four friends and i came here on friday night. we had a 9pm reservation, though we probably didnt need it since the restaurant wasnt packed. the place is dimly-lit i had trouble reading the menus, even though the overall ambience is quite romantic. the staff were very nice. one of them came over to specially recommend a bottle of white wine ($25) to go with our meal.\r
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my bf & i decided to split the brik ($8) since we had read good reviews about it. we werent disappointed by the layers of hot flakey phyllo dough that surrounded the saucy center of fish, chicken, and vegetables. it was a very good start to our meal.\r
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for entrees, we opted to split the olive & chicken tajine ($16) and the couscous royal ($16). the tajine was very flavourful, though verging on too salty. the meat was slowly simmered fell right off the bone. it came with a generous helping of slow-cooked carrots and green olives. the couscous came piled with lamb sausage & vegetables. it also came with a side of what i thought was a broth-like tomato based-sauce with hunks of lamb & stewed chicken. it was really good and really filling.\r
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though stuffed, we found room to split two of their desserts the rosewater creme brulee and some almond nougat frozen dessert. the first was very sweet, but it had a satisfying crispy sugar shell. the second dessert seemed to me like snickers semifreddo but without the chocolate swirls of caramel in nougat flavoured ice cream. both desserts were really good. we washed our desserts with mint tea which i didnt like it was sweet and tasted like mouthwash.\r
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overall, my first foray into north african cuisine was a success. ill definitely be back for more.
Pros: flavourful food, inexpensive prices, large portions
Cons: dim lighting
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