Khansa, of Creativity with Kay,  and I had our much awaited meet up today, yay! It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other so I was so excited to have our little tête-à-tête. After much deliberation on where to eat, we decided to dine at Fanajeen at The Gate Mall. 

Ambiance

It was a cutesy and artsy café-type. Seats were boldly colored and plush, floors were of the black-and-white tile pattern and their table decorations of piled up saucers, cups and teapots; a real Alice in Wonderland-ish feel. I was expecting the Mad Hatter to appear anytime soon for tea! Kay assured me that their desserts were amazing but their other food items were still an unchartered territory.  

Anyhow, we dared to head on to the unknown and sat ourselves. It was just our luck that their three-course business lunch was already available at that time. I must say, they do have a very good selection of food for each course. Although, what I noticed is that the foods that they served didn’t come as how it was pictured. Maybe because it was business lunch? Who knows. But one thing is for sure, they all tasted good.

Food ordered

Appetizer – Bisque soup

The soup was not that wow, could’ve been creamier but it tasted good and serving size was enough.

Main course – Seafood Provençal with saffron rice

This was delicious, it would’ve been so great with a squeeze of lemon but I didn’t mind anymore and just gobbled it up. Their saffron rice went so well with it. 

Dessert – Rose crème brûlée

So yummy! It was just the right balance of creaminess and a hint of rose flavor and yes, the caramel broke with a light crunch! My note about this is that, as with the other food served,  it didn’t appear as pictured on their menu.

Drink – Be Free iced tea

This was a combination of lemon grass tea, peach and ginger. Like the brûlée, all the components were balanced well. Usually in most restaurants, if there’s lemongrass or ginger in the tea, it tends to overpower the whole mix. But this one didn’t, it was just perfect. It was more of a cold tea than an iced one, nevertheless, it hit the right gustatory spot.

Service

Service was good, the staff attended to us properly. They had a relxed but attentive attitude which made the experience more enjoyable.

Price

I would say it’s in the mid to expensive range as prices ranges from approximately QR 50 to QR 90 per item.

Their business lunch was for QR 79, excluding drinks. The Be Free iced tea costs QR 28.

Returning?

Yes, I’m curious about their other desserts.