Ma'am, would you like to supersize your roticanai?

Then come to Yemen! On Wednesday night, we went to a famous Yemeni restaurant called Shaibani and had the most amazing (yet simple) meal made up of the national dish fahsa and grilled fish. Fahsa is a meat stew eaten with a flat circular bread that is oven-baked, tastes like roticanai and is served up in a HUGE piece about 1 metre wide. There is a green condiment that tastes like blended chillies but is not spicy. You rip off a section of the communal flat bread (need to look up name) and dip it in the green sauce and then scoop some fahsa and eat it. The grilled fish (again, name!) was marinated in a peppery sauce but wasn't spicy, and was very fresh and succulent. The fish in Sana'a is shipped daily from the coast.

Afterwards, we had milk tea, which S obviously enjoyed because he ordered one and then another. Didn't have room for any dessert (a dish made from bananas and honey) but we'll be back!

Shaibani has several chains but the driver took us to the one that had a "family room" on the upper floor. There are three eating areas, one downstairs at street level and two upstairs accessed by a separate entrance. Downstairs is for the blokes. Upstairs there is one room for families. This had tables sectioned off with dividers (like the ones you seen in hospital scenes in old movies). Next to it, there was a "tourist" section for foreigners and larger groups (of men). We sat in the tourist section.

The place was simply decorated but was clean, well-lit and had a nice atmosphere. Prices weren't expensive either.

Conclusion: Shaibani goes on our list of Things to See & Do in Sana'a!