Chow Now: The Bahraini Embassy

A couple weekends ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to the Bahraini Embassy in Washington DC for a traditional Eid celebration. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Muslim holidays, Eid is a pretty big deal. Like any good holiday, it calls for a serious feast.

The chef at the Bahraini Embassy did not disappoint. The ambassador treated us to a full spread of Middle Eastern specialties ranging from simple bowls of hummus to elaborately prepared whole roasted lamb.

Our meal started off with a small bowl of sweet noodles with scrambled egg—a traditional holiday breakfast back in Bahrain. The vermicelli noodles were pleasantly springy and slightly sweet. Small bits of egg scrambled with fragrant cardamom and saffron studded the appetizer.

Then there was the feast itself. Fresh pita and creamy hummus adorned the table alongside an enormous bowl of bright green tabouli.

The vegetable-filled samosas weren’t as crispy as they could have been, but that didn’t mean they still weren’t delicious.

The lamb was without a doubt the centerpiece of the whole meal. Two enormous animals had been prepared just for the lunch—one served over a bed of tender lentils and rice and the other coated in a layer of nutty chickpeas and baked under a blanket of paper-thin pita.

Both preparations were succulent and juicy, but I preferred the lamb cooked in pita. It was slightly more aromatic and it had the added appeal of looking like a lamb had curled up to go to sleep on a bed of pillowy rice, been tucked in under a pita blanket, and then woken up transformed into a plate of pure deliciousness. But I digress.

The meat on both lambs slid off the bone at just the slightest touch of a serving fork and having the whole animal to choose from presented a range of meat possibilities. After nibbling on everything from pieces of succulent rib meat and tender strips of lamb loin, I can confidently say that cooking things nose-to-tail is the way to go. Next time you stumble upon a full lamb laid out to eat I recommend trying the cheeks. Our fluffy little friends may not have big mouths, but the flavor packed into those little morsels simply can’t be beat.

So CHOW NOW at the Bahraini Embassy in Washington DC! Or at your favorite local Arabic restaurant… Manakeesh Café or Makkah Market would both be good substitutes.

-Chase Matecun