Breaking the bread

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This article was published 08/06/2017 (3282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As its name suggests, this recently opened Polo Park-area eatery specializes in saj bread — dough stretched absolutely paper-thin and then cooked on a heated dome. Freshness is absolutely key and at Les Saj, you can actually watch the staff making the bread behind the counter.

The bread is the star here, used in both sweet and savoury wraps that are folded up to dip into hummus and labneh, or crisped into croutons for soup.

Basically a cheap and cheerful fast-casual joint, Les Saj isn’t much on atmosphere, from the strip mall location to the basic furniture to the plastic cups and plates.

But there is a lot of care and commitment going into the Middle Eastern food, with the cooks drawing on Turkish, Lebanese and Syrian influences.

The best dishes are the simplest, like saj bread layered with rich labneh (strained, thickened yogurt) and za’atar (a herby, evocative mixture of thyme, oregano, sumac and sesame seeds), then rolled up and cut into crisped but tender triangles.

There are several variations (including za’atar and cheese or labneh and vegetables), all inexpensive ($3.99-5.99) and served on long wooden platters.

Manakeesh offers a baked flatbread version of some of these same flavours and there are also saj wraps, with no skimping on the fillings, including the subtly seasoned chicken shawarma, a tasty lamb kebab and a robust beef doner.

For vegetarians, there is falafel, nicely crunchy on the outside, as well as a fried vegetable option. You can customize your sauces and add-ins.

The mezza platter ($13.49) offers some mix-and-match tastes, including falafel, hummus, lemony rice-stuffed grape leaves and — of course — saj bread.

Salads ($5.49 for large or $2.99 for a side) don’t quite measure up to the rest of the menu. The potato version is fresh but basic, the beet is soft and a little watery, and the tabbouleh is packed with verdant fine-chopped parsley but light on bulgur. A puréed lentil soup is comforting but over-salted.

For dessert, there are sweet versions of saj — including a kid-friendly Nutella option — as well as rice pudding infused with fragrant rosewater and asabe’e Zainab, dense and super-sweet semolina dough fingers.

Les Saj is halal certified and does not serve liquor, though you can try a Barbican, a non-alcoholic malt drink popular in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The restaurant also offers traditional Turkish coffee and zouhrat tea, an herbal blend made with wild roses that is flowery and spicy and citrusy all at once.

The paper menus, which are all slightly different and posted behind the counter and online, can be a little confusing to navigate. But the very hospitable servers are happy to help out.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca