Review: Al Diwan, Cyberjaya

 A very swanky Arab restaurant in Shaftsbury Square, Al Diwan has the makings of a restaurant that charges you an arm and leg. For starters, it's fully indoor and air-conditioned. When you open the door enter the restaurant as the waiter opens the door for you, a blast of cold air welcomes you. The chairs and tables were rather comfortable with few bigger tables with a more private dining area tucked away in a corner. Even in the cold air, I would be sweating buckets thinking about the bill. Thankfully, I was there for a team lunch. So my boss did all the sweating.

While they preferred something cold, I opted for a hot tea. Unlike Saba, here they at least give you proper tea leaves though for all you know this is the dirt cheap tea leaves. Maybe it's just part of the atas atmosphere or they let their customer dictate how sweet they want their tea to be that they actually gave a sizable bowl of sugar to go with my tea. Think that sugar is at least half of my tea cup. Can probably use it to drink tea for the rest of the moth. Or till my sugar level reaches the roof.

Since it was our first visit, the waiter recommended this appetizer platter. It's actually a trio of hummus with side of cucumber salad and deep fried.... something =D Sorry but I'm not very familiar with Arab food. Plus it wasn't very nice as it was dry inside. Not worth remembering.

The salad itself was refreshing with bits of goat cheese and a light dressing of olive oil. The veggies were fresh and crunchy. The star of the dish would be the hummus. All three of them were not just good but excellent. Smooth and creamy, they were good either on its own or with the accompanying pita bread (not pictured here and refillable). I never thought something non-meat could be so savory and yummy.

Lamb briyani. The portion here is rather huge but not as big as Saba. Also, the meat was slightly disproportionate to the rice. Tad bit dry too though the meat was cooked until tender. The tomato gravy was excellent and the side of cucumber salad provided a nice raw freshness. Quite nice but I still prefer the orgasmic lamb kabsah from Saba.