THERE is a Lebanese makan place near the Kampung Pandan roundabout in Kuala Lumpur that is worth a mention.
I wanted to give it try and for some time after a recommendation from my buddy Zakri ‘Billy’ Baharuddin.
He is a regular at this place and gave the food quality a rating at 7 out of 10 on the “Billy-scale”.
Spacious: Al Rawsha restaurant has hints of Moorish architecture.“Eh Samo, jom kita makan nasi Arab! Tempat ni memang best la..” (Hey Samo, let’s go have Arab rice! This place is great).
Having heard about the good eat, we planned to makan there.
After some near hits and misses, I finally got the chance to savour the nasi Arab that Billy was talking about.
We took a drive to Kelab Aman in Kuala Lumpur where the restaurant is located and after cruising around for a couple of minutes, we noticed that the premises had shifted near the Kampung Pandan roundabout.
The owner was kind enough to leave a banner behind with a map and telephone number at the empty restaurant.
With that as our clue, we drove towards Jalan Tun Razak and made a turn towards Kampung Pandan and found the Al Rawsha restaurant which is housed in a medieval castle and has a Moorish interior decor.
I’ve worked up a good appetite to savour the chicken and lamb mandy (a variety of rice called Hydrabaut baked in an earthern kiln) that is highly recommended here.
Before I get to the juicy part, Al Rawsha is named after a famous landmark in Beirut, Lebanon.
The lamb and chicken mandy came in a tray with two side dishes — yogurt and a savoury sauce.
At RM25 per plate, our order came up to RM50.
Great setting: The rustic interior in the restaurant makes it a conducive place for a good makan.And the verdict? Well, I’ll give this a 6.5 out of 10 on the Samo-scale.
What’s interesting is the tasty Hydrabaut rice has a fluffy and soft texture.
The lamb was soft and I could safely say that the chicken was roasted to perfection.
To sum it up, this makan place has one of the tastiest meat and rice dishes I ever tasted and credit must be given to the cooks who were brought in from Lebanon.
Al Rawsha, located off Jalan Tun Razak, is halal and opens 24 hours daily.
The GPS coordinates for this place are: N 03 08 327, E 101 43 302
