Last Tuesday, we had been attended to a Suhoor gathering for the project staff of the Expat Daddy's worksite sponsored by their contractor. It was held at the Lebanese/ Armenian restaurant, Mamig located within the Katara Cultural Village. I just notice that this year the Suhoor had become more popular than the Iftar. See, in the Middle East or in Qatar for that matter, the most looked forward event is the Ramadan. Of course it is a holy month for fasting for the Muslims, but then people also look forward to the festive evenings when they break their fast to prepare for the next day. During this month, it had been a common norm of the companies to share their blessings to their staff by hosting dinner either early evening called Iftar or the breaking of the fast or late at night for Suhoor which would be the last meal before you again begin to fast the next day. By tradition Suhoor is actually partaken early in the morning before the first prayer, however, since most restaurants offer Suhoor buffets starting at 9am till 2am, the companies usually host the events by 9pm. Personally for an expat mommy like me, I would prefer to go to an Iftar rather than Suhoor as the later would be my girls' bedtime and if I go out at that time, surely they will be lacking sleep the next day.
This time however, I know that the Expat Daddy would really like to attend the event since he had been away from the country for 3 years, surely he had missed these occasions. Also this would be the his first to take me to their company event since the company which he had worked for previously for 8 years have not done so even once. Well, apart from the fact that I truly enjoy buffet dinners, of course I could mask it as just being a supportive wife, hehe!
This is the first time we'd be eating in the place. I remember one of my friends mentioned to me once before that it was an expensive restaurant (but since we went there for a buffet, till now, I still don't know the price of their dishes), I guess what that means is that it is a high end fine dining restaurant and that got me intrigued. Well apart from our favorite Turkey Central Restaurant in Al Nasser which was actually just a fast food restaurant, the only other places we go for high end dining is at the hotels. I admit I haven't been out much these past couple of years when the Expat Daddy was "serving time" in the Philippines. LOL!
The moment we had entered the store, I had already noticed the extravagance of its interiors, a distinct feature of most Arabic restaurants, the furnishings will take you back in time, giving you a first hand experience of the Middle Eastern culture and heritage. The Expat Daddy's company event was located on the first floor, unfortunately due to the heat of the summer and the very high humidity, it was not an opportune time to take the outdoor seats which gives a good view of the sea.
We got there at about 10pm, most of Expat Daddy's colleagues were already there. We were about the last ones to arrive. We got to be seated with a nice family with 2 children. So ok, I didn't realize children are welcome to come, but then even if I had known, I wouldn't take the girls with us since it's a school night and surely they wouldn't enjoy it anyway. The place was packed (with Men! hahaha!), and apart from those smoking cigarettes, there were also others who were having shisha. Shisha (according to Wikipedia) is a flavored tobacco cooled in water and is smoked through a single or multi-stemmed water pipe instrument called a hookah. The entire place really is filled with smoke coming both from cigarettes and shisha. I actually smelled of both by the time we left! hehe!
They started to eat shortly after we arrive (oh no, they did not wait for us! hahaha! it just so happened that almost everyone was already there and guess everyone must be starving!) Again we were about to be the last ones in line to the buffet, but personally I don't mind... I was actually glad I ate a little spaghetti with the girls earlier in the evening. To be perfectly honest, I didn't like the food selection, I find it lacking in flavor and spices. The buffet spread consists of about 75% mezze or appetizers and salads as what normally is with the Arabic/ Mediterranean cuisines. However, I must say that in this case, I would prefer the Turkish cuisine rather than what had been served tonight, maybe because I find the it more flavorful with its use of different spices specially in their mixed grill.
For that particular dinner's buffet, I got some Armenian mortadella, humuos, stuffed grape leaves, muttabal/ baba ghanoush. We have also been served with a couple of flat breads. By the time we reached the hot dishes, the soup and mixed grill have already finished. I got some roasted potatoes and cocktail sausages but did not try the other couple of dishes and decided to just wait for the mixed grill to be replaced. The staff were kind enough to call our attention after they have replaced the dishes. Unfortunately I did not like the lentil soup. It's a bit starchy to my liking. Also, I can't understand why the soup is quite cold when it had just got out of the kitchen. As I said earlier, I didn't like their their mixed grill much, mainly because I'm not really a fan of lamb, i'd still prefer beef and as I said with it not having so much spices, the smell of the lamb was not so much concealed.
I did not anymore sample the dessert selection as it was around 12 midnight already and I was just so sleepy to try out the desserts. But when we passed it while we were getting our food, I saw quite a wide selection of Lebanese sweets and pastries, some cakes and an assortment of fruits.
All in all it was a good night, and I was just glad that I accompanied the Expat Daddy to this company event as he had enjoyed himself a lot being with good friends and colleagues, exchanging banter and pleasantries from the management to the drivers and tea boys of the company. He even served as a photographer as it seems no one thought of bringing a camera with them --- oh, men... what do you expect! hehe! But I guess the host actually thought of that and even hired an official photographer for the event.
Well... I wouldn't judge the restaurant based on this one Suhoor night, surely the place had a lot more to offer and I would surely want to get to know them better :). Hmmm.. I'll remember to try it once again on a maybe quiet night with the Expat Daddy so we could get a better feel of the place and really savor the food they have to offer. Everybody deserves a second chance, and that includes my palate too! :)
Mamig Armenian and Lebanese Restaurant:
Building # 2
Katara Cultural Village
Al Dafna, P.O. Box 15910
Doha, Qatar
Tel. (974) 4408-0800
website: http://www.mamigdoha.com/
Full Disclosure: It is a corporate event, this post is an account of my own personal experience and in no way influenced by the restaurant's management or the host of the event.
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