K found a new Middle Eastern restaurant in the heart of Chinatown and since we didn't have any plans for Saturday night, we decided to join her for dinner. Kan Zaman actually isn't a "new" restaurant. Their former incarnation was as Shogunai Tajine which unfortunately was located in some condo complex so diners had to be "buzzed" into the building and tenants eventually decided that only occupants should be granted access to the building. So Kan Zaman is really "Part Two".
We started with a bottle of 2011 Slight of Hand Cellars "The Magician" which is 100% Riesling from the Evergreen Vineyards in Columbia Valley, Washington.
We also sampled several appetizers including the Falafel with tahini sauce. These falafel were a little denser than falafel found at other restaurants but had the same flavor.
The Taktouka or tomato and green pepper cooked with olive oil and spices and served chilled. The predominant spice in this mixture was cumin.
The Warak Inab or rice and spice stuffed grape leaves (like Greek dolmas) served with a garlic vinaigrette. Once again, the flavors were similiar to Greek dolmas.
And the French Fries with a garlic and sumac aioli. I'm not sure how authentic fries are in Moroccan or Lebanese cuisine but the Mrs always enjoys a good french fry and the sumac aioli was a new flavor sensation.
I also uncorked a 1999 Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella assuning that the fruit concentration and raisiney qualities would pair nicely with the Middle Eastern spices but unfortunately, the bottle was a sukoshi bit corked.
The Mrs sampled the Chicken Tajine (not a good photo since it's covered in french fries which again, I'm not sure if chicken tajine is consumed in Morocco or Lebanon with french fries). The chicken was heavily spiced with turmeric with bites of green olive.
While K sampled the Lamb Tajine - very tender and the white beans in the sauce were cooked perfectly.
And I had the Lamb Couscous - my lamb had better lamb flavor than the tajine but it looked like it was dry roasted versus braised so the flavors were probably concentrated.
The girls still had room for dessert so they ordered the Baklava with a very nice walnut filling.
And the Katayef or Arabic banana pancake with cream filling.
If you plan on dining here, you should make reservations as the indoor dining area seats only about 24 though there is an outdoor dining area but it was too dark for me to count the seats. Conversation is a bit difficult as sounds echo throughout the indoor area (they need curtains or baffling to dampen the noise) but the servers do a good job explaining the dishes if you've never had Middle Eastern food before and you are allowed to BYOB. A big plus!
Comments