What a wonderful event we had this past evening. After about a year of having mentioned the idea, the Cheap Ethnic Eatz and the Montreal Friends Meetup Group finally had their first joint event.
We decided on a Moroccan restaurant that offered live belly dancers, called La Grotte d’Ali Baba. Actually the owners have two restaurants situated very close to one another, the original place called La Couscoussière. First of all when you arrive you cannot help but be charmed by the decor. They have literally molded the walls into a cave-like atmosphere all painted in gold. Lovely ceramics and exotic lamps adorn the walls. Seats are low banquets in rich Moroccan colors.
There is a fixed menu for $33.95 before tax and tip. The menu includes a soup, a brick entrée, about 6 GENEROUS different tajines or couscous to choose from, baklava and mint tea. The show is included. It was very good but not the best I have had. I had the Ali Baba tajine which consisted of chicken, shrimp, scallops and veggies. Only the couscous was flavored with spices. The rest (veggies and protein) was bland. I actually cook a lot of Moroccan dishes in the winter so I am used to a lot of flavor on the meats too. Also the soup had parsley instead of coriander and the brick was much smaller and completely different then what I had had at this restaurant a few years back. Don’t get me wrong…the food was very good but not up to my expectations from when I went about 4 years back.
The main feature here is certainly the ambiance and the show. Go there for a whole evening. We were there 5 hours. Belly dancers come out well timed in between services and delight the customers with gorgeous costumes and their sensual hip moves. We saw 4 separate performances with 3 different dancers. Of course anyone brave enough to join them in strongly encouraged to do so….like me because I have taken 2 years of baladi in the past. Like I said as an organizer I will sacrifice my dignity and happily look like a fool to entertainment my members as you can see in the picture here 😉
See below a video taken during our evening of one of the dancers.
The service was very good as the staff was very friendly and smiling. Its a great place for a fun birthday or group outing. Oh and best of all…its BYOB!
Check the website: La Couscoussière/La Grotte d’Ali Baba
Hugs and Biscuits
Evelyne
Pictures and video were graciously donated for use by Aurora
