mamool & papaya

A few times a year, I try to visit some of my friends and family in Philadelphia. To be honest, the weekend usually consists of beautiful people eating beautiful cuisine, as the main activity. Six of us went from a south Philly Cambodian restaurant, Khmer Kitchen, to a west Philly Lebanese bakery called, Manakeesh, where we spent a solid four hours. Having stayed predominantly in west Philadelphia the last few years during visits, I am not sure how I entirely ignored the existence of this pretty largely noticeable bakery. My company has all been before so, apparently, I was always excluded.

If you have not tried Cambodian food, it is now obligatory. Our waiter's grandmother cooked the food. My favorite was a poached fish dish with lemon grass in coconut milk, called Ah' Mok on the menu. Half of us disagreed, but I love fish. We also ordered a chicken dish, a beef dish (strips of steak that you wrap in lettuce, squeeze lime on top, with cucumber, along with a sour sauce), and a salad called Bok La-Hong. This salad completely baffles me. Apparently, it is papaya, cut noodle-thin, and spiced with tomatoes, basil leaves, and cabbage leaves, which were used to wrap the papaya. Now I know how people who have never eaten other cultural cuisine feel. All you who have ooh'ed and ah'ed over the "exotic-ness" of the standard kabob, I feel you. I have never felt more culturally unaware. I should probably make some East Asian friends.

For the most part, everything on the menu was low carbohydrate and high-protein with plenty of vegetables.

At Manakeesh, we bought mamool, which are stuffed cookies. I had pistachio and date stuffed ones. The others ordered plates of kenafe, a pastry made from filo dough and cheese, with pistachios on top. We also had the standard zatar with pita, but they cooked it all at once and added cheese inside, which is different than what I am used to, but very nice. The place is big, and it also has a juice and ice cream bar, which I ignored because being cold is one of my least favorite qualities of life. The mamool was very subtly sweet, which I liked. With it, I ordered a pot of tea. You get a refill, so it basically gives you 7-8 cups. The tea was similar to the tea I had in Morocco; loose leaf green tea with spearmint leaves. Still waiting for the day that that I see a proper overgrown bushel of spearmint in my pot, that's how it's done friends, if I do say so myself.

My outfit was not very carefully planned. I kept it simple and comfortable for the cold and the potential walking. A sheer burgundy button-up blouse, jeans, chocolate colored MIA boots via 6pm.com, a silky beige scarf from Morocco, and a fur hooded puffer jacket from H&M. My jewelry was even simpler, an off-white bubble necklace, and some knuckle rings.

I will return!

-A