Manchester: Hadramout

Hadramout is a secret treasure in Manchester on Curry Mile.  We arrived at the restaurant at just about noon when it opens.  They saw us waiting outside though and let us in and gave us some karak tea!  So warm and perfect.  We thought that the only tables in the restaurant were downstairs at the entrance but it turns out there is a huge upstairs with carpeted rooms!  There is a huge main room which seems to be for the men and then there are several smaller rooms in the family section.  We decided to sit in one of the family rooms which is about the size for 2 people and maybe up to 4 if you squeeze in.

As usual we started off the meal with some maraq lamb broth soup and salad.  The salad dressing and sahawiq are in bottles which is so clever!  It works really well to squirt the sahawiq over everything and it wasn't spicy here at all and tasted great with everything.  I had also ordered some yogurt salad just in case to mediate any spiciness.

For main dishes, we got lamb kebsa and chicken fahsa.  I had originally ordered chicken ogda but the Yemeni guy said they couldn't make it in the black pots I think because there are too many bones.  I don't like bones in the chicken ogda anyway and so he offered to make chicken fahsa which would fit in the black pot.  It was my first time trying chicken fahsa and it was really good.  They made it with a tomato base so it actually tasted like the chicken ogda that I like!  So perfect.

They also make malawah bread here which was awesome and made the meal complete.  Another nice surprise is that they make fresh juice!  We had fresh lime juice with the meal and it was really good.

For dessert, we had some fatta masoob.  It's very heavy and we were so full by the time we started to eat it but it was yummy.

Hadramout is many times better than Queen of Sheba Restaurant in London and also 1/3 the price!  We paid £22 for 2 people for this amazing and perfect lunch at Hadramout.

Hadramout

1 Walmar Street East

Rusholme

Manchester M14 5SS

Neighborhood: Rusholme

+44 161 248 8843

hadramout.co.uk/index.htm

New York: Queen Sheeba

I've been to Queen Sheeba in Harlem twice now, once for breakfast and once for dinner.  It's the only Yemeni restaurant in Harlem and pretty decent.  However, they do not make fresh bread here and you have to come around 6pm or call ahead to make sure there will be lamb dishes available.  We went around 8pm on a Friday and all the lamb was finished.  We tried lamb sughar, which are lamb chunks, and it wasn't bad.  We also got salta and it was good here.  The sahawiq is particularly spicy.

When I came for breakfast last year, it was good with fasolia, eggs, and meat.  No fresh bread but it hit the spot.

Queen Sheeba

317 W 141st St

(between Edgecombe Ave & 8th Ave)

New York, NY 10030

Neighborhood: Harlem

+1 (212) 862-6149

New York: Aden Restaurant

Aden Restaurant is one of two Yemeni restaurants in Astoria on Steinway, which is an area with a lot of Middle Eastern restaurants, shops, and food carts.

We got the usual maraq soup to start out and some salad and tea.  For the main dishes, we had chicken ogda and lamb zerbian.  Both were good but the ogda was a potato version without tomatoes.  The bread was freshly made and good.  They do not serve Yemeni dessert here.

Overall it was a good meal but not as good as other Yemeni restaurants in New York City.

 

Aden Restaurant

24-42 Steinway St

Astoria, NY 11103

(718) 777-3131

Philadelphia: Kanella

Kanella is a Greek restaurant but is the closest I could find to Yemeni food in Philadelphia.  On the menu, they have "Malohwa" in the breakfast/lunch section with the description, "pan fried savory puff pastry from Yemen, served with a boiled egg, spicy tomato salad and Greek yogurt."

Malawah bread is my favorite Yemeni bread and the version at Kanella was perfect and soft.  This was delicious!  If you would like to try some Yemeni bread, this is the place to go in Philadelphia!

Kanella

1001 Spruce St

Philadelphia, PA 19107

(215) 922-1773

kanellarestaurant.com

New York: Yemen Cuisine (Matam Al-Wahda)

Yemen Cuisine (Matam Al-Wahda مطعم الوحدة) really looks like a hole-in-the-wall more than the other Yemeni restaurants in New York.  I had to convince my not-so-adventurous friends to enter.  The restaurant was pretty empty when we entered but by the end of our meal it was lively and full of people.

We got maraq soup and salad at the beginning as usual.  The maraq soup was the usual.  The salad had a new dressing I haven't seen before and it was light and good.

For the main dishes, we got chicken ogda and lamb zerbian (called lamb kebsa here).  The chicken ogda was quite different from every other ogda I've ever had.  It wasn't shavings of chicken meat, instead it was more like cubes of chicken.  The sauce was thick with some spices I couldn't recognize and not so tomato based.  It was good but different.  The lamb kebsa came with a lot of meat and not so much rice!  It was good but the rice wasn't as fluffy as I like it.

The fresh bread was great and soft as I like it.  The sahawiq was particularly spicy here.

At the end we had some tea which was the same as all the other New York restaurants.  They do not make any Yemeni dessert here.  The staff were kind but a bit indifferent.  $36 for 3 people.

After sampling all the Yemeni restaurants in the Atlantic Avenue area of Brooklyn, I like Hadramout Restaurant the best in the Atlantic Avenue area.

Yemen Cuisine

145 Court St

(between Atlantic Ave & Pacific St)

Brooklyn, NY 11201

Neighborhood: Cobble Hill

+1 (718) 624-9325