Lebanese Delicacies - Tarbush Restaurant, Sunway Pyramid

A little while ago (well actually ... more than a year ago), we visited Tarbush restaurant over at Empire Gallery and found the food pretty bland and the decor underwhelming. I'm not sure if that particular outlet is still open; what I do know is that the Sunway Pyramid branch (i.e. the one we actually like) is alive and kicking.


Arabic Mint Tea - to be honest I don't think this really tastes that much different than any other mint tea variety (peppermint, for example). It's pricey, too - something like rm6 per person.


I don't really eat brinjal / eggplant, so the Fetush Eggplant (salad with fried eggplant cubes) understandably didn't impress.


Hommus Tahinah - a must-order for any Arabian meal! This is a chickpea and sesame paste lathered with olive oil and is eaten as a dip with unleavened bread. Tarbush serves three different varieties for Hommus but this is the one we always keep coming back to.


You can choose from lamb, chicken, cheese or vegetables as stuffing for your Sambosas - crispy, savoury, yummy.


Moving on to mains - the Shish Kebab is always a hit with the family (including my two younger teenage sisters). The seasoned & spiced minced grilled lamb meat is tender, juicy, and doesn't have too much of a gamey taste.


If you prefer a little more variety, the Mix Grill might suit your fancy - it's a mixed meats platter of Shish Tawook (chicken), Shish Kebab, Lamb Cubes & Grill Arayes (meat-stuffed pita bread) served with a pretty generous serving of fries. It's actually enough to fill two regular-sized stomachs if you've been also filling up on appetizers.


Biryani Lamb - fragrant biryani rice with tender, juicy lamb chunks. Our order for the night had surprisingly little lamb in comparison to previous visits, checking in at a relatively measly three chunks to go with all that rice. And it's a pretty substantial heaping of rice, too.


Price-wise, we managed to feed a family of six for slightly under RM150 (after 15% discount from SCB Credit Card), so it actually does turn out to be pretty reasonably priced (and decent value for money). Food's overall good enough to keep its' spot as our default "go-to" restaurant whenever we have a hankering for Arabian cuisine.

Tarbush is located at LG2.123, Sunway Pyramid (Marakesh area near the blue lobby). The restaurant is open from 11am to midnight daily; call up +603 5633 9222 for reservations.

Lebanese Delicacies - Tarbush Restaurant, Empire Shopping Gallery

Restaurant franchises/branches should be the same wherever you go. For instance, McDonalds probably has like a few hundred franchises all over Malaysia, and they all taste (mostly) the same whichever outlet you go to.

Not Tarbush, though. The darling and I love the Sunway Pyramid branch. It's immaculately decorated, and food is great (although service is lacking somewhat). Their branch at the Empire Shopping Gallery though is ... different. The decoration is simple and minimalist to the point that if you missed the signboard outside you would be 99.99% sure you were in a different restaurant chain.

Ah well, differences in ambience can be forgiven as long as the food's the same. We open up with the Hommus with Lamb (MYR13.00). Hommus is a spread made from chick peas (and other ingredients) and is typically eaten with some sort of flatbread (typically pita bread). It's decent, although yet also different tasting from the Sunway Pyramid branch. Oh, and the lamb pieces were cold, which was a bit of a bummer.


The Shish Kebab (MYR22.00) is pretty good! Nice and juicy without too much of a "lamb-ey" taste.


Can't say the same about the Lamb Briyani (MYR20.00) though. While the lamb itself was nice and not tough, the briyani was rather mushy and plain tasting.


Overall, a disappointment. Based on my memory the menu (and also the prices) is the same as the Sunway Pyramid branch. But the ambience/decoration and food quality was a few notches lower. Why pay the same price if you're gonna get an inferior product? Give this outlet a miss and head over to Sunway Pyramid instead to satisfy your hankering for Middle Eastern food.