Main Course(s)! + View @ Iftar at Oléa, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

Hey everyone! This post is going to be the continuation of the previous post , which was also about the Iftar at Olea, St, Regis, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In this post, I wish to share the photos I clicked of the Main Course(s).

The Traditional Arabic Cuisine section was my favourite! They had many new dishes that I had never had before and there was a great variety of dishes to choose from.

If you’re a non-vegetarian, I’m pretty sure after seeing the Highlight of the Arabic Section: Lamb Ouzi with Oriental Rice, your mouth will start watering!

After seeing all the sections of the Iftar Buffet, I felt it was Arabic/Middle East oriented buffet, which was good for people like me who prefer to try out dishes from other cuisines! From the welcome drinks, salads, appetizers to main course(s) and desserts, each had a touch of Middle Eastern/Arabic cuisine to it! I say this because, one of the welcome drinks was Date Milk, in the salads side, there was Shanklish salad, they also had many of the Middle Eastern dips and cheese such as the Baladi cheese. In the desserts section, they had the famous Kunefe too!

I would say that the Main Course section was divided into three different cuisines. First, we’ll start off with the Traditional Arabic Cuisine, then move on to the Indian Cuisine and the last, the International Cuisine. I have given the heading of the last one as International as there were dishes from different places around the world, and not oriented to one specific region.

Don’t forget to write what your favorite dish was, in the comments section (at the end of the post)!

Let’s start:

Traditional Arabic Cuisine

The Highlight of the Arabic Section: Lamb Ouzi with Oriental Rice

Ouzi is the Lebanese word for a dish of baked lamb and spiced rice. A blend of sweet spices, including allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom, gives the recipe its Middle Eastern accent and makes it a favorite at the six locations of Lebanese Taverna.
(Courtesy: Ouzi Braised Lamb on Spiced Rice (restaurantbusinessonline.com))

The lamb pieces were extremely well cooked and soft while the rice was moderately spiced.

Kofta Sawani

Salmon with Harra Sauce

Warak Enab with Lamb Chop

Warak Enab was a new name for me, so, as usual, I searched about it. Warak Enab basically means grape leaves. The leaves are stuffed mostly with meat.

Vegetable Thareed

Chicken Molokhia

Horra Osbao

As you can see from the photo below, Horra Osbao was garnished with pomegranates.

Lamb Mansaf

Mansaf Rice

After I saw the word ‘Mansaf’ in two of the dishes above, and noticed there was something resembling a pita bread (a type of flatbread eaten in the Middle East) as the base of the Mansaf Rice, I searched about the Mansaf Rice.

According to websites, Mansaf Rice is the National Dish of Jordan. And yes, I was almost correct about the pita bread, the article said that a flatbread is kept below the rice and meat.

(Note: There is a difference between pita bread and normal flatbread)

Couscous, Shrimp Chermoula, Beef Tagine, Chicken Tagine & Vegetable Tagine

Meat Pide & Kashkawan Pide

2. Indian Cuisine

Butter Chicken

Mutton Rogan Josh

Chicken Biryani

Tawa Sabzi

Paneer Tikka, Shish Tahouk, Tandoori Salmon, Lamb Kofta, Papadum & Sharwan Aloo

3. International Cuisine

Grilled Sea Bass with Cheese Sauce

Mexican Black Rice

There was also Grilled Beef Steak with Pepper Sauce & Steamed Green Vegetables.

The Mexican Black Rice and the Grilled Sea Bass along with Cheese Sauce was really nice! It was the first time I had Mexican Black Rice and the fish was well grilled.

The next post will be the last post on the Iftar @ Olea, St. Regis, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Any guesses on what is it?!

Yes, you guessed it right- It’s Desserts!

Before we end this post, I’ll share some photos:

Indoor and Outdoor Seating Area and View (separated by the huge glass door):

Can you see the view of the sea, in the photo below?