More important than ever before, going local and supporting products made in Qatar is the new trend. With a huge and beautiful farm to the north of the city and three restaurants within that serve the farm fresh food, Baladna has already been making waves. We went for their restaurant at Pearl, all decorated with fairy lights this last Eid.
The place is huge with outdoor seating which at the moment was deserted – thank you Qatar summer! And inside is an airy space with beautiful brown furnishings and a classy, rustic look. It was a busy crowded evening and much as I wanted, we couldn’t get the table below one of the two aritificial trees.
The decor and staff uniform give a superb rustic vibe to the place but the service is not up to the mark. Many of the waiters don’t speak English, which is a disadvantage as their menu is also very badly written with no descriptions. The menu is not very extensive either.
After we placed our order, first up we were presented with a delightful basket of fresh salad vegetables and herbs. Cool, but didn’t work with the kids – had to immediately send it back to be cut for us so as to stop the fight about to start! Along with that we had some lovely olives and pickled green chilis. Anyhow, once everyone got their salads, we dug into our dishes which were.
Shawarma Pies: Three small Shawarma pieces served with a mayo. It was hearty, tangy and tasty.
Meat Cutlet Pies. These were a little dry but the meat was so flavorful and deeelicious!
Al Saj Shawarma on the sheet: This one was a superb shawarma meat served in saj bread along with mashed potato and a few potato wedges.
In all the above, the presentation was really nice going with the overall theme. The meat was exceptionally good. They serve Syrian mutton which is the best there is and expensive too which is why the price. But still I believe the prices were a lot higher as the portions were on the small side too. For just the three above we paid QR 139 which made for a meal for two adults shared with two kids. It wasn’t as filling.
Last word: I love the concept, ambience and the food. Menu cards should be improved and also the service. I would love to go again and try the other meaty hearty dishes, but after payday though!