Good Middle Eastern lunch at Al-Halabi Gourmet Restaurant @ JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur

Al-Halabi Gourmet Restaurant is part of Tarbush restaurant group. They serve quite extensive of middle eastern food in an awesome environment. The restaurant decoration is nice and they also selling a lot of middle east food items. Sitting inside is like you are in Turkish market. Service were good and if you are into shisha, they do have it as well. The seating were comfortable with sofas.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. Ordered the sayadiyah fish dish and taste quite good. Whole pompret with fish pieces and rice in one dish. The rice cooked with fish broth adds the flavour to the dish. The appetizer of fattah hummus that we ordered is unexpected large with lots of chickpea and tahini mixed with yogurt, garlic and fried bread. Taste quite unique but good).
Price:6/10(Moderate. The food pricing here is reasonable considering its located inside a 5 star hotel. We ordered Sayadiyah fish for MYR45.00 and fattah hummus at MYR25.00. Portion is quite decent for two persons consumption).


Sayadiyah fish with salsa sauce and lemon. Suitable to order if you don't like lamb or chicken.

Nice restaurant ambience.

Lots of middle eastern food condiments.

Cokertme kebab dinner at Shadow @ Istanbul, Turkey

I stay quite near to Akbiyik Caddesi during my last visit to Istanbul. The street full with upscale restaurant and its hard to choose which one are serving good food. Checking with my hostel staff to recommend good food around the area does not help either as they tend to recommend their own restaurant. After read a couple of review in Trip Advisor, I decided to try this restaurant. The name does not sound interesting "Shadow". However, as I approached the restaurant, I were offered free garlic bread and dessert if I order any of their main dish. I chose their Cokertme kebab as per the staff recommendation. I was happy with the choice and the meal turn out to be good.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. The best meal here were their garlic bread which were tasty. Condiments which came together with the garlic bread blends very well with the taste of the garlic bread. The charcoal roasted garlic bread were so fragrant and savoury. The best part is the garlic bread was free from the main menu of Cokertme kebab that I ordered).
Price:6/10(Moderate. The whole meal together with a glass of beer priced at TRY40. The cokertme kebab priced at TRY32 and beer at TRY8. Garlic bread and baklava is free).



This is the best garlic bread that I ever had. Fragrant, slight salty, savoury and slight crispy. The condiments which comes with the bread were great. Olive, tomatoes and spicy paste.


Cokertme kebab - yogurt, Matchal potato, sliced steak, tomato and butter sauce. The medium rare steak were nicely done and good combination with the fried Matchal potato and the sauce at the bottom.

Yogurt and butter sauce.

Thin fries were perfectly done.

Free dessert of baklava.

Friendly staff of Shadow.

GPS/Coordinate: 41.006193, 28.981036
Address: Akbiyik Caddesi No 26, Cankurtaran, Istanbul 34400, Turkey
Public transport: 10 minutes walk from Sultanahmet tram station.

Hidden charges (cheater and best to avoid) of Mavi Melek Restaurant @ Istanbul, Turkey

Surveying for the restaurant around Pera area of Istiklal street. I found out this restaurant Mavi Melek has interesting menu and I would like to try their testi kebab. There are many good Trip Advisor reviews placed outside the restaurant. Without realising, this restaurant is a trap and I would advise fellow tourist to avoid this restaurant.

Taste:6/10(Moderate. I expecting something tasty from the agreed price of 45 Lira for one person portion of testi kebab. However, the meal come out is just normal and without aroma that I am expected. The only good meal here are their roasted eggplant salad and chocolate dessert which I have tried).
Price:3/10(Expensive. The price charge for a person portion of testi kebab already expensive. To add insult, they let you choose the meze that they bring without advising their customers that each of the meze is different pricing. I have chosen anchovies soaked in sour chilli oil which was priced as 20 Lira! And roasted eggplant salad at 7 Lira which is still ok as it was in the menu. Then I never request for spring water but its on the table and charge 5 Lira. The worst part is there is tax on the bill which is 8 Lira! During my one week trip in Istanbul, I never encounter any restaurant which charges tax! 85 Lira for the meal shown below is simply expensive).


Proof of bill charges of this restaurant. Simply amazing of tax charges of 8 Lira! From initially thought 45 Lira meal become 85 Lira meal. What a con artist restaurant.

The waiter will bring many mezes for you to choose. It looks good but beware! There is no price indication of each meze. They can just simply charge the price of the meze after your meal!

I have chosen fresh anchovies with sour chilies.

This dish were good. Turkish roasted eggplant salad.

Ordered testi kebab. Nice presentation and cooked in a clay jar.

Testi kebab with potato rice.

The content of the clay jar. Testi kebab consist of beef, red pepper, garlic, green chillies and onions.

Bread.

Chocolate dessert which is good. Creamy and thick chocolate.

A cosy restaurant with outside and inside seats.

The restaurant - Mavi Melek which show many good review from Trip Advisor. The review most probably are fake!

Coordinate/GPS: 41.030198, 28.974426
Address: Asmalı Mescit Mh. 34430 Beyoğlu/Istanbul, Turkey
Public transport: Tunel, Taksim, Sishane or Galatasaray station.