Moun of Tunis in Los Angeles, CA

TMD threw a huge birthday bash this weekend, so SM and I took a road trip. I won't deny that the food was a big draw. The birthday dinner was held at Moun of Tunis, a Moroccan restaurant in Hollywood. We had a private room and a banquet menu.

The private room was in the rear of the restaurant. When I say rear, I mean rear. The restaurant must have a dozen different rooms, and three of them were extremely private (swinging doors that closed). Ours was the biggest room in the restaurant, and was bedecked in tapestries, low seating areas, and textured cushions. The food and drinks were placed on low, wide silver tables. The room also had a (very loud) sound system, and a huge middle area for dancing.


We began the evening with hummus and pita bread. The hummus was creamy, tangy, and quite lemony. Spiced olives were also served as an appetizer. Although I love olives, I wasn't crazy about these; some were too soft, and I thought they were too oily.

Before the main courses were served, servers came around with a huge basin, and lots of towels. They poured warm rose-scented water over our hands, and we patted them dry on the towels (which also served as our napkins for the rest of the evening). Once we had settled into our low, sexy seating, the parade of food began.

To start, we had lentil soup (called harira) served in small ceramic cups. The broth was nicely spiced, and the lentils were tasty with a nice give to them. Servers eventually had to come around with spoons (even though we weren't supposed to use utensils), because the lentils got stuck to the bottom of the cups in clumps. We moved on to cooked kebabs of shrimp and vegetables (onions and green peppers). The kebabs were served on metal skewers that looked like huge letter openers. They were quite wicked-looking, and a friend at our table used them to carve up our subsequent dishes (the lack of utensils did make things slightly difficult, and we had to use what we could).

We were also served brik, a large pancake filled with soft-cooked eggs. The pancake was good, albeit a bit bland, but the soft cooked egg ran all over the plate, making it difficult to consume. The pancake didn't have the consistency of the Ethiopian injera, and was not as suitable for sopping up liquid. Raw eggs don't usually turn me off, but for some reason, this one did (perhaps because it wasn't served Japanese-style?).

Next up was a quartet of cold vegetable salad. I especially liked the vinegared carrot salad; it had a vaguely pickled taste to it, and the carrots were in good-sized chunks, easily grabbable with the bread that was provided. Another salad was of cooked onions; it was sweet and delicious. There was one disappointment - diced carrots flavored with rose-water. I can't stand food that tastes like flowers, and this was no exception.

I need to break from the food at this point to mention the belly dancer. Oh yes, there was belly dancing. She was a bit intrusive (it was, after all, a birthday party), but had high entertainment value, due to the fact that TMD, SM, and many others got up to dance with her each time she came into the room. I think she was slightly peeved at this (after all, having your clients dance with you destroys the opportunity for tips), but the whole thing was a riot. And now, back to the food.

The most unusual dish served during the evening was b'stilla - ground, spiced chicken (cooked with garlic, onion, and other spices) inside a puff pastry shell. The shell, however, was coated in powdered sugar and cinnamon, making for an unusual juxtaposition of sweet and savory. The dish smelled like dessert, but tasted like dinner. I, and everyone else at my table really enjoyed what I'd heard described before as "Moroccan chicken pie."

By this time, we were getting quite full (the portions, even divided between several people, are huge), but we still had several courses to go, including our "main" course. For the main, we had a choice of lemon chicken, lamb with artichokes, or salmon with vegetables. We chose the salmon, but got to try the chicken as well. Our salmon was so-so, slightly dry, but tasting of good broth (in which it had likely been cooked). However, the vegetable accompaniment to the salmon was good; onions and peppers which were not overdone. The chicken was delicious; it was moist, fragrant, and lemony.
We were simultaneously served couscous with vegetables and boulettes (little beef meatballs), which was my favorite dish. The couscous was cooked to perfection in chicken stock with onion, which made it really tasty. Each grain was distinct and crumbled in my mouth. Luckily, the couscous was served with spoons, which we were able to use to carve up the chicken and to take bites of fish.

It was close to 11pm at this point in the evening, and we were served moist cubes of almond cake to finish. Peppermint tea rounded out the evening. We all rolled out the door and into the brisk night air, thankful for a little cold to wake us out of our food-induced stupor.


Moun of Tunis
6/10