Al Enam is a restaurant that is located in what we felt a strange part of London. It’s basically an industrial estate with a lot factories and their likes around. But then there’s random restaurants and a lot of bakeries scattered in the midst of them too. Strange.
It is a restaurant that does authentic homely Iraqi food. And judging by how busy it was despite the location suggests they do it well! Most of the clientele were Iraqis too and those that evidently knew the owners and workers (so repeat customers). This is what we witnessed as we waited in the long queue on a Sunday morning. We had to wait about half an hour to get seated.
They close relatively early if you compare it to traditional restaurants in London – 7pm. You can do breakfast, lunch and dinner here, but if you read the reviews and see the weekend morning queues, you’ll know the real highlight here is the ahhhmazing breakfast. Authentic, hearty and a good variety of sweet and savoury Iraqi breakfast dishes make this restaurant stand out. I love breakfast and I love discovering and trying breakfast dishes from different parts of the world. So, to discover that this gem offers authentic Iraqi breakfast – we were excited!! Iraqi breakfast is known to have some really unique dishes that you won’t find in other Arab cuisines. There’s sweet options and there’s savoury options. There is literally something for everyone. With this cuisine I feel the history is as deep and rich as the food. A country rich in its history and traditions usually has an amazing variety of food – there is no surprise in this correlation. Just look at China and India for prime examples. Unfortunately, due to the situation in Iraq that has been in existence for literally all of my lifetime, the food (and culture) isn’t very well known. Thankfully, Al Enam offers authentic home cooked Iraqi dishes in an awesome modernish setting.
What we got:
Breakfast dishes:
- Iraqi Kahi
- Baggileh B’il-Dihn
- Zatar & Cheese Manaqeesh
- Iraqi Lamb Chilli Fry
Lunch dishes:
- Lamb Quzi – Neck Meat
- Falafel & Hummus Plate
- Fattoush Salad
- Chips
- Cardamon Tea
- Mango juice
- Tanoor bread (complimentary with main meal)
As you can see, a proper feast. All of this set us back £59 plus £5.90 service charge. Not bad for some proper authentic Iraqi food (which is hard to find) in London!
What we thought:
There was only two of us and we ordered a mammoth amount of food – so much so that there was literally no room on the table. We got a lot of looks from other customers and each and every waiter walking past each and every time. In this post I will just focus on some of the dishes: those that are specific to the Iraqi cuisine and those that stood out for us.
Iraqi Kahi
There are two Iraqi national breakfast staples; one sweet and one savoury. Kahi is the sweet staple. It is thinly layered crispy filo pastry that is oven baked and then drenched in syrup. Traditionally it is served with a sugar syrup or Qaymer – this is basically buffalo cream (like clotted cream) with honey (called kaymak in Turkish cuisine). Kahi is a popular market breakfast in Iraq and is commonly consumed with tea or coffee. Unfortunately, they were sold out of Qaymer when we went, so we couldn’t try that combo. Had to order the kahi on its own. It came with sugar syrup and to be honest despite being a little disappointed with the qaymer not being available, this was still delicious and one of the best things we had here! Really good! And judging by how many people were ordering this, it is clearly a crowd favourite. So, kahi with qaymer in a nutshell is layers of flaky pastry drenched in a sweet syrup topped with clotted cream – not surprisingly a crowd favourite.
Baggileh B’il-Dihn
This is the savoury breakfast staple. The name translates to “beans with fat”, appetising… In a nutshell it is fried eggs on top of broad beans which is on top of soaked pita bread. To say it is heavy is an understatement. This is a dish that needs to be shared between 4 I’d say. How was it? It was decent and we can see how it is a breakfast dish, but we probably wouldn’t be ordering this again. Maybe just a little too much going on here.
Iraqi Lamb Chilli Fry
Some refer to this as the Iraqi fajita. This was one of the standout dishes for us. Definitely order this. Nice flavours.
Lamb Quzi – Neck Meat
This is one of the classic national dishes in Iraq. This is a main dish unlike the previous three. It’s basically rice, meat (you choose between neck and shoulder) and some vegetable curry/sauce. It was decent, but I prefer my rice having spicy flavours over sweet – this was siding towards the sweet flavours. The meat was tender and came right of the bone. I haven’t tried this dish anywhere else and we had this towards the end, so it may be unfair to comment or compare. Need to try this at other places before I can make a conclusive comment on this dish.
Falafel & Hummus Plate and the Fattoush Salad
Usually can’t go wrong with falafel and hummus and that is definitely the case here too. A must side order for the table to share. The fattoush salad was slightly different to what we were used – a little tangier.
Cardamon Tea
The cardamon flavour was strong on this one! And I mean strong! I did like it, but if cardamon is not your thing, you won’t.
Overall
A great spot to try some authentic Iraqi food. The look and feel of the restaurant is such a vibe. And their menu is very intriguing and extensive – the breakfast menu alone is be back for! A true London hidden gem. And an added bonus is the baklava shop next door – make sure you pick up a nice selection from there!
Getting there
Nearest station: North Acton
Nearest mosque: Park Royal Mosque / Al Salaam Islamic Centre
Parking: restaurant’s own parking outside (not too many spots) / parking on the street outside weekends and evenings free
