Heritage House

While my parents were still here, we got together with two other families and went to a real, traditional Saudi Arabian restaurant.  It is called the Heritage House, and it includes a museum (which we have never walked through even though we have been there twice.  Too tough with hungry kids.)  I have some pictures of the inside of our room, but none of the inside of the restaurant itself; no pictures allowed. 

Saudis traditionally eat foods like rice with lamb or chicken, and they eat on the floor with their fingers.  (No utensils!  Remember, this is rice!!  Yikes!)  You're supposed to grab a handful of rice and roll it around in your fingers, using only the one hand, until it is a sticky mass that you can put into your mouth.  I'm generally pretty tolerant about other people's cultures, but - ugh! - there's something about massaging your food in your fingers before eating it that just grosses me out.  No, thanks.  This restaurant, thankfully, will give the westerners silverware. 

There is no open area with tables; Saudis are very private, so instead of the usual restaurant floorplan, they have a series of small rooms, rather like a motel.  Some open to the inside of the restaurant and some open to the outside.  You are brought into one of these rooms, which is empty except for rugs on the floor and cushions along the walls, and that's where you'll eat.  That way, no one else can see you while you are there.  (Private, remember?)  The downside is that it can be oppressively hot and it can be difficult to flag down your waiter since he can't see you.  The upside is that once you are in the room, it's private, so women can take off their abayas!  Yay! 

 Inside our room.  

The ceiling of our room.   

Before our order arrives, the room is truly empty.  Catherine loved pushing her push toy around the room, and the boys colored and played with cars.  

Here is part of the menu.  The more you read, the funnier it gets!

 When the food comes, they do bring in a very low table (maybe six or eight inches off the ground) and put the food on that. 

The food is served family style, and some of it is good and some is only ok.  You can get the same dish two different times and the first time it's great but the second time it's terrible.  Like all things Saudi, it's not consistent.  

As our food was being cleared away,  our waiter came by and showed all the boys (uh, all the boys except Everett, that is...it was late and he had already crashed on my lap) his curved Arab knife.  (It's not long enough to be a scimitar.) 

So even if the food's not the best, it's a great experience.