Wanderlust Travel Magazine (UK)
FIVE OMANI DISHES YOU SHOULD TRY (AND WHERE TO TRY THEM)
1 Bahraini tikka
Bahraini tikka is well loved among our community in Muscat, but there is only one place in the capital that does a good one: Antalya in Al Hail. It mainly serves shawarmas, but nestled in the back is a man who makes excellent tikka: succulent, chargrilled skewers with a tender tang. Cooking on hot coals helps to bring a pleasing smokiness to the citrus taste, but this meat is best eaten with bread, as the dried lime can be sharp if taken on its own.
2 Mutahfy
Mutahfy fish curry is typically eaten by people from Muscat – usually Shia Muslims who grew up by the Mutrah Corniche. Though it is traditionally made with tuna, the sauce base is so full of flavour that it can be made without fish as a vegan alternative – I sometimes serve it as a dip. Try this and a variety of different Omani dishes (machboos, qabooli) at Rozna on Al Maardih Street in Muscat. You can’t miss it – it has been designed to look like a fort!
3 Machboos
Across most of the Gulf and in a few other Arab countries, this dish is known as machboos (meaning ‘to compress’) because the ingredients are cooked in one pot and the meat is packed tightly beneath the rice. The traditional method takes much longer, as you would fry each element separately. While it is often made with chicken, you can substitute this for vegetables or lamb. Head to Al Angham at Muscat’s Royal Opera House for a high-end version; a more cosy neighbourhood alternative is Machboos Kuwaiti in the capital’s Al Khuwair South area.
4 Qashod
The concept of this dish, which is usually made with tuna, is confusing at first, as it uses similar methods to a curry but has a very different consistency – it’s thick and has little excess liquid, so it’s rather like a pâté. A good friend taught me how to make it one winter in Salalah and explained that its thick texture was intended to make it easier to transport on long journeys. You’ll struggle to find it in restaurants, but this is commonly made in homes in Old Muscat, and tour guides with connections can usually hook you up with a homemade meal. Oman is small and this is the type of hospitality we do!
5 Khaliat nahal
Qaranqasho is an Omani celebration that takes place on the 14th day of Ramadan, mainly across the north coast. Children dress up in traditional clothing and mothers prepare nibbles and sweet baskets, then open up their doors to all. This is also the only time of year that you’ll see khaliat nahal, a sweet bread known for its honeycomb shape. It is found in both Oman and Yemen and is always filled with cheese, though the syrups drizzled over it differ from family to family. You’ll see it in a lot of bakeries, and it is also often found at the sweet shop Shahad Al Jazeera, which has branches in Al Amarat, Al Ansab, Al Khoud and across Oman.