KATHMANDU: The Café at Hyatt Regency is planning to spoil all the gourmets of the Capital. In addition to its Thai Wednesdays, it will lay a Middle East table for its guests every Friday.

According to Chef Dhruv Bhatta, they will be laying out a spread encompassing the entire region instead of focussing on just one country.

Middle East cooking is characterised by the use of olive oil, chickpeas, mint, cinnamon and coriander. The Café is offering delicacies for both non-vegetarians and vegetarians.

You could start your Middle East gastronomic journey with soup and salads.

The Israeli salad is similar to garden fresh salad with olive oil and lemon dressing. The Fatous is also fresh vegetable salad with deep fried pita bread piece tossed in it, whereas the Tabouleh is finely chopped parsley with mint and wheat grit salad in lemon juice.

And of course no Mid-East meal is complete without the Hummus, which is famous among the Middle East foods as a starter and a dip. It is made of chickpeas with sesame paste mixed with olive oil and garlic. It goes best with pita bread, and falafel, which is a deep-fried fritter of mint, coriander, chickpeas paste, garlic and green chillies.

The meat lovers among you can feast on Okra Bel Laham — a very spicy dish of mutton cooked with okra (ladies finger). The tender mutton in the thick gravy of tomatoes and onion, tastes as heavenly as it looks.

Samak Hara, a fish dish, tastes different from whatever else you have tasted in other cuisine. As for the vegetarians, you could not go wrong with Persian Aubergine, an eggplant dish cooked with hung curd, cheese, mint, cinnamon, tomato and onion. The tangy taste and the curdy-cheesy flavour linger in your mouth.

Then there is the Shawarma, a Lebanese dish of grilled chicken to be enjoyed with the pita bread.

In the end surrender to the sweet taste of Mid-East dessert like Baklava, which is a delicacy prepared with honey, butter, condensed milk, refined flour, cinnamon and dry fruit.

So, start your weekend with some Middle-East magic.