SemSom
The Courtyard, Rawdah St
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Tel: 02 6068600
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So another Lebanese eatery has hit our shores, with an already established reputation in Beirut, SemSom offers Lebanese Cuisine ‘with a Twist’. The casual dining feel is worlds apart from the other Lebanese restaurants in town, you’ll find no shabby or sticky table cloths here.
Instead it’s all smart wooden floorboards, solid teak seating and smartly dressed staff. The focus here seems to be on both presentation and quality, and I’m happy to report the attention extended from both the interior to the food itself. The Lebanese music playing on arrival added some authenticity to the equation, and just in case that wasn’t enough, there are dozens of black & white photos of Lebanese icons and historical ruins to bring home the message that this is a Lebanese restaurant.
As I was visiting solo, I chose not to dine in, although I did take a seat while I waited for my order to be prepared ( which can’t have taken much longer than fifteen minutes to prepare). Not wanting to overdo it, I ordered only a handful of the numerous dishes on offer here. Trying the Mixed Grill, Red Tabbouleh, Eggplant Motabal, Aish Essaraya for dessert, and a Mango Smoothie.
A few of the above weren’t my first choices, as some dishes aren’t available for Takeaway, The Trio (three flavour) Tabbouleh being one, and the Ruz (Rice) Crème Brule being the other (Apparently these are pre prepared).
As for the verdict on food, On the Whole I was quite impressed, the Mixed Grill was as it should be, hot flavoursome, so far so good. The Cool Mango Smoothie was also very good, reminding me of my much favoured Mango Lassi I always order whenever at Busabaeathai in London. The Egpplant Motabal was also pleasant, the only shortfall here was the bread, which was the usual Arabic pita type in plastic bags, Fresh bread like that prepared at Abou Shakra would be nice to see. As for the Red Tabbouleh, this was ok, if a little oily, but then It wasn’t my first choice, so I wouldn’t have normally ordered this.
The Open Plan kitchen which seems to be all the rage these days, seemed to work quite well, the music drowning out the usual sounds which emanate from such kitchens. As for the dessert, the Aish Essaraya (Rich Man’s Bread) was perfect, the sugared rose water brioche beautifully topped with a creamy custard topping, so simple, but so good! All in all, I think SemSom are on to a good thing, and based on the quality of much of what I did try means I wouldn’t mind eating here again.
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I loved Semsom! The tabula & fatoosh were perfect!
They have amazing margerira sticks and something, a wrap with chicken and I think spinach.. It was wonderful.
I loved how creative they were with all the basic old labnese dishes.
I like semsom coz it twist the lebnanse food
First time i went, it was fine and great to see a “gourmet” lebanese restaurant, but the service was poor, when i went to second time, i just took some to go, the food wasn’t so great so i realized it was only the atmosphere of the restaurant thats worth going.
when i went the third (and last) time, service was really poor, worse than the first time, waiters clearly unhappy at their jobs, getting angry when you change an order or just even making additional orders.. Even manager himself was really rude into rejecting a tweak change in an order, no respect whatsoever shown from the manager..
semsom is not worth going to just for the atmosphere, if I’m going to a restaurant and paying money, i expect the service at least to be decent..!! my family and my self are never going there again
The Restaurant
We heard about this new place from a friend and decided to try it out. The restaurant is only 4 and a half months old. We arrived at the restaurant about 10:30pm and it was packed, luckily they had a table for us. We were right smacked in the middle of the hustling and bustling of the restaurant! Prior reservations are advisable. The restaurant is relatively small compared to most restaurants in Jeddah and it’s very well lit up. It probably has at least 20 tables. The entire family section is a smoking section (sheesha + cigarettes). The restaurant was noisy – noise was coming from everywhere – the music and crowd. We had a tough time hearing ourselves breathe! If you are looking for a quiet dinner this is not a place for you. If I had to change in this restaurant – it would have to be the TV!!! Or at least change the channel! Why would anyone want to see sports channel on TV in a restaurant such as this – you would expect this from the American Fast Food Chains but not from this restaurant! Ok – if they MUST have a TV then may I suggest showing Lebanese tourism video instead, highlighting the many attractions in Lebanon i.e Sight and sound of Lebanon, perhaps?
Moving on: The waiters were friendly and knowledgeable. As usual, we didn’t know what to order – we ordered almost everything that looks good on the menu as well as what looks good on the table next to us.
The Food
For Starters we ordered:
- mtabal – I’ve always like mtabal so am biase. I like the smoky taste to it
- humus – humus is humus but we got humus with tomatoes and spices – I guesses that was part of the “twist”.
- fatuous – fresh salads
- egg plant sweet and sour – slightly vinegary than I would thought it would be. Presentation wasn’t that
- kebbeh mixed with Laban – very tasty.
- makaneeh with lemon sauce – nice acidity to it.
For Main we ordered
- mixed grill meat was very tender and tasty
- areez kafta ( was ok not that fantastic – I couldn’t taste the “twist”
For Desserts we decided to share:
- aish essaraya – semolina based topped with cream sprinkled with pistachios and drenched with sugar syrup. It was screaming diabetes!
Other than the noise, the smoke…the food was good, food presentation was ok. Did I mention, the waiters were friendly and very informative (they knew the food and they can actually give good recommendation).
Highly recommended (before they decide to change the chef and the before the quality of the food goes down! – it does happens)
My experience wasn’t so great there .. the food was cold, they served us a wierd dough like thing which was hard to even swallow.. the shisha wasn’t nice either.. it let me down big time!
i love every thing there !!! but i didn’t like the (tabullah )there or the (red tabullah )
I tried semsom more than once and I can say that its the best lebanese in town… its a smell of fresh air compared to what is out there… The dishes with a twist are amazing !! I loved the trio of hummous , the taboula with lentils, ra8a8at with bastirma, fish kibbeh,….
The grills and other traditional lebanese dishes are also up there at the level of the best in town…
Dont get me started on the desserts.. which are out of this world especially the cotton candy with “ward” ice cream… WOW !
As the critic said that the interior and ambience is nothing like the lebanese restaurants in jeddah.. its very trendy and casual..
I think semsom is here to dominate…
Thanks for the informations but unfortunately you did not tell us where is the location .
Dear Fahad,
all restaurants locations can be found in the information tab box, the map can be zoomed for an exact location, but if you click on the ‘Info and Details’ Button, you can also see further details, which clearly marks the location as ‘Bin Suaiman Center,Prince Sultan Road’
Best Regards
Food Critic
If i remember correctly, all of the above was about 130 SAR. Regular Mixed Grill, Red Tabbouleh, Eggplant Motabal, Aish Essaraya for dessert, and a Mango Smoothie to drink.
How are the prices? and how does it compare it Goodie’s?