooked properly

Anonymous said...

Baladi was short-lived - I saw another restaurant there when I passed by this weekend. Now it's even harder to come by average Middle Eastern food in Arab Street!