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Rated: Good
based on 2 reviews
Mabruk Newly Opened
Sahara Star, Western Express Highway, Domestic Airport, Santa Cruz (E), Santacruz (E), Mumbai
39895000
| Locality | Santacruz (E) |
|---|---|
| Place Type | Restaurant, Bar |
| Food Type | Mediterranean, Lebanese |
| Price |
Very Expensive
|
- Additional Information
-
Credit cards accepted
Air conditioned
- Tags
- sahara-star hookah
- Write a Review
-
first reviewed by Gaurav
- User Reviews (2)
Jun 13, 2008
Good Lebanese finally!
Marhaba! Went to Mabruk 2 days back for dinner with hubby. He knows my passion for Lebanese (having once waitressed at a Lebanese restaurant- I love the food and am very particular about the authenticity of it). I have tried in vain to eat at so-called Lebanese food joints around Bombay and have been served more often than not some white goop of hummus and some dal balls for falafel. And yes apparently the entire Lebanese cuisine in such places is just hummus and falafel. The only place that I can say serves good Meditteranean is Moshe's; and it is fantastic but not pure Lebanese.
Well then, welcome to Mabruk. I must say when they say looks can be deceptive they were right. I had never been to the Sahara Star and it is such an eyesore from the outside I always shuddered to go in. And considering it took me 1 hour to reach the place from Andheri east (ideally a 10 min ride) with our wonderful never-to-be-completed-construction of the airport flyover mingled with a torrential downpour, I was not in a good mood. Firstly the ambience. They have such comfortable sofas and cushions that you can just sink into them while you nibble on their wonderful mezze. It's near a pool and surrounded with palm trees.They even have a lazer light show thrown in. It's very different from all your other five-star type restaurants. They actually have a beautiful Lebanese lady as the hostess and she obviously knows the food and gave fantastic recommendations. The drink selection is as to be expected at such places. They have a good wine selection. They did it right by bringing out some kalamata olives to nibble on along with some excellent feta cheese and some pickled veggies.
I finally found the amazing stuffed vegetarian vine leaves done the Lebanese way that I was searching for, for a very long time. The Lebanese vine leaves are very different from the Dolmathes of the Greek so with every bite it was bringing back tons of good memories of the original Lebanese food I used to have while studying in college. Their moutabel was authentic and traditional and of course how can I forget their really good hummus. Their fattoush was not what I'm used to but good nevertheless. Their moudadra was excellent. Hubby being a non-veggie had some amazing chicken grills and finally someone serves it with toom! (garlic butter). He also tried a Moroccan tagine chicken with cous cous and prunes and he thought the flavours were different and something he's never tasted before. He stuffed himself which I take it as a sign of him having enjoyed it tremendously. Oh and they actually brought the tagine to the table which I thought was really nice.
Sore point: Quantities are small--each dish of hummus and the other mezze items are for one person only, which is not easy on the pocket considering that a hummus for one costs 600 bucks.
It's good to go to for a special occassion. It's a nice ambience with great food especially if you are into authentic Lebanese and Meditterranean cuisine
May 23, 2008
Good Stuff
Mabruk is the Lebanese restaurant at the palace of excess Sahara Star. We trotted in around 10.45 and the place was mostly occupied.
I wasn't so impressed with the ambiance at Sahara the first time round, but Mabruk is laid out in the lagoon area and Its one of the best places to be sitting to have a meal.
The Seats are pretty comfy too, the menu is expansive, they have a lot of mezzes, hot and cold but few entrees for vegetarians. We stuck to the mezzes and got a bunch of em Hummus, Falafal,Beans, Lentil Rice, and some more.
Everything was good but the falafal was fantastic, just like the fellow near Brooks Brothers in NY. Fairly authentic.
The service is ok, they could do better but they are friendly if forgetful.
For 5 mezzes a beer and an ice tea we dropped 2000. Which is not bad at all.
check them out for something different in impressive surroundings.