Terrible photo, yes, I am aware.
Last Saturday, after returning to Bamako, we (me + 2 colleagues) went and had a civilized, prolonged meal at La Rose des Sables, a relatively new Moroccan restaurant on the Route de Koulikoro near the Chinese Embassy. I had been there once before, but while broke, which made it rather stressful; this is definitely a place to go in a celebratory, relaxed and flush mood – it deserves perfume, shoes other than flip-flops* and the proper attitude.
To begin, we split the pastilla aux pigeonneaux – ground spicy pigeon meat in a flaky pastry shell covered with cinnamon and powdered sugar. I love dishes that play with savoury and sweet, which this did, very successfully. I also had a proper cocktail, involving gin and grenadine – bitter, interesting, made me feel witty and sophisticated.
My main dish was a tagine d’agneau au citron confit – slow-cooked lamb with preserved lemons and assorted herbs and spices. Very good – my first brush with preserved lemons, which I think may be addictive - but suffered from being rich with no contrast – some couscous or a fresh salad would have been a good partner. I also tasted a tagine d’agneau aux pruneaux et amandes – the same, with prunes, almonds, and a different herb/spice mix – also lovely, and the prunes provided nice contrast with the meat. (I think sometimes braised meat loses in flavour what it gains in tenderness; these dishes definitely did not.) We drank a pleasant if not outstanding red wine.
Dessert was a cookie platter with espresso – there was a lovely, melting coconut cookie that provoked a certain amount of squabbling about the last bite; a sugar cookie with preserved fruit; a sesame-filled cornet de gazelle, and a dark sesame/licorice drop cookie.
* This does not mean that I actually wore shoes other than flip-flops, just that I acknowledge it would have been proper to do so.
To begin, we split the pastilla aux pigeonneaux – ground spicy pigeon meat in a flaky pastry shell covered with cinnamon and powdered sugar. I love dishes that play with savoury and sweet, which this did, very successfully. I also had a proper cocktail, involving gin and grenadine – bitter, interesting, made me feel witty and sophisticated.
My main dish was a tagine d’agneau au citron confit – slow-cooked lamb with preserved lemons and assorted herbs and spices. Very good – my first brush with preserved lemons, which I think may be addictive - but suffered from being rich with no contrast – some couscous or a fresh salad would have been a good partner. I also tasted a tagine d’agneau aux pruneaux et amandes – the same, with prunes, almonds, and a different herb/spice mix – also lovely, and the prunes provided nice contrast with the meat. (I think sometimes braised meat loses in flavour what it gains in tenderness; these dishes definitely did not.) We drank a pleasant if not outstanding red wine.
Dessert was a cookie platter with espresso – there was a lovely, melting coconut cookie that provoked a certain amount of squabbling about the last bite; a sugar cookie with preserved fruit; a sesame-filled cornet de gazelle, and a dark sesame/licorice drop cookie.
* This does not mean that I actually wore shoes other than flip-flops, just that I acknowledge it would have been proper to do so.
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