was in the emirate offujairahfor work. as is a ritual with me, i have to check out a restaurant or anything related to food whenever i am far from home in dubai. so this time around it was sadaf restaurant in fujairah. though they are a restaurant chain and have branches in dubai too, i have not been to any of their restaurants before. the reference of this place came from a friend who works for "lonely planet" and another blogger friend fromfujairahwhich had me zero down on this place for my visit. i love iranian food and was quite excited to check this place out.
the exterior of this restaurant was quite modest. the interior was quite simple compared to what opulence we have here in restaurants in the middle east. however these were quite compensated for by their, warm, friendly and very alert service. the moment you are ushered to your seat, on your table will be placed a basket of iranian flat bread, bowls of mast o kheyar ( chopped cucumber in flavoured yogurt), mixed salad platter, soup of the day and my favourite iranian laban. these are all complimentary and quite elaborate i must say. i am a huge fan of iranian laban ( yogurt drink) and this one won my heart too.
we went straight ahead ordering the main course of zereshk chicken polo ( iranian stlye flavoured rice with red barberries and chicken) along with chicken chelo kabab kobideh (traditional iranian minced chicken grill served with saffron rice crowned with a dollop of butter). i found the tastes quite pleasing, however i was not blown away by the flavours that hit my palate.
i culminated the meal with a bite of mahalabiya which looked beautiful but didn't live up to my taste buds. i would have liked to try their faloudeh shirazi or bastani ( traditional iranian ice-cream), but mr. s being a mahalabiya lover ordered otherwise.
so if you are infujairahand would like to eat iranian food, this place is worthy a visit. i still think the laban and the services here were what i took away with me from my visit to sadaf restaurant, fujairah.
food~ 3.5 / 5
service ~ 4 / 5
ambiance ~ 3 / 5
value for money ~ 4 / 5
family oriented ~ 4.5 / 5
must try ~ grills