Lunch Date @ Arya

Once a month, I meet up with some of my dear friends for lunch. We usually meet up in the Greenhills area for everyone's convenience. Since we've confined ourselves to this area, we have tried most of the 'talked-about' restaurants and it finally came to the point, "Where next?" One of us suggested Arya, located in Promenade Mall, near Greenhills Shopping Center. Some of us were skeptical at first but after today, all those doubts and concerns have been completely wiped out.



The frontage of Arya



Arya has been awarded as one of the Philippines' Best Restaurants 2007 by Tatler



I LOVE the interior of the restaurant. I felt like I was transported to Iran. Actually, I never had any first hand encounter with the Persian culture but the paintings, tables, seats, choice of music playing in the background, and the structure and the design of the walls all contributed to the very Persian ambiance.


Arya offers honest to goodness authentic Persian food, Middle Eastern cuisine, and Mediterranean dishes. The chef uses a mixture of different kinds of flavors and spices to create these wonderful dishes.



Salad Couscous (Php125.00)



We started off our meal with Roti Chenni (Php215.00) - whole wheat unleavened flat bread, pan-fried and served with curry sauce.



Royal Joojeh ( Php345.00) - Chicken breast kabab marinated with yogurt and spices and served with rice or pita bread. Take note of the 2 grilled tomatoes served with this dish. After it was served in front of us, the waiter took the 2 pieces of tomato and mashed it with their complimentary garlic and spicy sauce.



Mix the chicken and the mashed tomatoes together and you get pure bliss! The sauce was just too good. There was a little hint of spiciness and garlic and the flavors just blended really well together. I can't wait to come back for more!!!



Beef Makhsus (Php355.00) - Their beef kabab was juicy and soft and like the previous dish, the waiter took the tomatoes and mashed them up to create the very special and yummy sauce.



Mahi-Mahi Kabab (Php 360.00) - Two of my friends ordered this dish and they wouldn't stop raving about it. I'll order this next time and yup, you guessed it, the waiter took the tomatoes for this dish as well to mash it up and make the sauce. The mashed tomato sauce really adds an extra "Oomph!" to the kabab dishes. Give me some pita bread and the mashed tomato sauce, and I'll be one happy camper.



Keema (Php235.00) - Minced meat flavored with spices, perfect with pita bread.



Chicken Curry (Php350.00)



Basmati Rice - This came with the chicken curry.



Turkish Coffee (Php140.00) - I love the presentation for the Turkish coffee! And the aroma and taste of the coffee were really good! A nice way to end the meal.

Out of all the Middle Eastern restaurants I have tried in Manila, Arya, by far, is the best for me. Everything was very authentic and the ingredients were all fresh. Service was great and I love the ambiance!!!

Great, Affordable Food @ Mister Kabab

I drive by West Ave, Quezon City at least twice a week and every single time, I always see a crowd in Mister Kabab. At first glance, I didn't think much of the place since the exterior is very simple. But the parking is always full and I heard some of my relatives raving about the place so I finally decided to check it out last weekend.

Upon entering the restaurant, I was surprised by the size. It was bigger than I thought. And considering that it was only 11am, the place was already half full with people. Like the name suggests, they serve kebabs and shawarmas...basically, Mediterranean food.



For starters, I got the hommus(PHP55.00) and 2 pita breads (PHP14.00/pc). This is always the norm for us when we eat at a Mediterranean resto cuz my kids absolutely love bread and I love hommus. And you can't beat the price!



I decided to order the house special for my kids, which is the Chelo Kebab (PHP130.00). It's a combination of grilled ground beef and the other is a grilled tenderloin strip. It comes with steaming hot rice topped with a block of butter (not for the weight watchers but this was definitely a hit with my kids!) and 2 grilled tomatoes. In case you're wondering where the butter is, I mixed it in with the rice. We were about to dig in when I remembered that I wanted to take a pic so I attempted to put it back together again just the way it was first served. My kids found the meat kinda chewy but it was just right for me, especially with the super yummy garlic sauce.



I got the flafel sandwich (it's vegetarian) PHP80.00 and it was really good! It's made of ground spiced chickpeas shaped into balls and fried. It tastes even better when you smother the complimentary garlic sauce all over the sandwich..YUM!..It's actually served like a shawarma...all wrapped up but I opened it up so that you can see what's inside.

I was really happy with our trip there. The food was great and for everything that we ordered, I only paid PHP288.00! It's not fine dining and the plates and cutlery are simple but it's clean ...even the restroom was clean and that's always plus points for me! A word to the wise though, parking can become a problem but there's extra parking spaces in the back. I would definitely go back again...authentic food at super reasonable prices....definitely worth the trip and the extra calories!