Kalila literally means beloved and it emphasizes people’s love and admiration for fresh bread. Kalila is an oriental bakery and café that draws its inspiration from different oriental regions such as Turkey, Morocco, Lebanon and India.
The concept of Kalila goes back to the fundamentals of age-old bread-making traditions and the merging of the oriental bread with the coffee. It is a casual venue where one can find fresh bakery goods that are displayed on rustic wooden shelves and enjoy a light meal and freshly made beverages.
Kalila’s design is a mix between the old and the new, the contemporary and the authentic. There is an open kitchen that has oriental ovens, where diners can watch the process of making fresh bread in wooden stone ovens and saj.
The atmosphere is very friendly, and with no shisha around, it makes for a better place to experience and focus on the food. The café seats around 110 diners at a time. The seatings vary from sofa chairs and sofas to metal chairs for bigger gatherings. There is a wall that displays wooden baking materials and items fashioned in a very artistry and attractive manner.
The café specializes in fresh, organic, light and healthy food and juices. The menu has a great variety of soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts. They use local oriental ingredients in all their recipes and their sandwiches are made with freshly baked bread from their in-house bakery.
The Ramadan menu offers five courses; from soups, salads, appetizers and main dish to desserts and beverages.
For appetizers, which are placed on the table as soon as the diners arrive, there is a plate of dates, basket of fresh baked bread, mixed baked mouajanat and fish tajine made of hamour fillet (grouper fish), tahini, fresh chili, onion, lemon and bell peppers.
Diners can choose between chicken vegetable soup and the famous Moroccan Harira soup, which is rich tomato soup with lentils, chickpeas, onion, rice, herbs and spices. This is a great treat for iftar.
For salads, there is the oriental green salad, which is great for vegetarians. A recommendation of Chef Michael Karam, the salad is a perfect balance between sweet and sour; it includes green apples, pomegranate on a bed of rocca salad and balsamic vinegar and lemon sauce.
The chicken oriental green salad is highly recommended and comprises grilled vegetables and marinated chicken on a bed of rocca salad.
Diners get to choose between two popular Moroccan dishes; one being the lamb chop couscous, which comprises carrots and chickpeas and has a sweet flavor to it because of the honey used in the tomato sauce; and the other being the Ras Hanoot, a highly recommended dish comprising marinated grilled chicken breasts on a bed of tomato sauce mixed with 30 different oriental spices and a side of fried potato cubes.
All dishes are presented in simple style, giving them a feel of home-cooked meals.
For dessert, Kalila offers top of the line oriental dishes. Rice kunafa is a delicious option; it consists of rice, cheese and breadcrumbs and is served in small pottery bowls. Ramadan special desserts and fruit salads are also on offer.
Kalila has a great selection of juices. Its Ramadan specials are Jellab and Qamar El Din.
Expect to pay: SR 125 for their Ramadan special iftar menu.
Opening hours: From 5 p.m. for take aways. Kalila remains open for iftar and closes after the Isha prayer. It opens for dinner at 10 p.m. and closes at 3 a.m.
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