Mecca Bah, Emporium, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane - my name is Food.

Mecca Bah, Emporium, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

October 05, 2013

Mecca Bah, one of the best places to get Middle Eastern cuisine.. Located in Emporium in the valley, parking might be a hassle since there's limited parking available... Everyone knows the Emporium, filled with restaurants with different types of cuisines, turkish, spanish, mexican, japanese and even dessert places and so on.. Oh, don't forget the boutiques too, filled with wonderful designs and uniqueness..
  
I think that it's nicer to probably go there for night as it is quite a nice ambience to have dinner.. Though in photoing the food wise, would probably be better before it gets dark to get that natural light.. The entrace looks abit dogdy in a way due to the brick and wall combination..
If they're not ready to give you a table yet, you'll probably get asked to be seated in these seats (below) with a weird somehow interesting gold plated pattern plate... You'll probably be given a menu to have a look through, order a drink and so on... But usually this happens during dinner time as lunch time didn't seem as busy as dinner..

 
I quite liked the interior design here and I am a fan of weirdly-uniquely structured lights... There's also a cool water tap that looks like a fountain without the water sprouting up...The seatings inside gives more of a subtle cozier feel with the sofas, cushions and curtains.. The star pattern on the ceiling also depicts the water tap's shape..
The chairs had two different variety in the outdoor seating... Although they both seemed vintage-like, they both had their own twist which I liked.. The one below however was more comfortable than the upper since it had a chair cushion.. Though it seemed old, you can see the dirt on the leather and even the stitching doesn't look as clean anymore.. I also liked how the above chairs had that twist at the top and in their legs.. 

Each diner would have these unique designed plates on their tables... we chose a seat outside since it was such a nice weather and there was a birthday party inside so we didn't want an area that would be surrounded by kids and noisy, let's just say, we wanted a quieter place to dine so we could talk freely..
I'm pretty sure this was the 'The Pink Fez.. a combination of pineapple juice, cranberry juice, vanilla syrup, lychee, mint & lime.. It was not too sweet and the lime really blended in nicely with the fruity taste..
For the food.. we weren't sure of what to pick, but definitely their turkish pizzas was in mind.. The pizza ranges from a wide variety to suit your tastebuds.. From lamb to pastirma, from sardine to spiced chicken, from vegetarian pizzas with roast zucchini or harissa spiced tomato or roast pumpkin... We decided on the 'Spit roasted lamb, rocket, yogurt & sumac' ($24)..
 
The sumac was a nice touch to the pizza as it brings this tart, tangy lemony taste which blends well with the lamb and rocket.. Lamb and yogurt in meals are always good.. for some reason that it.. who invented that idea... well, the red onion was still raw and I accidentally bit it and then I just went ziiinggg... The rocket was fresh and gave it that chill with the pizza... Turkish pizzas aren't your usual pizzas, they're made out of turkish bread..

 
We didn't want another pizza and we were thinking either their tangines or their grills.. and we went for their grills and chose 'Middle Eastern spiced swordfish with spicy couscous' ($25).. Presented beautifully with lemons on the side and the swordfish still in tacked with the pick..
 
You could see the grilled mark on the swordfish and the portion was generous, even the couscous' portion was too.. The swordfish looked dry on the outside due to the grilling but was actually quite moist in the inside and not as dry as I thought it would be.. I usually don't like when ordering fish dishes in restaurants because I tend to find many of them to be dry.. 
The couscous was okay, with that tangy flavour as well due to the lemon and it had a hint of the spicyness but was a good accompaniment with the swordfish... I would have liked it more if it had some sort of a base sauce or some sort, because it was just simply the grilled swordfish and the couscous..
We also chose a salad to freshen the day up a bit and we chose 'Fattoush' ($13).. which is also known as the Lebanese bread salad... The reason why I chose this was that I've heard this word from a movie with Adam Sandler in it.. And when I saw it on the menu, I did not keep my eyes off it... Sure, the other salads would taste wonderful as well.. But I wanted to try what this was.. and so I did..
Fattoush is a well-known salad from Syria.. It combines large chunky cuts of vegetables such as tomato, cucumber, radish etc, sumac is used in the dressing to give that soury taste, toasted or fried pieces of pita bread which soaks up the dressing... This fresh cool salad is great during summer hot days.. It was a nice blend but it was definitely a very simple salad when compared to you saucy salads..
Mecca Bah on Urbanspoon

You Might Also Like

0 comments

Featured Review of the Month

Fogata Latin Fusion Bar & Restaurant - Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

Zomato

View my food journey on Zomato!