Ali Baba Egyptian Restaurant

There are a few things that gives us a clue as to whether an Egyptian restaurant serves authentic food. One, are the serving staff local Egyptian? Two, are the diners Egyptians? Three, is the television turned on really loudly? (I've read about this and the husband who's been to Cairo confirmed that this is true)

On this occasion, it was a yes to point one and three but as it was Ramadan when we had lunch, it was very quiet. However, the husband had dinner here some time ago and he says that there were a lot of Egyptian businessmen dining here so it's a yes to point two as well!!
As I haven't yet visited Egypt yet and have no knowledge of what Egyptian food is all about, I let the husband take the reins in ordering. 

We started off with Stuffed vine leaves. This was stuffed with rice, pine nuts, raisins with a splash of lemon juice and it was served warm which i was pretty surprised about as the last time I had Stuffed vine leaves in a Greek restaurant, it was served at room temperature. I actually preferred it warm as it somehow brings out the various flavours in the rice. 

Another appetiser we had was the spinach falafel. I have always loved a good falafel and this was definitely one of those times. Nicely spiced, chickpeas had the right texture and including some spinach in it makes for an even healthier dish. The falafel had this fragrance about it and i think rosewater was added to it. What an interesting addition!

Ali Baba Special

For mains, we had the Ali baba Special (Roast lamb with minced meat rice). The star of the show was definitely the lamb as it was so  tender and succulent. Don't you agree?

Molokheya Soup

We also had Molokheya Lamb Soup but this needed some getting used to as it's really starchy. Molokheya, a kind of green spinach like leaf found in the Middle East, acts as a thickening agent when added to soups. Again the lamb that came with it was ultra tender. They sure know how to cook their meats!

Om Ali

Even though we were really stuffed by now, we still had to order the Om Ali(as the husband was raving about it), a dessert flavoured with nuts, milk, rosewater and coconut, that's somewhat like a rice pudding but puff pastry is used instead of rice. Definitely a great warming winter dessert!!


So if you want an authentic Egyptian restaurant experience, give Ali Baba a go!

Ali Baba

32 Ivor Place,London

NW1 6DA