GOATS’ heads cooked underground and exotic soups made from goats’ hooves are just some of the popular Riyadh delicacies available in downtown Riyadh on the Al-Hellah Street — a place selling traditional Arab dishes that have become synonymous with Ramadan in Riyadh.
Al-Hellah Street is fabulously known for the wonderful aromatic food that is available there. The popularity of the food that is sold in this part of Riyadh can simply be gauged by a stroll down the street before Iftar time. Hungry throngs of people cluster around the shops making a simple short walk extremely arduous and long.
Ramadan-revelers tend to gather in this area to buy popular traditional meals from the wide range of restaurants that saturate the area offering diners a choice of over 40 unique dishes. Many of the restaurants in the area are famous for selling a soup called Kawari, which is made using goats’ hooves. Deliciously cooked goats’ heads are also another well-known popular delicacy. The heads of goats are cooked underground in a one and a half meter deep and a half-meter wide hole that is heated by coals behind a wall. The heads are cooked for an hour and a half and then carefully taken out; the meat is then skillfully scraped off together with the brains and tongues and made ready to serve.
Muhsin works at a restaurant on Al-Hellah Street. “Kawari soup originated in Egypt and has now spread all over the Middle East including Saudi Arabia. I have been working here for five years. We open the restaurant at 10 in the morning, and we start selling the food after Asr prayers until around 2 a.m.” he said.
Muhsin says that the most popular dishes include Kawari and Goats’ heads. “People buy both these dishes for both Iftar and Suhur. The Kawari soup that consists of four hooves costs SR10 and a single goat’s head costs SR10 also. During Ramadan we sell around 400 heads of goats and around 450 Kawari soups each day,” added Muhsin.
Customers that visit Al-Hellah Street come from across Riyadh and are of different backgrounds including both Saudis and expatriates. “People come from across Riyadh. This place is well known; we also have regular customers who telephone their orders that they come to collect once they are done. The Kawari soup and goats’ heads are integral to Ramadan feasting,” said Muhsin.
Waiting in a long queue at a restaurant was Ali Khamees, a Saudi citizen. Khamees said that public restaurants have a special appeal in Ramadan. “I come regularly to these restaurants to buy different traditional dishes such as Kawari soup, Sambusa, Ful, and Ramadan drinks such as Irksus, Subia, and Kamar Al-Deen.”
Ful-seller Ahmad Ali said that he sells four jars of Ful everyday between Asr and Maghreb prayers. “People gather haphazardly and disorderly in front of the shop. We tend to give people pieces of paper with numbers so that they know their numbers. As you can see there is a big crowd here. Everyone wants to be first and they all want that to be 15 or 20 minutes before Iftar, so that they can have fresh ful as soon as they get home. We try hard, but it is impossible to satisfy them all.”
Abdul Rahman who sells Sambusas consisting of mince or cheese and eggs, said that he sells around 350 kilograms of Sambusas each day. “Sambusa is a must in Ramadan, you can hardly find an Iftar table that doesn’t contain Sambusas.” Abdul Rahman added that he is not always able to fully serve his customers especially since they receive even more orders from charity groups providing free Iftar meals.
Together with the restaurants the sidewalks on Al-Hellah Street are filled with Yemeni women, who accompanied with their husbands, are busy selling cheap traditional home cooked food. Sitting on the sidewalk was Amm Yahya Khasim who is originally from Yemen. “Most of the people that are selling items are from Yemen and we all come from the Al-Hellah area of Riyadh,” he said.
“I come here everyday with my wife to sell traditional Yemeni dishes such as Burm (meat with broth) and okra with meat. Many people come to buy our meals. In this area you will find everything that is traditional, such as local bread, dry fish, Hareesa and much more,” he added.
Khasim said that he and his wife only come to Al-Hellah Street during Ramadan and that they only come to sell food because they do not have a shop. “We are about 20 families, we all live in this district and we have occupied this sidewalk near these restaurants. We cook at home and bring the food to sell here; we sell our food from Asir until Maghreb prayer. The place is popular and people come to buy from us just like they buy from ordinary restaurants.”
