Explore Orange County’s Little Arabia By Crawling These 10 Delicious Destinations
"Sarem Mohamed presides over this Yemeni restaurant that replaced Olive Tree in late 2020. Waving Yemeni and U.S. flags greet diners, which can eat on a spacious patio or indoors, which showcases traditional memorabilia and offers both tables and chairs, or jalsa, colorful cushioned floor seating traditionally seen in Yemen and neighboring Saudi Arabia. Chicken and lamb plates come with Mandi rice, fluffy grains featuring shaved almonds, carrot strands, raisins, and fried onions. Mova is a flaky, butterflied, oven-baked white fish served with Yemeni sauce, a tomato based, chile-flecked slurry that diners can spoon over the accompanying rice. Hrada Of Fahsah, a dish from Sana’a, Yemen’s largest city that sports a high elevation of over 7,200 feet, is a shredded lamb and beef stew that arrives in a bubbling stone vessel. It’s topped with hilba (frothy whipped fenugreek) and sliced green chilies, and comes with one massive Yemeni flatbread that’s similar to laffa — chewy at the edges and crispy at the center. House of Mandi is also adept at shareable large plates designed for anywhere from three to 18 people featuring Mandi rice and proteins like roasted young lamb (anywhere from a quarter to a whole animal) and an array of mixed meat combos. So don’t be afraid to bring a crowd." - Joshua Lurie
