I couldn’t explore the beautiful city of Muscat, Oman without going on a proper food tour of the city. It’s an absolute must to get a real feel for the capital. Come with me on my wild Omani food tour in Muscat, Oman!
My guides, Ahmed and Hussain from Oman Travel, would be taking me to three famous restaurants in the city: Cheese & Jam, Dukanah Cafe, and Lahab Kitchen Restaurant. I couldn’t wait!
Our Omani food tour started at Cheese & Jam, a small but popular local coffeeshop where we’d have some cheese and jam sandwiches. It would be fluffy and made with white bread. One of them even contained Omani chips!
Ahmed added some hot sauce to my chips sandwich. It was both fluffy and crunchy. The egg sandwich contained hard-boiled egg and butter. But the cheese and jam was really sweet and creamy from the cheese and butter.
There was also a cheese and butter sandwich. I wish they had been toasted on a panini press, but they were still OK. I really liked the karak! Everything we ate came to roughly $3 USD.
We were near the Ministry of Defense and a castle. From there, we drove through Moutrah, which is where the Omanis lived back when the Portuguese were in Oman. The architecture here is different from what you see elsewhere.
We continued our Omani food tour at Dukanah Cafe, a famous brunch spot in a traditional mud-style house. The mud insulates from the heat in summer and from the cold in winter!
I loved the wooden beams overhead and the mud walls. The decor was a mix of traditional and modern. First, I tried some kahwa coffee, which is made from green coffee beans.
I followed with with some dates. In the kitchen, they made us some lamb mishkak, chicken mishkak, beef mishkak, and a breakfast platter with bread, honey, and more.
Explore the details of my visit to the Biltmore Sunday Brunch in Miami for an inside look at this captivating dining experience.
We took the paper-thin Omani bread and started with the shakshuka (scrambled eggs with tomatoes and vegetables). It felt very Mediterranean. The ful (kidney beans) were nice and hearty and came in a thick gravy I loved.
Next was the donga (chickpeas), followed by some spicy chilies that were so hot I needed some cream with honey to cool down my mouth!
The ful mudammas (fava beans) were sweet and flavorful. Then, I used the thicker chapati to try the yellow dal. The feta with za’atar and oil was creamy and flavorful. It wasn’t as salty as Greek feta.
The lamb mishkak with tamarind sauce blew me away. The sweetness enhanced the flavor of the meat! The chicken mishkak was smoky and charred.
The beef mishkak was excellent with some honey! The earthy and gamy meat with the sweet and sticky honey was an amazing contrast!
Next was the qurus with date syrup. They were basically small wheat pancakes. I loved the date syrup and honey with them, but the honey was better!
Then, we had the swaywieh, which are fried vermicelli noodles cooked with milk and sugar and topped with sliced almonds. They were very sweet and contained cardamom!
Finally was the khabeesa, which is a sweet wheat pudding with milk and sugar. It wasn’t exceptionally sweet and had pistachios on top. It was a great addition to my Omani food tour!
From there, we drove to Lahab Kitchen Restaurant, a traditional family restaurant that has modern tables and traditional private dining rooms. Some of the dining rooms are like tents!
In the kitchen, we watched them make Zarubian rice filled with Arabic spices. It smelled amazing and contained almonds, bell peppers, onions, crispy onions, cashews, and lamb shuwa,
We ate it on the floor with the owner and his brother. The lamb shuwa was so tender and flavorful. I loved the gelatin-like fat, saffron, crispy onions, and bone marrow!
Then, they added salad and raita on top. It was great with the spicy chutney, too! We finished with lamb mishkak and tamarind chutney and red tea! What a way to end my Omani food tour of Muscat!
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