Today I was lucky to share the dinner out with Majed and Rasha. They come from the Middle East (Jordan and Palestine) so we are going to the Arabic restaurant in Fontainebleau. It is Aladdin, offering Algerian food, on Rue de France between Rue des Sablons and Rue Saint-Honore in Fontainebleau.
As it happens with most of the students coming here from outside Western Europe, we are not used to ‘hours’ of French restaurants. ‘Hours’ mean that you hardly can expect to be served for dinner before 7 pm. Thus we spend extra 30 minutes walking along Fonty streets…
Seems that today we are the first here for dinner. 7 or 8 tables, purple – white interior, Arabic music. Majed and Rasha are smiling – they are listening to the songs they know from their home countries. 4 page menu of Algerian dishes in French: I’m totally out of the game :) Guys start questioning the waiter in Arabic and soon we get oriented in the menu: starters, couscous, tajine, kebab.
Service is unhurried, we start from tea. I’m amazed by the elegant silver pot and beautiful movements of the waiter pouring the tea in the colored glass. The tea is green and (!) sweet. The atmosphere gets very relaxing.
Our starter is delicious crispy pastry filled with soft hot cheese (akkawi).
The food comes out served in pottery:
Mutton couscous
As it happens with most of the students coming here from outside Western Europe, we are not used to ‘hours’ of French restaurants. ‘Hours’ mean that you hardly can expect to be served for dinner before 7 pm. Thus we spend extra 30 minutes walking along Fonty streets…
Seems that today we are the first here for dinner. 7 or 8 tables, purple – white interior, Arabic music. Majed and Rasha are smiling – they are listening to the songs they know from their home countries. 4 page menu of Algerian dishes in French: I’m totally out of the game :) Guys start questioning the waiter in Arabic and soon we get oriented in the menu: starters, couscous, tajine, kebab.
Service is unhurried, we start from tea. I’m amazed by the elegant silver pot and beautiful movements of the waiter pouring the tea in the colored glass. The tea is green and (!) sweet. The atmosphere gets very relaxing.
The food comes out served in pottery:
Mutton couscous
Seafood tadjine that they also serve with couscous
Majed mentiones kanafeh, his favorite dessert, he has told me about before. But probably next time – we are totally full. Or we could try to make kanafeh at home, if we find the ingredients in the Fonty shops…
No comments:
Post a Comment