Turkish Delight

I dressed in my loaner abaya for my first night ‘out on the town’ in Riyadh. I was only able to go out because I had men with me. Women are not allowed to be out and about without a man. A man related to the woman must accompany her at all times outside of the house, even if it’s only an 8 year old son. I often saw groups of women out, sometimes shopping, with a little boy as their escort. As a sidenote, women are also not allowed to drive, even if it means a little boy must drive them – I saw a boy, possibly the age of 12, driving a minivan with women in it.

My night out centered around a trip to a Turkish restaurant. My group entered through the ‘family’ door into the ‘family’ section of the restaurant, and we were quickly ushered upstairs to a room with a door, away from the general public. I felt comfortable enough to take my hijab off, although I continued to wear my abaya. I ordered a ‘mocktail,’ a popular substitute for cocktails in the Middle East, as alcohol is illegal. The mocktail was essentially sparkling apple juice. Later in my stay, I had mocktails of incredible fruit juices. Fresh fruit and vegetable juices are a mainstay of the culture, and I wish that food and cultural staple would make its way here to the US. Everywhere there you can get such delicious concoctions of fresh watermelon, cherry, raspberry, and strawberry juices. They were addicting.

I had a delicious mezze platter of hummus (pureed chickpeas, olive oil), baba ganoush (eggplant mixture), tabouli (couscous, parsley, and greens salad), stuff grape leaves, and huge huge slabs of wood-fired flat breads. It was simple, delicious, and satisfying, capable of being a full meal in itself. However, I ordered lamb kabobs and rice, which was only average.

The decor in the restaurant was... interesting. On two levels of the restaurant by the stairs were glass enclosures with taxidermied animals in odd positions. I was told there was a larger giraffe upstairs.

After a long dinner, it was time for my first shopping experience in a Saudi souq. It was not an experience I will forget.