6.191 Taste Test : For Peace in the Middle East

6.191

15 (Wed) July 2015

For Peace in the Middle East

2.1

from Red Sea and Jerusalem [delivery]

in my new apartment

-Malate, Manila-

with RK, TL, and various colleagues

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Located next door to each other on MH Del Pilar Street (corner of Soldado)…
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…Red Sea (as a Ramadan promotion, the restaurant was hosting a closed-door free halal dinner for Muslims; they let me in because I was ordering delivery)…
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…and Jerusalem (at first glance, “Jerusalem” might seem a curious name for a halal restaurant, as the city is currently occupied by Israel, but the city is still regarded as holy by Muslims, as well as Jews and Christians).

Continuing my on-going exploration of Arabic cuisine (see most recently 6.134 Half-Grilled Chicken…), I decided to try out two restaurants at once — both closer to my new apartment — and invited friends over to share the experience.  I ordered the exact same dishes from both and had them deliver at the same time, so we could conduct a side-by-side comparison.

RED SEA

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Hommos Tahini (1.0) — bland.
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Falafel (1.0) — dry.
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Mixed Grill (2.0) — meh.
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Arabic Bread (2.0) — flat.
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Potato Salona with Chicken (2.5) — okay.

JERUSALEM

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Hommos Tahina (2.5)
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Falafel (2.0)
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Mixed Grill (2.5)
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Arabic Bread (3.0)
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Potato Salona with Chicken (2.5)

Jerusalem, the clear winner by unanimous consensus.  Nothing was particularly that great, except the light-fluffy-chewy bread, but everything was respectable across the board.

Though really, the outcome was more Red Sea’s defeat (1.7 average rating) than Jerusalem’s victory (2.5).

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IMG_1409 Prices 10%-20% higher, which may explain the difference in quality.

Incidentally, I made and served my own tabbouleh (see for example 6.091 Couscous Tabouli), which is why I didn’t order any from the restaurants.

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