Arabic Sweets and Rich Hummus: Alameer Restaurant

Alameer sets itself apart from Beijing's cherished handful of homey Middle Eastern cafes by also being a bakery that specializes in Arabic sweets. You'd never guess it was a bakery, though, from the mosaic walls and metal garden furniture – intended, perhaps, to evoke more verdant surrounds than the dusty office buildings of Xinyuanli?

The pastries are tucked in the back corner, in glass display cases that might have contained jewelry in a second-rate department store. The baklava are indeed jewel-like, neat squares set with pistachio emeralds and walnut clusters, or wreathed with delicate filaments of pastry. A big pink box of assorted sweets is yours for just RMB 60 – cheaper than diamonds, and delicious too.

On a more practical note, neighborhood lunch hounds will enjoy the warm, crisp disks of falafel, fresh tabouleh, rich hummus (all RMB 20), and habiya kebab (RMB 45). If only there was something to pair them with – the pita (RMB 3 each), baked in-house, is not only dry but also mildly sweet. Stick to the real sweets.

Recommended dishes: Falafel, baklava, tabouleh
Also try: Dareen's, Alameen

Alameer
Daily 8am-midnight. 1/F, Class Fotel, 19 Xinyuanli Xi (just north of International SOS/Kunsha Center on Xindong Lu), Chaoyang District (8451 6888)
安米尔, 朝阳区新东路燕莎桥西昆仑饭店对面

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