Princess Leila was a powerful, just but harsh ruler. Her reign covered a huge part of the Middle East. As an excellent ruler, she wanted to get to know more countries and bring out the best and most valuable in them. One hot day, she decided to send her best subordinate Ahmed to gather information and bring back their most precious things from countries stretching from West Africa to Syria. Ahmed, at the command of the ruler, went on a long journey. He reached Morocco - from where he brought back a recipe for excellent Zaaluk - grilled eggplant, tomatoes, garlic and cilantro. Later, traversing more countries, he stopped in Egypt-where he discovered a dish of lamb and okra with tomatoes-Bamia.

    The next place he reached was Palestine- treated to a drink with a peculiar taste, he brought back a wild herb- Maramia, which was the main ingredient of the brew,. Moving from Palestine he got to Jordan, where he discovered the excellent taste of crispy Falafels, after a satiating dinner he was brewed an aromatic coffee with cardamom.

    Intrigued by new flavors, he traveled further to Saudi Arabia from where he brought back a new flavor of smoked rice with raisins and juicy chicken leg - Bohari. From there he moved on to Lebanon and Syria, countries that treated him to tender lamb chops - Riyash, an extremely healthy tabouleh, whose main ingredient turned out to be parsley and burghul groats. He ended his journey in Iraq - where he got a taste of Kybba - lamb meat with burghul groats served in different forms depending on the region. 

    With all the knowledge he had acquired, Ahmed returned to Princess Leila's court. He spent long hours telling stories about the journeys he had traveled, the precious information he had acquired, recipes and "treasures" from different countries. Princess Leila, delighted by Ahmed's stories, ordered that all these dishes be prepared and served at parties where she invited the most important guests. They began to serve them in a new way - Mezze - all the dishes on small plates so that everyone could taste all the dishes. 

    The Legend presented is almost true. The beautiful portrait of Princess Leila that decorates our restaurant was painted by Aleksandra Orlovskaya.