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Real People. Real Reviews.®
Category: Middle Eastern [Edit]
145 Court StBergen St (F, G)
Court St-Borough Hall (2, 3, 4, 5, M, R, W)
Jay St (A, C, F)
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Made the trek back for more yum last week. But I didn't know what to order! *sighs* I had forgotten what I had last time when I stuffed myself silly. But what we had was damn good.
Soft white kidney beans with spices - yum. They looked like canned baked beans, but oh no, habibi . . . they are so much more delicious. Lameh Salmeh - a giant chunk of lamb blanched with spices. Falling off the bone yummy MEAT.
The appetizers were a sort of iceberg lettuce salad that was nothing special. Also, a brothy soup that tasted like lamb water with cumin and lemon - I enjoyed that.
Later, when I texted my source and asked what to order (WHY didn't I do this before? 'Cos I'm an idiot!), I got the answer back in minutes.
Fuul and Lameh Bendorah. So, that's the ticket. Why didn't I think of fuul - delicious fava beans bathed in garlic and olive oil. Delicious at most any Arab restaurant, but at this place, everything is special.
Including the bathrooms. They're their own kind of "special". Special "wassach"*.
The guys that work here must be brothers. They are cute, charming, friendly, and helpful with ordering, if a little clueless about different types of credit cards. No worries, with a meal for two just over $20, you can squeak out the cash.
I know this place is authentic and delicious when I'm the only glow-in-the-dark white girl in attendance. My sexy-swarthy companion passed as one of the guys. Always amusing. Armed with a smile, though, nationalities don't matter, we're just here for the yummy food.
* horribly filthy
Listed in: Middle Eastern food in Chicago, I Love New York
This is seriously some of the best Middle Eastern food I've ever eaten in the US. And for me to say… Read more »
This was my first exploration of Yemeni food and boy was it delicious! Our friends recommended Yemen Cuisine and I was feeling adventurous so wifey and I thought, "what the hell, let's go for it." It started with a few bowls of great soup of basically lamb broth. I generally don't eat cute or baby animals, but I have no qualms about drinking their bath-water. In some strange way I do feel like this soup got my juices flowing and ready to really get to eating. Next came out a fairly weak salad of iceberg lettuce and a few sliced tomatos. I ate it but I felt like they got the salad in a time-machine from the 1980s.
The oven-fired flatbread/lavash/naan was awesome. Great to use to scoop up the saucy dishes. We all shared the Foul (pronounced "fool") (Fava Beans topped with tomato, onion, olives oils. sesame sauce) and the Soft Kidney Beans (with tomato onion and olive oil or with eggs). Both were just great. Wifey and I shared the Chicken Kebab which was cooked perfectly. Slightly charred on the outside (in a good way), large blocks/squares of all white meat, seasoned well. It also came with a side of Mushakal (Mixed Vegetables, Potatoes, Green Peas, Squash) which was yummy. Our friends (who told us they were pregnant with their first kid at the beginning of the meal by the way) keep kosher so they didn't partake. They were pretty bummed when they were told there was no fish because of Ramadan. I on the other hand was very happy because apparently this fish comes with head and tail and all, yuck! Instead they ordered Salto which they seemed to enjoy, but wifey had some and REALLY did not like it at all.
I did love the sweet, spicy tea. The waiter was extremely nice, but not very attentive. He didn't stop by often enough. Now to the other stuff that appeared in some of the previous reviews I read. The place is not dirty at all, however, they took probably 30+ minutes to clear the other tables once people finished their meals and left, so maybe that's why some were commenting on it not being clean. Yes, the folks at the table next to us tore into their meal like a pack of wild dogs and the table looked it after they left. This place probably could do with cleaning those tables off much sooner, but no one in my group thought the place was dirty. And the meal was incredibly inexpensive. We had what seemed like a TON of food and the meal was $10/person including tax and tip.
Best of all, this place has Canada Dry Ginger Ale like my Grandma used to, and I love that stuff, so Yemen Cuisine gets bonus points for that! So in summary: Food was great, service could have been better, tables need to be cleaned off much faster, not dirty, cheap as hell, no fish on Ramadan. Enjoy!
I have to give this 12-ft wide dive 5 stars for its combination of authenticity and excellence, despite the filth. But I'm assuming the filth is part of the authenticity, so if any Yemeni Yelpers quarrel with my unstated conclusion that this culture doesn't give a rats ass about cleanliness, so be it.
The bathroom was the filthiest and stinkiest I've ever seen or tried to pee in. It smelled so bad I couldn't pee because I would have gagged had I stayed in there longer, so I decided to hold it. The apparent "regulars" were using it serially to wash their hands before they dined. Honestly: use a shit hole to wash your hands? Genius.
Now, one would think a grossed out, gotta-pee person would just leave. But, I admit I didn't. I couldn't. My cretin inner epicure overtook my bladder and my common sense. So, I decided we would wait for the food.
The food was so delicious I couldn't leave without cleaning the plates. We had a white kidney bean dish seasoned so well it made becoming vegan seem plausible. The stewed lamb was off-the-bone and off the charts. Seasoned so well it made becoming vegan seem laughable.
The boss apologized for bringing back the Amex Card because they don't take Amex cards. We paid cash. No problem. He didn't know that he didn't take Amex cards, because no one had tried using an Amex card in there since he'd begun accepting credit cards.
I walked him outside to show him on the front door that his credit card decals included an Amex decal. So, he took it off the door right in front of me.
The whole meal was $24 with a generous tip.
One of the essentials.
Decor leaves a little to be desired and I am always the only female in there, but that's ok since the portions are plentiful and the food is tasty.
I'm veg so usually get the foul w/egg or the white kidney beans w/tomato and olive oil. The latter is the best despite how boring it sounds. Costs $5 or $6. I usually share it with a meat-eater because it's too much for one person but not quite enough for two (unless you're not that hungry). Huge flatbead straight from the brick oven (they'll likely bring you a new one once the first gets cold) is great and why I refrain from getting takeout.
Free sweet tea (and evaporated milk if you're into that) is self-serve next to the gaterade water dispenser.
P.S. food is better here than Yemen Cafe on Atlantic imo.
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb........
then Yemen cuisine scooped it up and I ate it
Dead animal in my belly. Yum
I'm torn between giving it 4 and 5 stars, but I'm feeling stingy today so 4 it is.
I went here…
Read more »
Having spent six months in Sana'a, I was really excited to share an authentic experience with my wife. What I got was a little too authentic of a third world experience.
The pros:
The food is legit! Salta, foul, lamb, it's all just like in Sana'a. I asked the waiter if they ever do Sabia bread on special occasions and he said yes. Sabia is kinda like baklava, but it's made on pizza pans and the women spend hours making it. Sabia and tea with milk equals an amazing culinary experience. If you are a regular here, ask your waiter if you can attend the next time they make it. Yem's are very courteous and hospitable people. If you know what Sabia is, they will gladly have you over.
The con's:
There is only two Yemeni restaurants in NYC and for that reason I would have thought it would be cleaner. I have been to dirtier restaurants in other countries, but this is probably as dirty as it gets in the states. So you can either look at it like it's authentic to the culture of the people, or just a dirty place that doesn't really do much to attract clientele outside of immigrants from that area.
Let me start off by saying that I love hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and I was so excited to give Yemen Cuisine a try! I was with two other people, so we ordered three different dishes. People weren't kidding when they noted that you get so much more than what you paid for...way more. As we were eating food that I imagined was fit for the Gods (very good), a rat so big that it should be counted in the 2010 Census ran through the restaurant!!! That was enough to have us haul out of there mid-meal with no chances of returning. It was that coupled with a dingy restaurant and the staff's lackluster response that did it for me. On our way out a guy exclaimed, "It's no big deal, it's just a rat." For that reason, sadly I'll never return despite the friendly waiter and great food. Le sigh.
Delicious, inexpensive food. The hummus + fresh bread is a must try. We had the chicken gelaph for dinner; though not tremendously adventurous, but the flavor was wonderful and portion large enough for two.
Eating here was a bit of a strange experience. The staff paid very little attention to the diners, but they were friendly enough when engaged.
The food was worth the interaction, though. It's plentiful and cheap. For half the cost of other restaurants in the area I got twice as much food. Plenty for lunch the next day.
And it was good. Full of spice and roasted to perfection.
I'll go back, but maybe for takeout next time.
Upon entering Yemen Cuisine, you truly feel as though you've entered a foreign land. The atmosphere and ambiance (or lack thereof) immediately brought me back to my 24 hours in Tangier, Morocco. I was one of the two females in there. My two male companions, and the couple sitting next to us were the only American's - the rest were middle eastern men.
I ordered the foul and grilled half chicken. My friends ordered the hummus and a couple lamb dishes, but I dont eat lamb. The salad, which comes w/the dishes, is tasty. The foul and hummus were both very filling and delicious. The grilled chicken was most tender and flavorful. This is all served w/giant piping hot flatbread - also great. The lamb dishes came w/a tasty rice mixed w/saffron - also lovely. I was not a fan of the soup that also accompanies all the dishes.
As others have mentioned, the self-serve hot spiced tea up front is amazing. Be sure to add a big splash or two of the evaporated milk straight from the can.
A note on the portions - very generous. I went home w/plenty of left-overs... Yum for later... Oh, and the bill came out to $56 before tax...
I feel like I flew off to Yemen, and went to eat at a local dive in the seedy part of town. All it cost me was the $2 to take the A train to Borough Hall. I had a case in Downtown Brooklyn yesterday, and looked forward to having a yelp-assisted lunch to remember. Yelp did not disappoint.
I looked for hot lunch spots on Yelp's mobile app. I could eat Tacos Plus or go to Yemen. Being a foodie, you know I'm going to try out the Yemeni experience.
On the fringe of Brooklyn Heights the neighborhood was kinda nice. In fact I found the most cool Trader Joe's in the whole world (that review is coming soon), and at least a couple fancy froyo places for a cool treat.
Across the street from the Trader Joe's (in a large former bank building) was a street that seemingly could have been from somewhere far from New York.
Yemen Cuisine was in the middle of the block, flanked by Abu Nasser Travel, a translation service, an ethnic video and music store, and some tiny shops selling merchandise, that could've been from a side street in Yemen.
I approached the restaurant, being sure to absorb the whole dive vibe. I immediately spied their menu on the window, and proceeded to review their food and try to figure out what to get before even stepping foot inside.
I went inside to find a place with black mismatched chairs, and lots of men sitting at look-like-restaurant-surplus-but-nice-in-an-eclect ic-way tables eating their authentic food. There were words being spoken, here and there, but not one was in English. I made my way to an empty table along the wall and sat down.
The only waiter for the entire restaurant came in a moment to bring food for some of the other tables. His greeting was friendly and in English. I had to ask for a menu; it was the only menu that I saw used that day. Everyone else seemed to be a regular, or at least knew what they wanted to order.
Knowing that I wanted to get lamb, even before starting my trek to Yemen, I was deciding between the roasted lamb and the small pieces of lamb. I went with the small pieces, which was cooked in a curried sauce, and got it served on a bed of hummus. The man at the next table was having that dish, and it looked good. The waiter had recommended the roasted lamb, and I will come back to have it in the future.
The waiter was busy bringing food for the various tables. I people watched for the 10-15 minutes while I waited for my food to be prepared. At one point, the waiter brought water to a number of tables, including mine. I inhaled the clean-tasting water (seemed to be filtered), and the cup sat empty the whole time until the very end when I waved my empty cup gently toward the waiter, who brought another cup of cool fresh goodness, which on a hot day was much appreciated.
Half-wall faux brick paneling suggested the place might've been an Italian dive restaurant in a past life, or least looks like it.
No one has utensils (except for the occasional spoon being used for soup). The meals are delivered with a freshly baked Yemen bread that looks vaguely like a baked Grimaldi pizza dough, without the pizza (no mozzarella, no sauce, so basil). Just a big disc of fluffy tasty bread.
This place puts 5-napkin burger to shame. By the time I was done with my lamb platter, I had a pile of 8-napkins. Remember, there are no utensils, and I was a Yemeni food novice. I learned that using small pieces of bread to scoop up the curried lamb and the hummus, resulted in unintended finger dippage. So I learned quickly to use bigger pieces of bread to scoop up my delicious food.
At one point, I was all proud of myself because I had figured out an effective 2-handed technique with 2 pieces of bread; using one to push the food onto the other. Then, I stopped suddenly. I remembered that in some parts of the world, you eat only with one hand, the clean hand. The other hand is the dirty hand and is used for other purposes. I looked around the restaurant to see Yemeni men ripping the breads apart with 2 hands. Relief.
Continued eating until all the lamb and hummus were dutifully scraped up off my plate. I sat there with an empty water glass, slowly picking at and finishing off the fresh fluffy bread.
At no point did I see a check being presented nor did I see anyone paying for lunch. After asking for my water, I also asked how much for my meal. The waiter quoted the exact price that was listed on the menu $11. The portions are large enough to share with a friend.
This place is a total dive. Don't come here and complain about the service or the ambience. Once you walk through the doors, you are no longer in New York but in a far away place on a seedy street with good food just oozing authenticity and character. Don't even think of imposing your notion of what is normal on this place. You will come for the food. You will come for the travel adventure, without need to go to the airport, a security screening, and an extremely long flight.
Enjoy your trip to Yemen. WT worthy !!
Listed in: Exotic Travels with a…
Went here when my boyfriend wanted Indian, but we couldn't find a place with decent reviews. We saw the reviews on Yelp and decided to give it a try.
We're glad we did! While yes - this is a run-down, bare-bones, dive-y looking place, the food is top notch, cheap, and plentiful. We had the foul (pronounced "fool" - I embarrassed myself calling it "fowl") and chicken curry with two ginormous pieces of fresh-baked bread. We order the roasted lamb, too, but walked out without it because I don't think the guy heard me. Not to worry- it's a reason for us to go back!
First, a confession: I didn't even know where Yemen is much less what the food is like. But after dinner here I feel like like I've gotten in touch with my Yemeni roots, found a distant relative who invited me in for dinner, ignored me half the time but overfed me with some of the most tasty, delicious food I've had in a long while. Who says you can't go home again?
First - the food is fresh and flavorful, often meaty and always very good tasting and very, very cheap.
Also - the atmosphere is not posh but delightfully run-down and bare bones. The first thing my quirky and slightly irritable waiter did was spin the table in circles to find the least wobbly point. There's a laminated one-sheet menu, dime-store plates and water that doesn't get filled unless you ask. And the place isn't dimly lit as much as it is oddly lit, especially if you sit under the green neon "Yemen Cuisine" sign in the window.
We ordered the foul, the roasted lamb dish (with the "Cultural Platter" which means: something Yemeni that's not rice - in our case a bubbling cauldron of fenugreek-infused tomato/potato/bean stew) and the chicken curry. And there was bread a plenty - wonderful, handmade round platters of flavorful flat bread.
Everything came with soup and salad - whether we like it our not, it seemed. The soup was a lamb broth, a warming cure-all. The salad was simple greens topped with some sort of tomato/salsa dressing. I've never had anything like it - it was tangy and it the spot.
The foul was basically a fava bean dip and very good. The curry was very tasty. But the lamb was incredible. Roasted so slow that it melted off the bone, held together only by the roasted-to-a crust outside. Mouth watering.
And throughout the meal the waiter confused us with strange questions and forgot our request for plates but he won my heart and brought us truly satisfying food (which, most likely was what we ordered...it's hard to know for sure).
At the end we couldn't eat another bite and paid out $13 each (including tip) for the feast.
We were presented with to-go cups of sweet, spicy tea and we ducked under the metal door they had halfway lowered in order to close up and wandered Brooklyn Heights, digesting.
I must be in touch more often with my Yemeni kin.
Something you should know before checking this place out. It may have its phone wiretapped. Not because there's anything egregious going on, but because it is about as yemeni and traditional as you can get. There's nothing here from the outside that makes you think you are in America besides the English on the menu or in the air spoken by the minority Brooklynites in the area. That being said, it's some of the most authentic food around. Actually, I've never been to Yemen, but if I did I can gander that this would be near it.
My evidence:
Article A. The tables are mostly huge tables meant for groups of people to eat. This is no big surprise, though, because most of the other yemeni restaurants in the area do the same thing.
Article B. Lots of yemeni-style food. There's no dilution or catering to Egyptian or Morrocan or Persian food here. Straight yemeni food. (again, as far as I can tell).
Article C. No waiters, exactly. You go up, order your food, and sit down until they come to serve it to you. Most dishes are to be shared, and you get this amazing bread that they bake fresh (the yemeni flatbread also common at these restaurants). In the back, you can see the huge ovens and vats of stuff they'll serve you.
Article D. That's it. No fancy decour, no televisions or big speaker system with the latest Arabic/Persian music, it's just about the food here.
It took me a few passes-by to get the nerve to go in. But when I walked by during the lunch hour, the smell drug me in. I can't vet the cleanliness or the healthiness of the food, but then again, you don't go to these sort of restaurants if you're too worried about that stuff.
Overall, this is a unique place which may go the way of the immigrant Italian neighborhood that was once what Cobble Hill was all about.
See a photo at http://www.flickr.com/...
Best restaurant in NYC for me. Definitely get the foul, it's a meal in itself for 5 clams.
The bread's always fresh and piping hot. Everything I've had here is delicious and there's free spiced tea by the drink cooler.
The authentically-cheap decor only adds to the experience and the food is an insanely good bargain......two people can eat well for $14. I've even had my bill randomly lowered a few times - the guys that run the place are pretty swell.
Sometimes they close a little early (8, 8:30 or so), so heads up.
Wow, i had a bite of the roasted lamb it hit my taste buds just right. We also ordered one of the "culture" sides, a vegetable curry of some sort, and a chicken platter. My favorite was def the roasted lamb. It was juicy and I don't know what herbs they put on it but the flavor was throughout the meat and every bite was just sooo goood.
I went with four people and we split 2 platters + some extra bread and it was just right. The total for the meal was $28!!! Amazing!!!
this place is awsome. they even gave us complimentary soup which was just broth but it was bomb. huge portions, good atmosphere, check out the walls when your there. oh and the waiters can help you choose what to eat.
oh and one more thing, you know a place is good when people of orgin are only in the resturant, aka japanese people in a sushi place indian in an indian place
I would order to go if you can... The white bean app and the naan bread are a must eat. The atmosphere is horrible which is why I gave them three stars.
I'm fairly new to the "salta" phenomenon - but I can tell you this much, the guys at this place (aka "Yemen Cusine") really know what they're doing. You want salta with lamb - no problem. Want extra okra and potatoes - no problem. More of that amazing grilled/baked bread - you've got it. Outstanding and (embarrassingly) cheap for the portions of delicious food. What are you waiting for?
Neighborhood: Cobble Hill
Neighborhood: Cobble Hill
Neighborhood: Cobble Hill
Neighborhood: Downtown Brooklyn
Neighborhood: Cobble Hill
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