Narah Coffee Shop & Restaurant

This time, we had the opportunity to try some Middle Eastern dishes, something that I quite enjoy but don’t get to try so often. Personally, living in Indonesia, where majority of its people are Moslems, a lot of Middle Eastern influences can be found in local food here. However, to taste the real ones, I still think there is not much specialized restaurants that serve the authentic food. What I like about these restaurants is they usually also offer shisha, hookah, waterpipe, whatever you call it. These restaurants always give me the relaxing atmosphere, very laid-back, like I can totally forget my activities for a while, enjoying some light food and shisha-ing with my buddies.

Narah is located at the main street of Warung Buncit. The sign is not too big, sharing the same area with a small terrace cafe and car workshop, make sure you use your eyes properly or you’ll miss it. It looks very ordinary from the outside, though.

 But, wait until you enter that entrance door. The first area is what I think created for coffee shop concept. Comfortable-looking sofa chairs with coffee tables, which I believe would be awesome to enjoy a cup of Arabic tea or coffee, or maybe just some shisha. Heading inside, we entered the main dining area, where some tables are set up. Since we went there to grab some lunch, we picked one of the table.

The menu is just a simple laminated board with list of food and pictures. They don’t offer much variety, but I guess it is enough. At least their menu covers mostly all the popular dishes that are probably familiar with local people.

 

 What I can recall about this is the bunch of sliced cucumbers with cut grilled chicken breast, served with some kind of mayonnaise and some herbs. Very refreshing.

Shawarma is Middle Eastern spiced meat sandwich. I always like these kind of breads, and the chicken was nice too. Served with special sauce (not hot/spicy) and some kind of mayonnaise, this would be perfect for a light snack on the evening.

Mandi refers to a set menu contains of basmati rice, meat and mixture of spices. Since I chose lamb, so I got lamb for the meat (duh!). The rice was really, really delicious. They put generous amount of raisins so it made the rice tasted sweet and salty at the same time. The lamb wasn’t really meaty, but very tasty. I think they probably kept it marinated for quite a long time so the spices and seasonings really absorbed very well.

In the main dining area, just in the corner, they also have more “private” area for guests who need more privacy, maybe talking about business and enjoying shisha in the same time? I think it’s very neat to see this kind of room.

Lemon helped digesting the oil and a refreshing way to finish the lunch 🙂

Jl. Warung Buncit Raya No. 207 

Kalibata Pancoran 

Jakarta Selatan