A visit to Janna was our last meal of 2019, in between Christmas and New Year. Who would have thought that so much would have changed in everyone’s lives in such a small period of time. I’m full of respect for the small number of restaurants which are keeping going on takeaway and home delivery business only. We usually eat out at least once a week but, since the lockdown, have replaced that with home delivery from one of the restaurants. This one came via Deliveroo.
We followed our usual ordering for Middle Eastern restaurants – several starters and a single main course with everything to share between the two of us. Moutabel was decent enough. Muhammara was a different preparation than we’ve had in other places – yes, it was a red pepper and walnut dip but there were big chunks of walnut, rather than the very grainy texture you usually get. And, again different from elsewhere, a hit from chilli. This was really good. A couple of hot dishes – falafel were as you’d expect and makmour was as tasty an aubergine dish as I remember from eating it at the restaurant. There was also tabbouleh which didn’t have as much parsley in it as the dish usually has (maybe the situation means there’s reduced availability) – and it could have done with more lemon. The restaurant had supplied several pittas which were ideal for assorted scooping up jobs.
The main course was Dawood Basha – a traditional dish of the region. Apparently named after a Mr Dawood who was a high ranking officer in the Ottoman Empire. Not a dish we’ve eaten before – basically meatballs in tomato sauce . Very nice and it went well with the rice that comes with it.
They’d also thrown in a few cubes of Turkish Delight, so we didn’t miss out on a sort of dessert. All in all, a pleasant night in. We’d eaten by 8pm, so went outside to join in the “Clap for Carers”. I also had a thought for the guys from Janna whose work is helping to keep our spirits up. Thanks.
