Restaurant Review: Tunisian Food at Sidi Bou in Ealing, London

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Sidi Bou, a family run Tunisian restaurant located in Ealing (London), also being the UK's only Tunisian restaurant aims to showcase the authentic flavour and culture of Tunisia. As mentioned by Hatem at Sidi Bou, the restaurant uses fresh and organic high quality produce from local suppliers and ingredients from Tunisia to ensure they provide a unique taste and experience to its customers. Moreover, the restaurant also has a shop that sells Tunisian products including serving dishes and dinnerware.

We started the meal with Mezze a la Tunisenne, a sharing platter suitable for vegetarians that included Salad Mechweya, Ommik Houreya, Tunisian Salad & Houmous. The platter was served with bread. Being well aware of the flavour of the hummus, it was wipe cleaned from the platter within minutes. The Tunisian salad was similar to the kachumber salad I make very frequently at home. However, it was my first time trying out the Tunisian Salad Mechweya, a simple grilled vegetable salad drizzled with olive oil. Also, the Ommik Houreya, mainly a carrot salad is very popular in Tunisia, and as the owner of Sidi Bou speaks, 'its more popular among the Tunisian kids than a chocolate bar!' The texture of the salad was similar to Carrot Halwa minus the sugar. However, the sweetness of the carrots did add a bit of a very light sugary taste to it. I prefer my Halwa very sweet, so for me, it wasn't exactly like eating a spoonful of carrot halwa, and I could easily consider it a healthy starter.

Our next starter was Breek A L'oeuf, again a vegetarian dish prepared with a filling of potato, parsley, capers & cheese as well as an egg in a delicate filo pastry. This is a very light starter, so if you're not too hungry then you can order this as a starter as it's not very filling and you'll still have ample space to enjoy the mains.

Another starter at Sidi Bou, a Tunisian favourite called Merguez that we tried is basically a traditional lamb sausage. The sausages tasted different than the regular ones, so you can give it a go if you'd like to try the Tunisian version of sausages.

For the mains, we tried Jibana as per the recommendation. It's a traditional slow cooked stew that was served with bread and the main ingredients in the dish we were served included peas and chicken. The Tunisians eat Jibana with bread using spoon and it can be prepared with different spice levels. We opted for the mild, and although it was enjoyable, it was still slightly spicy compared to the level of spice we eat everyday at home. Eating Jibana gave a very homely feeling, as it was something similar to an Indian curry. Also, the summer fruit smoothie was chilled, and very refreshing and helped us in enjoying the spicy dish.

For dessert, we tried the traditional Tunisian sweet pastry called Makroud that is generally filled with dates and nuts or almond paste, is cut in a diamond shape and the dough is prepared with semolina and flour. The pastry is a bit hard, and the texture is slightly chewy too, so its best to bite it rather than cutting it with a fork.

Since its a cosy, small dining area at the restaurant decorated keeping the Tunisian vibes in mind, it's advisable to make a booking prior to the visit. The restaurant is child friendly, however, baby changing station isn't available for infants and toddlers. Also, nearby street parking is available and it's free on weekends. If you're taking kids, then I'd recommend grabbing a few magazines from he counter and telling them a bit about Tunisia, showing the map and any other amazing facts about the African country.