I had visited the Indigo Rooftop restaurant at The Merchant House for coffee a couple of weeks ago. Since then I have been recommending the place to all my friends for its amazing ambience. It is so cosy, beautiful and romantic, nestled in the heart of Manama, yet so quiet. The ambience and food make it the perfect spot for Valentine’s dinner.
So, the kids, husband and I decided to test-drive it for our pre-Valentine day dinner.
The husband was shocked that he missed this hidden gem which is walking distance from his BFH office.
The dimly-lit outdoor seating, the floral décor, the lush greenery, and the token outdoor swimming pool all add to the charm of the restaurant. The kids, being kids, had to test the pool’s water (which was warm BTW) and this made them insist on taking a dip. We eventually enticed them away with offers post-dinner ice-creams post.
All settled in, we decided to order. We started with a crab salad which came in little gem cups with tarragon mayonnaise and asparagus pomelo salad. Pomelo is a citrus fruit that's closely related to grapefruit and tastes similar but sweeter. It was light and flavourful.
One of my favourite appetisers from the evening was the Salmon and Avocado sushi roll and the Tuna Tartar. The tuna tartar was a very colourful dish with chopped Tuna, crushed Avocado, tobiko and spicy sauce vierge. Tobiko is Japanese for the flying fish roe which is widely used in certain types of sushi.
Of the entrees, the first to arrive was the husband's smoked salmon tartine. The presentation of the dish was as beautiful as the taste. The salmon was served with avocado, little gem lettuce, red capsicum, yoghurt and green sauce. I think it took the husband, who tried to savour each bite about, about 7 minutes to wolf it down. I didn't even get a taste!
My main course was a Lobster and Scallop Saganaki. It is a Greek dish, originally made by the peasant class where several variations. Ours was with sautéed lobster, scallops, roasted cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese and garlic. Now, I had asked for it to be spicy and it probably was for most people but that’s the thing with us Indians nothing is as spicy as we want it. And to be honest it probably would have ruined the flavour profile of the dish. However, it was a tad on the soupy side for me!
The kids split a portion of roast chicken and still could not finish it all, they
seemed more interested in the variety of bread and dipping sauces. And of course, the hand-cut french-fries style potato chips.
By the time we were done with our main course, we were bursting at seams but dessert was still to come! Yummm!
We had the Almond Filo which as the name suggests was almonds and apple baked in filo pastry with saffron ice cream and a prune compote. It was light and flaky.
We also tried the chocolate fondant which was a dark chocolate cake with a hot melted centre with strawberry ice cream. This was hijacked by the kids but I did manage to sneak in a couple of bites and it was heavenly.
So, I ordered the Lime Panna Cotta all for myself! It was a Kaffir lime fragranced panna cotta with fresh mango sauce. It really hit the spot for me!
Our server was named ‘Earth’, I kid you not! got our blankets for the kids as the evening had got pretty cold. The littlest was so full, warm and comfortable that he finished his cake and promptly fell asleep!
It was a nice relaxing evening and I am definitely going back for a romantic dinner on Valentine's day sans the kids of course! Perhaps, I will see you there.
