Moet’s Arabica (132, Central Arcade, DLF Phase 2, Gurgaon)

In a nutshell:

A tiny but masterfully done ‘hole in the wall’ Full service Restaurant that serves ‘just OK to good’ Arabic food at a moderate price.

Arabica

Address & Other details: Arabica

Meal for 2: Rs 250 onwards

The beautiful interiors at Arabica

Cuisine Type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:

At the entrance to this super tiny restaurant, is an Industrial Shawarma machine from where customers choosing ‘takeaway’ option can buy their food. There is only one machine & it being Gurgaon, the only meat on roast is chicken.

As we entered the Restaurant on a hot summer day, we were welcomed by the chilled air-conditioning inside & also by a warm welcome smile by the lone server at the place. The seating capacity at this place was looked to be approx. 15. The furniture was all made of pristine white colored cane, beautiful ‘Arabic – look’ pictures adorned the walls & interesting things e.g. traditional hookahs, jars, vessels, traditional lampshades added to the beautiful decor.

beautiful lampshades at Arabica

The walls were made to look like those inside typical dwellings in the Desert – as if roughly coated with mud & painted white. Little boxy shelves were also made on the wall – exactly the way u see in those desert dwellings.

the walls & decoration of Arabica

I must say that the owners of this Restaurant had come across a superb interior decorator / designer who optimized this tiny space into a ‘wow’ ambience Restaurant.

inside Arabica

However, I only wish they cud hire a chef of such High Calibre.

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Flavors of Arabia (Ninex Mall, Sohna Road, Gurgaon)

In a nutshell:

Much above the average Arab food in Delhi NCR –however, almost nothing except one item in our dinner cud be termed ‘outstanding’.

Flavors of Arabia

Address & other details: FOA (Flavors of Arabia)

Meal for 2: Rs. 1000 onwards

Cuisine Type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

Outstanding Baklava at FOA

Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:

I was overwhelmed by Arab Food at Persian Room, Arizona , USA & was looking out for a good Arab meal in Delhi NCR. My friend mentioned this new Restaurant that has come up in Gurgaon & so we set out for it.

The restaurant is situated in Ninex Mall that still has serious footfall issues. As we walked into the mall, we noticed a welcome desk of FOA. The Guy had the menu card (that we had browsed on the net already) & walked us up to the lift.

Zaa’tar Chicken at FOA

The Restaurant had nice interiors, a bit too dark though but not bad. There were lamps on each table that not only illuminated the food but also gave a mystic feel. In fact, a great place to have a candlelight dinner. Seeing the darkness I was thinking that maybe I wud not b able to take good photographs – but nothing of that sort happened. Came up with quite good pics.

The Dining Hall

Beautiful plush sofas with abundant cushions contributed to the cozy setting of the dining tables. I noticed a uniform design of grill on all windows & separators – Typical Arab look. Also saw interesting decorative items on table tops.

Grill on the wall

There is an open air section as well – shud be great during Autumn & Spring. There are two party rooms as well that can be booked- a small one & a large one. We went to take a look & found those to be quite interesting.

In the background they played peppy Arab music as well.

The people were quite warm & knowledgeable. One thing was very irritating though – One guy is placed in the middle of the Dining room (see picture above) with the intent of attending to needs of guests. However, what he ends up doing is staring at the guests constantly. So every time u happen to look there, u might have an eye contact. I was getting the irritating feeling that I was being watched all the time – as if I was under house arrest. The intent is good but the training has been bad.

Open Shawarma at FOA

The Menu card is huge & has more than 10 pages. Lots of known & unknown food on offer. Good place for veggies as there are many options in all sections. There is seafood & fish on the menu as well. Fusion dishes are marked with a ‘*’ on the menu card. Authentic ones do not have ‘*’. I was told that the Restaurant is open since about 3 months &currently has no alcohol license – though expected soon.

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