Syriana Sea Point has become a firm favourite on the Cape Town halaal restaurant scene. Especially amongst the millennials who enjoy casual comfort, big groups and shisha. It’s no wonder they have taken the Number 1 spot in the Hungry for Halaal Top 5 restaurants for 2018.

They have made some new menu additions and we were invited to try them. It had been a while since I had been there but very little has changed in the form of décor. You can read more about it in my previous review here.

Most of the new items included ostrich meat and they have a new range of milkshakes as well. We opted for the Syriana Moutabbal for me, the Ostrich Shuquaf for him and a Chicken Shawarma Mana’oashe for the little guy. My lemon mint Polo which is a crushed ice drink with lemon and mint was refreshing but a tad too tart. I rather enjoyed Zulfi’s Mojito instead and had to keep myself from just taking it over. Taufeeq just had to have a milkshake but instead of trying one of the new speciality shakes which included their popular Fererro flavor as well as new Pistachio we ordered what we thought would be a more suitable one for a 6 year old from the standard milkshake menu. What we got was still a bit of a serious confection as they don’t do kiddies sizes.

My Moutabbal consisted of a lemony Babaganoushe made with grilled eggplant, tahini and yoghurt topped with a ground beef and Syrian tomato gravy. The menu says it’s beef cubes but it was finer than cubes but chunkier than mince. It’s served with pita bread which is dipped into mixture and eaten. The spices for the sauce are brought from Syria and it reflects in the flavor which was quite intense and not something I could put my finger on. The Ostrich Shuquaf consisted of grilled Ostrich cubes served with hummus and chips under a soft Syrian wrap covered in a sweet sticky sauce. The meat was nicely done, not dry and the meal filling. Taufeeq’s Mana’oashe was like a very cheesy chicken pizza. The chicken was slightly spicy but not hot. Usually middle eastern food tends to the bland, but all the dishes we had this time were spicier than what I’ve had at Syriana before. Could be they are satisfying a more Capetonian palate.

I had my first taste of Kunafa. An Arabian dessert comprising melted cheese with traditionally made dough baked and topped with Syrian syrup. This was brought to the table sizzling hot but you can’t let it cool down too much as the cheese gets chewy. It’s an interesting contrast between the cheese and the sweet syrupy pastry topping. I enjoyed it but I think a slightly thinner layer of cheese would have been preferable.

I found their prices still a bit high with the average main at R150, the new milkshakes at about R60 and the desserts nothing less than R80. Having said that, the Kunafa served 2 of us but I’m not sure if the same is true of the other desserts. They are popular though so it seems people are happy to pay more if they like the experience.

Find more info about them here.