What & Where to eat in Muscat, Oman?

[Pompollo]

I'll be going to Oman soon and would like to hear EG members opinions about what and where to eat in Muscat (And also what and where NOT to eat )

I keep hearing that much of what restaurants offer is Indian food (which I love and can never get enough of). While in Oman, though, I'd lke to have something typical and would like to know where and what, if you can help. I'm a novice to Mid-eastern food and look forward gaininig exposure to a whole new food-world.

Thanks.

[arbuclo]

I've heard wonderful things about Muscat, though I haven't yet been. (Have you seen the pictures of Oman on the My Oman website...wow!) Since I don't have any personal experience yet in Muscat, can't give you any restaurant reviews (but look forward to reading anything that others post, or you post when you get back!).

I did find this website which is info on traditional Omani food.

Omanet.om

Are you travelling through Dubai? I can give recommendations for Dubai!

[Pompollo]

Thanks for the informative link by the Ministry of Information, I hadn't come accross it before.

I had found the "My Oman" site and was amazed at the scenery and photos--incredible. I hope what I see in person looks even half as good as those photos. And with my level of photography skills, I won't even be able to come close, no matter how hard I will try.

I'll post my culinary experiences after I get back

[arbuclo]

Pompollo, that'd be terrific if you could post when you get back. I'll keep looking for info. When do you leave?

[benlav]

I am off to Oman next week

I have travelled a bit to the Gulf before but not for a while, any tips would be very gratefully received, if not I will try and give a few tips when I get back...can't wait for those shwarmas!!!

[Corinna Dunne]

I haven't been to Oman or the Middle East area in a long time, but expect that things are still much the same... the best food is cooked at home.

The Omani's are lovely people and extremely hospitable. I suggest that you express an interest in the country's food and culture at your business meetings, and not only will you find good recommendations very forthcoming, but you may even get an invitation to sample their home cooking. Apart from that, shawarma anywhere in the Middle East is wonderful and be sure to have the tandoori cooked chicken tikka in any of the Indian restaurants.

It's a beautiful country, but it's starting to heat up for the summer now, so be prepared!

[tjdnewyork]

There is an excellent Indian place in Muscat. Can't think of the name offhand but mumtaz mahal or something like that. It is situated high up on a hill next to a large nature reserve not far from the area of the Crowne Plaza. The food was wonderful there.

[prasantrin]

This isn't for Muscat, but I didn't want to start a new topic for it.

Does anyone have any food suggestions for Musandam, specifically Khasab? We're driving up to Khasab from Dubai Friday morning, then driving back down Saturday night. We're doing an overnight dhow cruise, but we'll still be looking for food before and after the cruise. And maybe we'll be looking for some extra snacks to bring with us on the boat, just in case the stuff on the boat isn't so great. Any suggestions for where to buy/eat good food? I know Oman isn't a frequent destination for most people, but any information would be appreciated!

[prasantrin]

Oman...what can I say about Oman? We only went to the Musandam peninsula as my friend arranged an overnight cruise. We got the entire yacht for our party of 12, and it was fabulous.

In Khasab, where the cruise departed from, we had lunch at a popular place. Now if only I could remember the name, or I had pictures of what we ate. I know we had a mixed grill, fattoush, grilled chicken, and maybe hummous. It was very good, but that's all I can tell you.

This was what we saw most of the time.

We were going in and out of coves, and all coves kind of look alike. But when they look like that, it's not so bad. We dropped anchor once every so often to get in some swimming, snorkelling, and kayaking.

Our first afternoon/evening out was very very windy, but the weather was glorious. Unfortunately, some of our group were very sun-sensitive so they had to bundle up.

Finally, a food picture! We had dinner, breakfast, and lunch on this cruise, but I only got pictures of the lunch. All the meals were delicious. Both the dinner and the lunch revolved around grilled fish, but there were other dishes, as well.

Here we see (from right to left) two kinds of hummus, mutabal, coleslaw-like salad, green salad with shredded stewed chicken.

And on my plate we see all those things plus grilled fish topped with a lemony garlic sauce, grilled chicken (that the thing sticking out from under my fish at 7 o'clock), and spicy stewed chicken up at 1 o'clock (you can barely see it from under my fish).

Obviously my appetite was back. Ahem...I gave away some of the food on my plate (the grilled chicken) so I could go back and get more fish. It was awesome! That was the cook on the right. He was Syrian, and he was very willing to talk to us about the food, and also the sites. We talked about baklava, and he said he never makes it because the pastry is too time consuming and difficult.

A last shot before arriving back in the UAE.

Unfortunately, I'm not the long-legged beauty on the right, but the short dumpy one on the left. But as my friend said, I'm sun-kissed! (My back was quite painfully burned, in fact.)

Oh, more Oman pictures up on webshots.

Edited April 15, 2007 by prasantrin (log)

[Corinna Dunne]

And on my plate we see all those things plus grilled fish topped with a lemony garlic sauce, grilled chicken (that the thing sticking out from under my fish at 7 o'clock), and spicy stewed chicken up at 1 o'clock (you can barely see it from under my fish).

webshots.

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Did the cook mention the name of the fish? It looks a little bit like yenem, a small delicate flat fish, which is one of the most beautiful fishes I have ever tasted. There really is nothing quite like eating grilled yenem with a bit of lemon just moments after it has been caught.

Did you have any other types of fish? Hamoor (grouper) is very common out there, often served as matchboos with rice, and sebaiti (sea bass) is highly prized. There are also some enormous sting ray in the sea because they are haram in the muslim diet.

[prasantrin]

Did the cook mention the name of the fish?  It looks a little bit like yenem, a small delicate flat fish, which is one of the most beautiful fishes I have ever tasted.  There really is nothing quite like eating grilled yenem with a bit of lemon just moments after it has been caught.

Did you have any other types of fish? Hamoor (grouper) is very common out there, often served as matchboos with rice, and sebaiti (sea bass) is highly prized. There are also some enormous sting ray in the sea because they are haram in the muslim diet.

←

Unfortunately, we weren't able to learn the names of any of the fish we ate. The evening before, we had three different kinds of fish for dinner. One was quite large, and topped with a very spicy tomato-based sauce. One was very simply grilled, and I can't remember the third one. We asked the chef about the fish, but he couldn't tell us. One of our party was an avid fisherman, and he said something about jack fish (which I looked up, and found was a type of pickeral or pike), but he said it wasn't jack fish, but close to it.

The lunch fish was very delicate, and very delicious. The head and cheeks were full of lovely fish fat, too. The sauce I mentioned wasn't really sauce. It was just lemon juice with a lot of chopped fresh garlic. There might have been a bit more to the lemon juice, but not much more, as it was very clean and fresh.

In terms of food, this cruise was the highlight of my trip. I would highly recommend this type of trip to anyone who goes to the UAE. Musandam is an easy drive from Dubai (just time it so you're not at the border around noon--especially on a Friday, and don't get stuck behind the Porsche club, as we did), and the cruise was reasonably priced. We paid about $200/person, but you could rent the whole yacht for 12 000 Omani Riyal, and you can also just do a day cruise (with pick-up from Dubai). The company we used was Khasab Travel and Tours.

[jackal10]

Popping this thread up as I am in Oman on business in early October.

Staying at the Muscat Grand Hyatt Hotel. Any food reccomendations?