Ayam Elezz- Lebanese Restaurant

Since Ayam Elezz opened few months back, it has become quite a rage on Instagram. I was impressed with their drool worthy pictures and when I went to dine there, it had me wondering whether the food would taste as good as it looks. With a friend in tow, I landed at Ayam Elezz on a Tuesday afternoon for lunch.

Located opposite Jumeirah Beach Hotel, it is housed inside The Mall. The Mall happens to be one of the new malls in Dubai. It was easy to find the restaurant inside the small mall.

Ayam Elezz in Arabic means ‘The Good Old Days’ and we were literally transported to good old days. The ambience, the decor takes you back to the houses of Lebanon in the 60’s. The tastefully done interiors had many classic products of those days, from old record players, transistors to typewriters, television sets, suitcases and other vintage stuff. We totally loved the decor.

They offer both indoor and outdoor seating area. The restaurant has a cosy and comfy feel. After being seated, we were informed that they have a sudden problem with the gas cylinder and the guests cannot be served hot appetizers and mains. It worked out quite okay for us, as both my friend Nish and me happen to be vegetarians. We almost tried everything from their cold Mezze. But would certainly love to try their hot appetizers as they have many vegetarian options.

We started off with drinks-Lemonade with basil and Ayam Elezz cocktail. We absolutely loved the lemonade with basil, where as the Ayam Elezz cocktail, though tasty, it was too heavy. We wanted to have space in our tummies for the lunch.

Here’s a list of cold Mezze dishes that we tried:

Fattoush had a mix of fresh veggies and greens like lettuce, tomato, cucumber and fresh greens with fried pita bread and pomegranate sauce. It was tasty and refreshing.
Zaatar and Baladi Cheese salad was flavored with fresh lemon juice and olive oil. It was a simple and delicious salad.
Hummus Ayam Elezz is the Ayam Elezz’s version of the popular hummus. It was seasoned with cumin and salt. It was amazing.
Raheb that was made with grilled eggplant, mixed veggies, garlic, olive oil and pomegranate seeds was another good dish.
Kebbet Lentil was a non fried kebab that was made with lentil, burgul and tomato paste and topped with pomegranate sauce. It was our favorite dish and comes totally recommended.
Loubieh Bel Zeit is a simple dish and you cannot go wrong with it. It tasted like the ones you get in other Lebanese restaurants in Dubai.
Shanklish is not my favorite dish, hence didn’t find the dish very appetizing.
Lebanese Mohammara was excellent. It had a perfect blend of chilli paste, red bell peppers with walnuts.
Mjaddara was bland and didn’t tickle our taste buds.
Tender Vine Leaves had a delicious stuffing inside, it tasted like little bites of heaven.
We were served Arabic Bread alongside our cold Mezze. We would have preferred the fresh oven baked bread rather than the bakery-made bread.

We were served Mughli and Rice Pudding for desserts. Both the desserts were good, we especially liked the Rice Pudding. It was rich, creamy and indulgent.