A city with a decent Middle Eastern restaurant is very desirable to me. So I was pretty excited to try out Siqueff, Mérida’s “Lebanese” restaurant. I was so spoiled by Middle Eastern food in Durango that I knew I couldn’t possibly get as lucky twice, but nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Siqueff is really close to my apartment. My main cross street is 35 and I just have to walk three blocks, cross Paseo de Montejo, walk another two blocks, and I’m right there. It’s on the southeast corner of 60 and 35, if I have my directions correct. It’s in a lovely old house with an interior courtyard.

The restaurant has been around a very long time!

I got all of this as a free appetizer; salsa mexicana, commercial yellow corn chips (which I actually prefer to the usual house-made totopos), and a very tasty veggie thing that might have been ratatouille. Rather eclectic!

A limonada was just $25… and tasted suspiciously like lemonade! The flavour was a welcome surprise!

I ordered their “Arabic Platter” and had a choice of raw or cooked meat. Erm, cooked, please! And I also had a choice of Greek salad or tabbouleh. Tabbouleh, please! So here’s lunch:

It was good, especially the light on the bulgur, heavy on the mint, salad, but it was missing some hummus. Next time I come here, I will just order tabouleh, labne (thick yoghurt), and pita for a light meal. I ended up combining the pita and salsa mexicana!

$210 with the tip felt like a fair price for the quality and portion of the food. Service was impeccable and I loved the ambiance. I’m not as excited about Siqueff as I was about El Amir, but I’m happy to know I have a teeny Middle Eastern oasis near where I’ve chosen to live.

Next up for today, I’m off to the cinema, 2.5KM away. We’ll see if I feel comfortable coming home from there after dark…