16
Jun
I am finally taking the jump and joining the supper club crowds but only for a limited time and to coincide with Shubbak, which means window in Arabic and is the first ever festival of contemporary Arab arts in London. Shubbak is taking place from 4 to 24 July and is supported by London Mayor, Boris Johnson.
My dinners will be on 5, 11 and 19 July. The minimum number for me to do them is 6 diners and the maximum 10. The cost per person is £125. The cost includes Musar wines, the most famous of Lebanese wines and winner of many awards. You can book the whole dinner for you and your friends or book individually and meet new people!
The first dinner, on 5 July, will be Syrian/Lebanese, the second, on 11 July, will be from the United Arab Emirates and the third, on 19 July, will be Moroccan.
The dinners will take place in my beautiful loft (forgive the lack of modesty!) in Shoreditch from 8.30 pm onwards and I am happy to send you the menus if you are interested. Just let me know, either by posting a comment or by emailing me. And don’t worry if you are vegetarian or have dietary restrictions, I will be able to rustle up something for you as long as you give me advance warning. And if I am lucky enough to find a plump belly dancer, I may book one to entertain you at the end of the meal, at least one of them! Hope to see some of you in July.
Ps. I was asked by a friend to put up the menus and here they are:
Lebanese/Syrian Dinner – 5 July 2011
Welcome drink:
Musar rosé served with hot maqaneq (spicy Lebanese sausages) and mini za’tar bites
Mezze:
Three beautiful dips: Hommus Khawali (with pepper paste & pomegranate syrup), Baba Ghannuge & beetroot & tahini
A delightfully refreshing salad: white tabbuleh
A satisfying dish cooked in olive oil: courgettes in a tomato and mint sauce
White Musar
Main course:
Kibbeh (a crustless pie made of two very thin layers of minced lamb and burghul with a luscious filling of minced lamb, toasted pine nuts and caramelised onion in between) served with a minty yoghurt and cucumber salad.
Red Musar
Dessert:
Anissa’s velvety ice creams in three gorgeous flavours: rose water & pistachios, raspberry & mango
Turkish coffee
Emirati Dinner – 11 July 2011
Welcome drink:
Musar rosé served with two different types of koftah, one made with yellow split peas & meat and the other with fish.
Meal:
The Emiratis do not have starters. They serve everything at the same time and here is what the meal will consist of: roast leg of lamb that will have been previously marinated in a mixture of Emirati spices, saffron and rose water, biryani rice, and tharid, the Prophet Muhammad’s favourite dish, which is made up of a layer of wafer thin dry bread topped with a stew of meat and baby vegetables. I will also serve a refreshing green salad.
Red Musar wine
Dessert:
Saffron milk pudding and chickpea biscuits
Arab coffee
Moroccan Dinner – 19 July 2011
Welcome drink:
Musar rosé served with briouats, some filled with eggs scrambled with coriander and others with merguez sausages
Starters:
Three beautiful salads: aubergines in tomato and coriander sauce, broad beans with preserved lemons and sweet and savoury fragrant beetroot.
White musar
Main course:
Quail tagine with herbs, olives and preserved lemons
Seven-vegetables couscous made with baby vegetables
Red Musar
Dessert:
Rice pudding and cornes de gazelle (delicate crescent shaped baked pastries made with the thinnest dough wrapped around almond paste)
Mint tea
Tagged : arab contemporary art, emirati food, lebanese/syrian food, moroccan food, shoreditch loft, shubbak, supper club nights 
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There is 35 comments on this post
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June 16, 2011 at 9:42 am
Hi Anissa,
I would like to make a reservation for your supper (Lebanese/Syrian)on July 5th.
Please note I have changed email adr, and all communication must be sent to: RMNee@blueyonder.co.uk
Look forward to it!
Ragnhild
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June 16, 2011 at 12:47 pm
How exciting, I bet these will be amazing evenings!
I shall have to resist the desire to attend, as cash is tight just now, but want to wish you success and look forward to reading all about them!
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June 16, 2011 at 2:38 pm
Ahhhhhhhhh if only I were in London and had a little extra cash !!!!!!!
But I keep running into mutual friends, so one of these days I’m sure we’ll meet. Keep up the good work and all your interesting contributions on Facebook.
Your fan,
Jack
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June 16, 2011 at 3:17 pm
great. very much looking forward to seeing you again ragnhild. i will send you an email to your new address 🙂
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June 16, 2011 at 3:17 pm
thanks so much kavey.
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June 16, 2011 at 3:19 pm
thanks jack. i’m sure we’ll meet one day.
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June 16, 2011 at 4:55 pm
oooh this sounds like it’s worth a round trip ticket to london ! what a fabulous idea anissa, this is sure to be a delicious success. and i am so interested in hearing all three menus, if you don’t mind sharing. that will only make me want to go to london even more !
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June 16, 2011 at 5:02 pm
oh how I wish I could attend one of these super suppers! alas, I will be only in London the second week of August! I do hope to meet you though!
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June 17, 2011 at 2:50 am
will email them to you kerrin. and i had a thought about your knee this morning. think about it this way, you’ll have plenty more time to watch wimbledon 🙂
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June 17, 2011 at 2:51 am
we should be able to meet. i am not planning any trips for august 🙂
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June 17, 2011 at 7:28 am
oooh excellent point, anissa ! haha ! way to think positively. and if our boy wins it all, i’ll have completely forgotten about my knee by then ! (i’ll actually be in the pays basque finals weekend. i’ll miss our fun emailing back & forth.) off for a sweet zürich tour now, can’t wait to check out your menus when i’m back, thanks for sending ! xxx
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June 17, 2011 at 1:55 pm
I am in England then… but only in the country this trip… oh my it looks so good… perhaps next year. I can imagine it will be a feast for the ages.
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June 17, 2011 at 3:52 pm
thanks deana. too bad you won’t be in london. would have been fun to have you join the party 🙂
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June 18, 2011 at 7:15 am
dear anissa-
we would really love to come- unfortunately we are on holiday all 3 dates- any chance you would organize other evenings/dates?
please let me know- thanking you in advance and happy weekend!
kindest- monica
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June 18, 2011 at 4:47 pm
What a wonderful idea! How I wish I could be there, especially when you say that you would have something vegetarians too. It would be great if you share the menus on your blogs. I am sure it is going to be a most delicious event.
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June 18, 2011 at 7:00 pm
ok, i will put the menus up Ammini but there are no vegetarian main courses as i will be doing these by special request 🙂
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June 18, 2011 at 7:02 pm
thanks monica. i will add your email address to my list so that you know about future ones.
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June 19, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Would love to come but hors budget I’m afraid. However you are charging a correct price for all the work and years of experience you are putting into the menus. It will be unique I’m sure.
x
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June 20, 2011 at 3:27 pm
thanks kirsten and shame you can’t make it but i understand. x
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June 25, 2011 at 3:32 pm
Will pass this info along to my cousin Andrew who lives in London and I am sure would love it! You look so slender!
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June 25, 2011 at 4:22 pm
thanks joumana. not so slender these days but always on a diet 🙂
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June 26, 2011 at 9:55 am
I am so jealous Anissa – I wish I were still in London to try these meals out! I would especially be curious about the Emirati one having just left the UAE without really having tried any good Emirati food. I am so curious about Tharid!
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June 26, 2011 at 11:30 am
that’s too bad brenda. wish you were still here 🙂
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July 3, 2011 at 11:26 am
Your menus look amazing. Now if Seattle-London airfare wasn’t involved, I’d be there post haste!
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July 3, 2011 at 5:06 pm
would have been great. love the look of your farm 🙂
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July 8, 2011 at 8:38 am
Hi Anissa,
I would love to make hot maqaneq at home. Would it be possible if you could part with a recipe? Thank you kindly
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July 8, 2011 at 1:59 pm
hi nazira, do you mean how to make the maqaneq or how to cook them? if it is how to cook them, it is v simple. i like to saute them briefly in a dry non-stick pan — they release a lot of fat — until half cooked, then i remove them and when i am ready to serve them i heat them in the oven (220 C) for a few minutes. they continue cooking and they heat at the same time and this way i avoid overcooking them. as for making them, i am afraid i don’t have the recipe cos i buy them from my lebanese butcher in london who makes them really well and i doubt he will want to part with his recipe 🙂
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July 10, 2011 at 3:30 am
Hi Anissa,
Unfortunately I meant how to make them. I live in country NSW (Australia) and there are no middle eastern butchers where I live. I haven’t had maqaneq since I was in my teens. Oh well I’ll keep trying to find one. Thanks anyway. I like your method of cooking maqaneq. I will definately try cooking standard sausages that way. Also thanks for a great site.
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July 10, 2011 at 9:48 am
i think i have a recipe for maqaneq in one of my favourite lebanese cookbooks. if you remind me in a couple of weeks time, i will send it to you 🙂
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July 10, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Thank you so much i will do that.
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July 27, 2011 at 8:03 pm
Hi Anissa,
I am writing back about the maqaneq recipe. I hope I haven’t been too much trouble. Thank you again.
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July 27, 2011 at 8:06 pm
no, you haven’t. will look for the recipe next week and will send it to you 🙂
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July 28, 2011 at 10:32 pm
Thanks 🙂
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July 13, 2012 at 3:26 pm
Hi there,
Do you have space for two people on 19th July?
Thanks so much
Victoria
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July 13, 2012 at 3:35 pm
sorry victoria but that was last summer 🙂