This little piggy

Oh my, did I ever eat too much yesterday! I’m not sure what came over me. It started well, with porridge for breakfast. Then there was scrambled eggs for lunch, not too bad. Then honey on buttered (wholemeal) crumpets for afternoon tea. Ok not necessary but not too bad. Then three large handfuls (or more….) of cheezels. WTF? THEN dinner at Jerusalem's for Teresa’s bday. The food just. wouldn’t. stop.
We had a banquet, thanks to Teresa and K.Rudd’s generosity. It included:

• Pita bread
• Hummus
• Tabouli
• Cucumber & capsicum salad
• Falafels (best felafels in Radelaide)
• Yoghurty sultana curry rice
• Lamb Kofta
• Marinated chicken
• Lamb shish kebab
• Stuffed potatoes
• Deep fried cauliflower

That list really doesn’t seem to portray the enormity of this banquet. Or the interestingnessness of the restaurant itself. Paul and I arrived to trudge up some scarily ancient and disgusting carpeted stairs to find Kelly and Elke sitting on cushions on the floor at three long tables. Hmmm. Sitting on the floor. Dirty carpet. Dirty cushions. I was dying for a wee (naturally) so I went to the toilet (as you do). The toilet. I remember Egypt. This was like a direct portal to Egypt. It’s nice that they try to make the experience authentic. A true theme restaurant. Wet floor, ancient dirt and grime on every surface, a hand towel that looked like it was breeding alien life forms. I felt like washing my hands would actually make my hands dirtier!
I sat down on the floor to see that my classy melamine plate and plastic cup were slightly smudged, and there was an interesting yellow smear on my plate. I used my 99c shop napkin to wipe it. While sitting down I glanced around behind me and saw some sliding doors with bubble glass – and what appeared to be a TV behind it. I could make out a couch, coffee table, shelves….. people! It was a living room! The owners (I assume) literally live in this restaurant, and their living room was not a metre away, separated by some classic 70s bubble class. Gold!
The service was…. absent. There was a water cooler nearby, where people were fetching themselves glasses of refreshing liquid. I declined, thinking only of the certainly murky greenish slime inside said cooler. After about an hour (with no food yet) Paul walked into the kitchen and called out for someone to please get us a couple of jugs of soft drink, which arrived in lovely plastic smudgy jugs.
I was starting to day dream about the drive thru feast that I would have to buy on the way home when the food arrived. I was thinking that I wouldn’t eat much, as the hygiene was so lacking I was worried about getting sick. But the food was amazing. Cheap, tasty, never ending Lebanese awesomeness. I stuffed myself with pita, hommus, tabouli and felafel, thinking this was it. But plate after plate kept coming and coming. I ended up having only a quarter of a potato, to taste, a nibble of chicken to taste, a square of lamb to taste, and a nibble of cauliflower (the only disappointing dish). I must have eaten a lot of the first few plates because I was SO FULL. Maybe it was the crumpets and cheezels……
Then the best bit. The belly dancer arrived! She was really quite good, and got everyone into the spirit of things with clapping and cheering. Then she dragged the birthday girl up, followed by a couple of friends, then eventually had everyone in the room in a circle doing belly moves (quite tricky with a belly full of food!).
It was a lot of fun and a good way to end the meal before heading off to Apothecary for a night cap. We stayed for one glass of wine (for Paul, not me) before heading off around 11pm. I felt bad about leaving but really wanted to get plenty of rest for myself and my growing friend.
I have the WORST garlic breath this morning. Not just breath either. I feel it literally coming out of my pores, like a mist of garlic surrounding me.
Here are some pics of the evening. Some of these really need to be viewed full size to get the real feel of the place. Go ahead and click.