Tannourine Review

Because our intended destination was closed, we selected another restaurant in the same vicinity.  He chose Tannourine, a restaurant that calls itself Lebanese and Mediterranean.

http://www.tannourinecuisine.com/

(Incidentally, it replaced a Persian restaurant that we previously visited: ReviewShalizaar.)

Tannourine's food averaged out to okay.  We enjoyed its warm, soft pita bread and the various spreads we put on it, but generally didn't like any meat dishes.

Soon after sitting down and throughout the meal we were supplied with baskets of pita bread.  This bread was always warm and fairly addictive with dips.  Our first dip, provided free, was za'atar mixed with olive oil, held in by a wall by yogurt.  We all enjoyed the za'atar, saying it was one of the best items of the meal.  Oj especially enjoyed the yogurt as well.  For some reason, I didn't feel the yogurt went with the pita bread, though I had nothing against the yogurt itself.

As for the items we ordered:

• Hummus.  Good.

• Baba Ghannouge.  Decent.  We thought there was something odd about it.  I called it funky.  Oj called it sour.

• Tabouleh.  A respectable, pleasing salad largely of parsley accompanied by tomatoes.  Probably not made the instant we ordered it, but still tasted fresh enough that it likely was made recently.

• Cheese Bourak.  A cigar-shaped fried roll filled with a sour cheese ("Haloumi cheese").  I didn't like the cheese, but I seem to be alone in this regard and was told that was the normal way Haloumi cheese tastes.

• Kebbeh.  "Fried shell of ground beef & burgul (Crushed wheat) stuffed with ground beef, pine nuts, and lamb."  Yes, a layered meatball.  Okay.

• Sambousek.  A hemispherical baked item filled with meat.  Although S liked it, the rest of us didn't.

• Sfiha.  These looked like wide miniature hot dogs: a two-inch long open bun baked with a cylinder of meat inside.  The bread tasted unpleasantly fried and greasy; the meat was boring.  We left most of them.

• Na'anek (lamb sausages).  Miniature, chewy, and tasted just plain icky.

• Falafel.  I thought these were good (though the tahini sauce didn't do much), but my compatriots didn't have seconds so they probably thought less of them.

• Mohallableh (dessert).  "Homemade pudding from milk, ground rice, corn flower, pistachios, and honey & finished with coconut powder."  Tasted and smelled strongly of rose water.  None of us liked it much, and we only ate about half of the large bowl.

Our waitress was a bit terse to us and not very helpful, though I hesitate to call her bad.

The total was $17/person including tax and tip.  We didn't have drinks.   

Original Announcement

Since Tannourine was the result of a last minute change of venue, there was no original announcement.

Comments from Other Attendees

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