Al Mandi – 1328 Danforth Avenue, On, M4J 1M9
Country: Yemen
Must-try Dish: Goat Meat
Dinner Guest: Ry-Hy

After receiving restaurant recommendations from a Torontonian who has recently moved to the 6ix from Yemen, Mandrea Bike decided to check one out. This discovery brought us to Al Mandi; a hidden gem on the Danforth. 

Yemen is a country located in the southwest end of the Middle East and borders countries such as Saudi Arabia and Oman. Bodies of water touching Yemen are the Red Sea and the Gulf of Adan. 

This week we were joined by a new dinner companion: Ryhy. It can go without saying that this won’t be Ryhy’s last dinning adventure with us if the sounds of satisfaction during each bite are any indication. He even went as far as to say: “I love all the spices and flavours going on in my mouth.”  And there’s no denying the mouth-watering flavour combinations, as Andrea pointed out. 

As we walked into Al-Mandi; we were greeted by our server Ahmed and shown to our table, the largest table in the place. We had three sofas to seat the three of us. It was decorated to make you feel like you were transported right into the Middle East and our table was more of a Yemen throne – it was regal indeed. Once we got settled we ordered a traditional tea (with cinnamon notes), which had an addictive quality to it. After a few minutes Ahmed returned, and as per our usual process, he picked his favourite dishes and got started on our order. Each dish was served with soup(lamb bone broth) and a charming salad to start. 

As we were sharing the mains, they were presented family-style on a big platter overtop a bed of rice done in the Mandi style. Mandi rice originates from Hadhramaut Yemen and is a style of rice that is traditionally cooked in an underground pit with a special blend of spices and accompanied by lamb, goat or chicken. In our case, all three of these were the main dishes chosen by Ahmed. (Goat Meat, Mendi Half Chicken and Mendi Lamb).

When discussing what might be the must-eat dish of the night, we would have liked to say all three, however, as it is a tradition to give our must-eat dish of the night, we highly recommend the Goat Meat (seen in the pictures surrounding the half chicken). All the meats were delicious but the goat stood out as being special since we don’t eat it very often.

As the portions were enormous, we struggled to finish off the food, though we pushed each other to polish off as much as possible as everything captured our hearts. The night finished off with another round of Yemeni tea, because why not, it was just that tasty!

Al Mandi is a place to check out.

Eat with you soon,

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)