Fereej Al Ain is a MANDI restaurant in Jumeirah 1. Located on the first floor of the venerable Jumeirah Beach Centre on ‘Beach Road, its interior breaks with tradition by including some funky wall graffiti. That aside, the rest will be familiar to those of you who visit mandi restaurants with a mix of floor seating and table/chair cubicles making up most of the dining area. It’s a respectable, family-oriented environment which reminded me a little of Madfoon Al Sadda in Umm Suqeim.
The food at Fereej Al Ain is good and served in unique (=cute) steel pots and serving dishes. I was there with my beach buddies, brothers’ James and Mark. James joined me in having a Meat Madfoon while Mark tried the Chicken Ghouzi, which differed from anything I have seen before in that it was served with lentils and potato on a bed of fluffy turmeric coloured biriyani flavoured rice. Our soft and tender lamb madfoon (also with potatoes) was served, foil removed, with Arabic rice (basically a lighter flavoured Biryani). Whilst not quite in the same league as Maraheb, all of us were very happy with our meal. My only gripe is over the extra spicy salsa I asked for; rather than blend in a little extra fresh green chilli (as every other mandi restaurant I have EVER been to has done) these guys chose to empty half a pack of red chilli powder into a bowl of salsa and serve it to me. Bad form.
Service at Fereej Al Ain was otherwise excellent – friendly, accommodating and fast. Worth a visit.
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Xerxes physically dines at, or orders from, each and every venue he reviews. He pays in full for whatever he and his companions eat, drink, take away or occasionally throw at each other. Xerxes accepts no money, gifts, discounts or free meals in return for reviews or favouritism. What you have read was NOT influenced in any way by the venue. Join me on Instagram @ravenousxerxes or email me on: xerxes@dellara.com