Tonight we were at Tayybeh newest location on West Broadway. I remembered when this women’s own and operated business was just doing catering and then journeyed into expanding their offerings into packaged dips and chips. And from there their foray into ready made frozen meals. I was also there when they opened their first stand alone restaurant. So now seeing them expand further and grow into this elevated space with full dine-in menu, it feels like a success story.
They still employ an all women team and sponsor women from Syria with employment opportunities in any one of their businesses.
I have visited the actual space many times before, in one of its many reincarnations. It is dark and a little aged, most notable in the furnishings. The live greenery Tayybeh has added does what it can to rejuvenate the room.
The menu is extensive with many familiar Middle Eastern dishes and many more I have yet to explore. We would order a few of my favourites and a couple of dishes our server recommended.
I am a fan of their aforementioned crispy pita chips, available in specialty stores, so had to order their Dip Trio in order to get a taste of them today. This was hummus, mutabbal, and muhammara served with both soft pita and crunchy chips. Each homemade and deliciously full of flavour.
Our server highly recommended the Kibbeh. Three pieces of Bulgur shell filled with seasoned halal beef and spices. It was basically a breaded meat ball stuffed with ground beef. The texture and consistency reminded me of shepherd’s pie, just minus the vegetables. Therefore, I had it with the spring rolls below, as I didn’t find the pomegranate molasses all that complimentary here.
The Levantine Rolls were crispy rolls filled with a savoury blend of seasoned vegetables and Levantine spices. They looked and ate like spring rolls with a similar thin fried wrap, and had a warming spice to them. Served with hummus, I didn’t find this a dynamic pairing, so had it with the beef balls above for what I felt like a more complete bite.
Anytime I see Crispy Cauliflower it is a must for me. Golden cauliflower, self dipped into pomegranate molasses. Best eaten as soon as it lands on the table, so that the florets are still crispy and then only get softened by the weight of the thick syrupy dip.
My guest was curious about the Spiced Potato, so we ordered a dish. This was exactly as the menu described. Diced up cubes of crispy potato tossed in coriander, paprika, and spices. This served best as a side to my Shepard’s pie recreation above.
As for entrees, I love lamb and it is one of the proteins I don’t cook for myself, so I had to try theirs. I was not disappointed. Tender slow-cooked lamb, presented over Mandi rice, topped with almonds, served with hummus and fattoush salad. This was a fully rounded plate, covering all the food groups. The lamb was as fatty and tender as I had hoped, excellent with the perfectly cooked rice. The sides offered nice breaks in between bites, but I enjoyed this with some of the yogurt sauce below best.
We were both curious to discover what a Syrian dumpling would look like. I did confirm that it would have a dough wrapper before committing to the order, not wanting another ground beef meat ball situation. Although this did have the same filling of minced beef, seasoned in similar spices. This is Sheesh Barak, handmade meat dumplings in a yogurt sauce topped with almonds, and served with white rice and pita chips.
Unfortunately my guest has dairy allergies and we thought we could skirt around them by ordering the yogurt sauce on the side. Little did we know that this would have the dumplings arriving at our table hard and a challenge to chew through. She couldn’t get through one and I ended up having to soak the rest in the soup of yogurt to soften and inject some moisture. This is also how the dish is intended, so I wouldn’t recommend making any substitutions with this one. As for its sides, we enjoyed the rice and were happy to have extra for the lamb above, but would not think of having it with the dumplings for carbs on carbs. This would have been better as an appetizer.
In short, it is wonderful that West Broadway is getting its own authentic Syrian restaurant, and based on the crowd this evening, the neighbourhood agrees.
Tayybeh | Dine-in Takeout and Catering
151 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5Y 1P4
(236) 471-6257
tayybeh.com
