For really pleasant dining al fresco, try Zaytinya

I just ate like a queen for lunch! One of our funding organizations wanted to take a couple of us out to lunch to welcome us to the project. I had just walked past Zaytinya, a Mediterranean restaurant on the way to Chinatown yesterday and thought their dining courtyard looked really inviting, so I suggested it.

What a great pick! I tried kibbeh nayeh, which is ground raw beef tenderloin with crushed wheat, spices and herbs - delish. I'm not afraid of raw meat, I ate raw sausage in Germany and it was some of the best food I've ever eaten. This wasn't quite as flavorful as that sausage was, but still really good. It has a texture that is really pleasing to my mouth, with some sliced onions on top.... mmmm.

I also had labneh for the first time, which is this whipped salty yogurt dish with olive oil on top you dip bread in. It was sourish, creamy, and so good. I also had some hummus and fettoush (a cucumber tomato salad).

For dessert I tried a dish they called "Turkish Delight" (though it wasn't a real turkish delight) which was walnut ice cream with some glazes and crushed pistachios on top. It was sweet and nutty and had a really nice consistency, just somehow better than store-bought stuff. But the really unusual desserts were the olive oil ice sorbet - and yes, it weirdly had a tinge of olive oil flavor, you'd have to try it to believe it - and turkish coffee. It's true what they say about turkish coffee, it IS like drinking grainy sludge. And packs a wollop. I can see why if someone grew up drinking the likes of that they'd come here and call our coffee dishwater.

A beautiful shady patio behind some trees to block street noise, the temperature at 76 with no humidity, delicious new foods that kept on coming... definitely one of my best lunch dining experiences in a long time.