I got stuck in on-and-off heavy rain today on кӯчаи Айни so, although it was too early for supper, I decided why not try meze (أكل خفيف) at Al Sham as I am close by?? Truth be told, I didn't have high expectations for the culinary level of this establishment.
Let's start with what impressed me.
Barak (?) of spinach I understood to be فطيرة of spinach; this was marvelous. The pastry was baked perfectly and the spinach inside was ample and as fresh as can be. In addition, no goofy sauce was dripped on them (as the chef did on the kubba and ar-rayes). Likely the best spinach fatayer I have ever eaten.
Kubba were four small marbles the diameter of an average falafel ball but rounder and oblate (as they stick out at each end as, I would add, they should); Kubba is one of my favorites having indulged in them in humble eateries to five star hotels across a range of Middle Eastern countries over the last thirty years and I never seen such stingy ones. Pity because the fried cracked wheat shell is the correct thickness and the meat inside is delicious (although I did not find any pine nuts). Better to have a plate of two normal-size kubba (although that will eat into your profit margin a bit as the ratio of meat to cracked wheat will increase) than those four laughable marbles. Also tell the chef to refrain from dripping some inscrutable liquid on the kubba as some kind of misplaced culinary flourish. It detracts from the taste of the kubba. No normal chef serves kubba sprayed with some liquid on top.
Hummus looked terrific and was passable but has some sourness to it. It still was good with the fantastic fresh-baked mini pitas but should have been more delicious. A better grade of olive oil on top might also be advisable. [Recently, I had much better even outside the mashreq in a restaurant in Yerevan, Armenia, called Nor Aleppo.]
As for the baba ghanouj, it was marred by the chef's propensity to douse dishes with inscrutable liquids and was served on a longish plate of three small hillocks of baba ghanouj. In short, portion size was a bit lacking and was not quite as flavorful as it should have been but it was enjoyable enough with the fresh-baked mini-pitas.
Last course before dessert was the ar-rayyis of meat. Again, the chef doused yet another item with another barrage of liquid much to my discomfiture. However, this dish was not prepared to standard irrespective of the needless spraying. It was more like two layers of laham ajeen pressed together into a sandwich; it fell apart when eating it. Worse, it was neither spiced correctly, be it ar-rayyis or laham ajeen. The chopped meat appeared undercooked but I am okay with eating even raw meat if it is fresh like the famous Lebanese dish kubba nayya. In this instance, to cut to the chase, last was least.
Shortly afterwards, a dessert menu was presented to me. Among other items, it had two types of cheese cake: one with chocolate, one without. Hardly a Middle Eastern staple dessert; I would have preferred mahalabiyya, which is easy to make, but, okay, I like a good cheese cake. The cheese cake was good but why not tell the customer that it is not plain but comes with some fruity jelly (cherry?) on top? (I removed 90% of that topping.) I see that strawberries are in season. Why not have 2-4 strawberries on top or on the side (instead of some sugary stuff if the chef feels compelled to embellish the plain cheesecake in some way)? Washed down with a good espresso. Nice combination.
The waitress needs to be a little less attentive and give the customer some space. [I have had girlfriends who paid less attention to me than she.] When ready to order something to drink, the customer will order something. No need to badger! For me, badgering, worse obsequiousness, is a big turn off. (I don't blame her; I assume she has been trained by management to be that way). All that for a 15% service charge add-on.
Overall vibe to this restaurant has overtones of pretension but the food is not haute cuisine. However, pебята in Al Sham were friendly and normal and we had a laugh or two when I told them "Ta Дидан!" upon leaving.
Al-Sham refers to a part of the mashreq constituting Syria, Lebanon and Palestine; if the restaurant has not prepared the shami arabic food to high standard, I would be less likely to venture to try the khaleeji (mandi rice) dishes or the maghrebi dishes. By the way, I lived in Morocco six years and there is no tajine with lamb (alone) or tagine with chicken (alone). There are several variations but notable are tajine lamb with plums (avec pruneaux) [or less common, but also quite delicious, with quince (سفرجل) or tajine chicken with olives so that the Moroccan portion of the menu is puzzling to me.
Interior is nice enough and seating is comfortable. If deemed necessary to play music at all times, perhaps have some greater variety.