Mmmm, lentil soup and lamb with eggplant! Alissa and Alan had seen an ad for this place (Mamounia Restaurant and Lounge) a few weeks ago, and made a mental note to check it out sometime. Nik's visit turned out to be the perfect excuse to go, so we went Sunday night (Oct 9). Nice place! True to the name, it was indeed very lounge-y, with low, cushion-surrounded tables, tapestry-covered walls, and little Aladdin-style lamps throwing a dim, golden light over all.
My friend Steve says that one third of the world eats with forks, spoons, and knives, one third with chopsticks, and one third with their hands. This turned out to be of the latter sort, and I can say, it takes some getting used to! The soup isn't so bad when they bring it out in bowls you can drink directly from, but I've never seen a salad look so daunting before. It becomes a bit of a puzzle when you find yourself trying to decide which pieces of lettuce look the most scoopable, and which goat cheese clumps would fit on them. To facilitate the process, before the food came out, the server brought over a small basin and some towels. We held our hands over the basin while she poured warm water over them from another Aladdin-lamp-looking flask to wash them.
As the main meals came out, so did another little piece of atmosphere -- belly dancing! We had barely started to plan our bare-finger attacks on the various lumps of sauce-covered meat, when the background music flared up and a dancer appeared in the clearing between the tables. She started with some kind of loud, tinkling hand bells and then moved onto a sort of silky scarf thing. I tried to get a better pic than this one, but felt a bit foolish snapping pics in the middle of dinner, so stole this one and then guiltily stuffed the camera back into my purse. You can kind of see the scarf-thingy though.
One last thing, on the way out of the restaurant and back to the car, we encountered this sign. I'd say the city of Seattle is getting a bit punchy. :D
My friend Steve says that one third of the world eats with forks, spoons, and knives, one third with chopsticks, and one third with their hands. This turned out to be of the latter sort, and I can say, it takes some getting used to! The soup isn't so bad when they bring it out in bowls you can drink directly from, but I've never seen a salad look so daunting before. It becomes a bit of a puzzle when you find yourself trying to decide which pieces of lettuce look the most scoopable, and which goat cheese clumps would fit on them. To facilitate the process, before the food came out, the server brought over a small basin and some towels. We held our hands over the basin while she poured warm water over them from another Aladdin-lamp-looking flask to wash them.
As the main meals came out, so did another little piece of atmosphere -- belly dancing! We had barely started to plan our bare-finger attacks on the various lumps of sauce-covered meat, when the background music flared up and a dancer appeared in the clearing between the tables. She started with some kind of loud, tinkling hand bells and then moved onto a sort of silky scarf thing. I tried to get a better pic than this one, but felt a bit foolish snapping pics in the middle of dinner, so stole this one and then guiltily stuffed the camera back into my purse. You can kind of see the scarf-thingy though.
One last thing, on the way out of the restaurant and back to the car, we encountered this sign. I'd say the city of Seattle is getting a bit punchy. :D
2 comments:
We need to hang this sign in front of Katie most of the time!
Dang! ... I can't even spell Marrocko! But, you're descriptions are good enough that now I'm sure I've tasted the cuisine.
Thanks! It was delicious!
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