Sahara

Date of visit: 29th December 2010

Sahara Mezz Bar @ Soho

I've always been interested in trying Moroccan food which I don't know much about, save for their love for tagines. My first proper go was from an excursion to the widely-popular Sahara restaurant siting on Elgin street... It was only a Wednesday night but the restaurant was brimming with customers to the front entrance where some people were enjoying puffs from their shisha... 

We were seated to a really tiny table which barely held its food, but decor aside, on to the main event... 

"hummus" ($68)

with grilled chicken pieces and pita bread (below)

whilst the chicken was awfully dry and not pleasant to eat, the hummus was very light and tasted quite healthy, being chickpeas and all... The pita bread was also toasted it came burning hot and fluffy inside.

pita bread

"seabass tagine" ($140)

on the menu, this was said to be served with a red bell pepper dressing, fresh chives and a chermoula sauce... but instead this was a borscht-like soup with fish fillet and lemon and capers on top

this was served in a claypot rather than the traditional tagines... presentation-wise, i would say this is quite a failure the dish itself departed too much from its description

The fish was pan fried, and although the fish was quite tiny for its price, it was at least yumm, seasoned with only salt and pepper it tasted almost like cod for some reason...

Underneath was a vegetable soup which tasted a lot like borscht soup... and because the claypot was rather small there was extra soup on the side (below)

the extra bowl of borsht-like soup

"couscous sahara" ($160)

with roasted lamb shank and beef merguez

the couscous was perfect - each granule was separate and had a tiny bite to it, not mushy at all. the lamb shank was fall-off-the-bone tender, but the beef sausage (merguez) was too salty and hard for me.... the sauce however, was surprisingly 'western', in that it tasted like your regular western braised lamb shank dish with red wine...

To determine whether Sahara's the best for tagines and hummus I have yet to try other places serving up similar food like La Kasbah and Habibi, but I don't think this meal was particular good warranting a second visit in the near future.... 

Food: ♥♥1/2

Service: ♥♥♥

Price: $$$

Sahara Mezz Bar

G/F, 11 Elgin St, Soho

Central

Tel: +852 2291 6060