Back to Halab for dinner this evening. We initially wanted a steak dinner at Vikings, a newly-opened grill/steakhouse, but most Continental restaurants in George Town are still closed on Boxing Day.
Halab, on the other hand, was bustling and the restaurant inside was fully-booked out by the holiday crowd, with seasonal feasting at full swing. So, we ended up sitting al fresco, surrounded on 3 sides by local Arab customers puffing their shisha pipes. 
We started off with some cold drinks - I had a lemon juice. The Arab-Muslims here do not partake in alcohol, so they put more emphasis in preparing their juices, including some interesting fruit juice mixes.
The appetiser platter was pretty good and just perfect for two of us. It consisted of, among others, the Aleppo dip, Muhammara; the ubiquitous (and my all-time fave) Hummus; a very piquant Mutabbal; and a very lemony Yalanji, Syria’s answer to Greek Dolmades. I’d skip the yalanji here, unless one has a fetish for boiled grape leaves.
We also ordered some crisp, golden-fried cheese-filled spring rolls (more Lebanese than Syrian here, although Halab’s chefs are all-Syrian). These were very good.
Our main course was Roast Chicken with Rice (“Dajaaj al Riz”) - very well done indeed, with a juicy chicken reclining on a bed of saffron-tinted rice, speckled with toasted pistachios and cashews.
That’s it. Diet starts tomorrow.
