Mandi House

There is a Yemeni restaurant in Westwood village called House of Mandi. Most of the patrons speak Arabic, and I could tell that they were regulars because unlike my friend, and I, they knew exactly what to order.

You have a choice to sit on chairs, or on floor cushions. I wanted to sit on the floor, but my friend didn't. So, we ended up at the table. The staff was super friendly, and guided us to our seats as soon as we walked in, and gave us free bottled waters. One thing you need to know is that there is a call button at each table, and when you're ready to order, you push it. My friend, and I, did not know this, and waited like two idiots for a longtime, until we flagged down one of the servers, and he told us what to do.

They have a lot of choices on their menu. I suggest to have a look before you go. For appetizer, we ordered Mutabbal, an eggplant dish which comes with Yemeni bread. The eggplant was okay. It lacked flavor, so we added salt and pepper to bring out the taste. The bread was excellent, and highly recommended.

For the entrée, my friend got chicken Mandi, and I had the Hrada of Seltah, a stew of root vegetables which also comes with bread. Portions are large, and most likely, you will go home with a lot of leftovers. I tried my friend's rice. It was really good. I think that's what I'm going to order the next time with some kind of a vegetable dish.

The Karak tea is full of flavor with various spices. I normally don't drink black tea or milk, but I love spices in tea, and had to try it. So yum...