South Bay: Dishdash
I was able to get back to San Jose early last Friday thanks to the President of the union letting us out an hour early. My mom and I were picked up by my ahyi to head over to Dishdash for dinner:
I'd been wanting to try Dishdash for a while now because of all the great reviews online. As expected, there was a bit of a wait when we arrived. Unlike me, my ahyi and my mom aren't so gung ho about waiting for food. My ahyi said that if we come again, she's going to make a reservation. As for me, a 30 minute wait is nothing.
The weather was great that day, so a lot of people sat outside. I wasn't too keen on sitting outside though, because I knew it would get colder as the night progressed. Luckily, we were led to a table inside:
We noticed a bar in the backroom, but I didn't go check it out.
First, we were brought pita and some kind of dipping sauce:
I think we went through 2 bowls of pita before our entrees even arrived.
Eating with my ahyi is a bit scary because she always wants to try EVERYTHING. That's how we ended up with the Mediterranean maza for two:
It was basically a sampler platter of various appetizers. There was hummus, babaghanouge, tabouli, rihan, m'nazaleh, khyar b'laban, and falafel. My favorites were the smoky babaghanouge, the m'nazaleh (marinated grilled eggplant) and the khyar b'laban (cucumber and yogurt salad). The random pieces of roasted garlic sitting in a few of the appetizers were the best part.
My ahyi went with the tika kebab, which had cubes of charbroiled beef with seasoned grilled veggies and rice:
For my mom, I ordered the beriani dajaj:
The beriani dajaj was made of thinly sliced chicken breast, potatoes, almonds, golden raisins, and garbanzo beans, topped with aged yogurt sauce and served with rice. According to our server, it's the second most popular dish on the menu and I can totally see why. The sauce was just AMAZING. Rich, creamy, slightly sweet from the raisins...ah.
For myself, I ordered the mansaf:
I'm a huge lamb lover and apparently so are most of the people who dine at Dishdash because the mansaf is their number one seller. The mansaf is made of tender lamb pieces cooked in aged yogurt sauce. The rice sits like an island in the sauce and is topped with roasted almonds. It looks like the same yogurt sauce as the one in the beriani dajaj, but it couldn't taste more different. Instead of a subtle sweetness, the mansaf sauce is suffused with an awesome lamb-y flavor. Guh. Just thinking about it is making me salivate.
As I mentioned before, my ahyi is a beast when it comes to eating out. Here's a prime example of why. Despite all three of us being uncomfortably stuffed (I couldn't even finish half of my mansaf), she ordered not one, but THREE desserts.
There was the m'halabieh, which is a Middle Eastern pudding with rosewater, cardamon, pistachio, and shaved almond:
The assorted baklava:
And the kenafeh:
The kenafeh was really interesting. It's made of shredded filo dough and colored this pretty pink hue, stuffed with sweetened cheese, and garnished with pistachios. It's made fresh, so expect to wait 10 minutes for it to be ready.
We were told to pour all of the rosewater onto it and just let it soak:
Both my ahyi and my mom found the desserts to be overly sweet. The sweetness didn't bother me so much, but the fragrance did. There's something about eating things that smell and taste like flowers that just doesn't sit well with me. I always feel like I'm eating potpourri...
The kenafeh was the least sweet of the bunch. I did enjoy the crunchiness of the corners not saturated with rosewater. Though, the pudding did grow on me. Maybe because our server told us it was on the house. Hahaha...what can I say? I'm easy to please.
Definitely would love to come back to Dishdash. There a mansaf and a beriani dajaj with my name on it. Note to self: next time, don't pig out on the pita. Three bowls are a bit excessive.
Dishdash
190 S Murphy Ave
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 774-1889
http://www.dishdash.com/
I'd been wanting to try Dishdash for a while now because of all the great reviews online. As expected, there was a bit of a wait when we arrived. Unlike me, my ahyi and my mom aren't so gung ho about waiting for food. My ahyi said that if we come again, she's going to make a reservation. As for me, a 30 minute wait is nothing.
The weather was great that day, so a lot of people sat outside. I wasn't too keen on sitting outside though, because I knew it would get colder as the night progressed. Luckily, we were led to a table inside:
We noticed a bar in the backroom, but I didn't go check it out.
First, we were brought pita and some kind of dipping sauce:
I think we went through 2 bowls of pita before our entrees even arrived.
Eating with my ahyi is a bit scary because she always wants to try EVERYTHING. That's how we ended up with the Mediterranean maza for two:
It was basically a sampler platter of various appetizers. There was hummus, babaghanouge, tabouli, rihan, m'nazaleh, khyar b'laban, and falafel. My favorites were the smoky babaghanouge, the m'nazaleh (marinated grilled eggplant) and the khyar b'laban (cucumber and yogurt salad). The random pieces of roasted garlic sitting in a few of the appetizers were the best part.
My ahyi went with the tika kebab, which had cubes of charbroiled beef with seasoned grilled veggies and rice:
For my mom, I ordered the beriani dajaj:
The beriani dajaj was made of thinly sliced chicken breast, potatoes, almonds, golden raisins, and garbanzo beans, topped with aged yogurt sauce and served with rice. According to our server, it's the second most popular dish on the menu and I can totally see why. The sauce was just AMAZING. Rich, creamy, slightly sweet from the raisins...ah.
For myself, I ordered the mansaf:
I'm a huge lamb lover and apparently so are most of the people who dine at Dishdash because the mansaf is their number one seller. The mansaf is made of tender lamb pieces cooked in aged yogurt sauce. The rice sits like an island in the sauce and is topped with roasted almonds. It looks like the same yogurt sauce as the one in the beriani dajaj, but it couldn't taste more different. Instead of a subtle sweetness, the mansaf sauce is suffused with an awesome lamb-y flavor. Guh. Just thinking about it is making me salivate.
As I mentioned before, my ahyi is a beast when it comes to eating out. Here's a prime example of why. Despite all three of us being uncomfortably stuffed (I couldn't even finish half of my mansaf), she ordered not one, but THREE desserts.
There was the m'halabieh, which is a Middle Eastern pudding with rosewater, cardamon, pistachio, and shaved almond:
The assorted baklava:
And the kenafeh:
The kenafeh was really interesting. It's made of shredded filo dough and colored this pretty pink hue, stuffed with sweetened cheese, and garnished with pistachios. It's made fresh, so expect to wait 10 minutes for it to be ready.
We were told to pour all of the rosewater onto it and just let it soak:
Both my ahyi and my mom found the desserts to be overly sweet. The sweetness didn't bother me so much, but the fragrance did. There's something about eating things that smell and taste like flowers that just doesn't sit well with me. I always feel like I'm eating potpourri...
The kenafeh was the least sweet of the bunch. I did enjoy the crunchiness of the corners not saturated with rosewater. Though, the pudding did grow on me. Maybe because our server told us it was on the house. Hahaha...what can I say? I'm easy to please.
Definitely would love to come back to Dishdash. There a mansaf and a beriani dajaj with my name on it. Note to self: next time, don't pig out on the pita. Three bowls are a bit excessive.
Dishdash
190 S Murphy Ave
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 774-1889
http://www.dishdash.com/
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