Altazzag Egyptian Restaurant

Looking for a place to chill and have supper, my friends and I stumbled upon Altazzag in the alleys of Haji Lane. Both indoor and outdoor sitting has its cons here. I felt that the indoor area was too stuffy while the outdoor sitting constituted of tables and chairs strewn all over the road and whenever an idiot driver drove into Haji Lane, everyone has to stand up and \"siam\" for the car.

Settling for al fresco, we ordered an all-in-one mixed platter comprising of Hummus(Mashed Chickpea dip), Ganoush(Mashed Eggplant Dip), some vegetables, Yoghurt dip and Pita Bread. A common error in most Middle Eastern / Russian eateries, there was too little Pita Bread from the platter! We ended up ordering another serving of Pita Bread(Pathetic 5 halved flat pieces) which took half an hour to arrive after 2 reminders. Even with this extra portion, around half of the dip was still untouched. Anyway, there was nothing awesome about the dips, which was overdrenched in oil.  

We also ordered a whole BBQ Chicken. Mildly spicy with a lightly crisp skin, I felt that this would have gone well with a pint of beer, too bad it\'s Halal here.

For drinks, all of us ordered Green or Jasmine Tea but no one bothered to tell us which was which when it was served and we ended up using our keen sense of smell to differentiate. C ordered a Turkish Coffee which he waited for half an hour before the staff commented it was unavailable upon enquiring about his drink. He went on to order some other coffee which never came in the entirety of our 2 hours spent there.

In an area known mainly for Shisha, I guess I might have been slightly overzealous to expect anything above the ordinary fare and with such distasteful service and sitting locales, maybe we should rename it Kampong not so Glam.

Bon Appetit! 

Just had a family dinner here after reading some of the reviews in this forum. Realized now that I had failed to note the dates of these reviews.

We ordered the mixed appetizers($15)and hummus($7), mixed grill($25) and mixed grill special (w seafood).($29)

Be warned that the portion is very small and not worth the money. Both of mixed grill platter comes with SLICES of meat, no - you dont see kebabs. The meat is dry and overdone. There's just 1 piece each of chicken, minced lamb, and other slices of meat that made of the so-call mixed grill platter.

tired of the usual chinese, japanese or western cuisine? well, i was, and i went for something off the beaten track — egyptian cuisine! is there anything more otherworldly than that? i had this unique meal at altazzag egyptian restaurant, hidden in one of the tiny streets of kampong glam.

altazzag is arabic for fresh. and what a "fresh" experience it was! the restaurant occupies a little two-storey shophouse along the very narrow street of haji lane. notice the hookahs in the window? you can smoke shisha here too. this is one of those restaurants you would notice but hesitate going in for a meal due to the exotic cuisine.

in other words, it's perfect for the days when you're in the mood for something really different.

humus (chickpea dip) ($5) is an appetiser that can't be absent from any middle eastern menu. the one here has a smooth texture without any lumps. i like the fact that it doesn't taste too heavy and rich, with just a slight tinge of lemon and garlic. it makes a nice dip for the pita bread that is served alongside, although it's a tad oily. (3.5/5)

a range of meat dishes such as kebabs is available. we opted for the super special ($22) instead. this mixed grill of chicken, fish, lamb and beef cuts is perfect for someone that just wants to try a little of everything.

the platter is drizzled with a white cream sauce and red hot sauce. i'm not quite sure what the white sauce is, but i heard it's a special "secret" sauce that is made fresh daily. the hot sauce is unlike any i've tasted in other cuisines — very flavorful with a taste that just explodes in the mouth. it's a pity that some of the meat isn't that tender, or else it would have made the dish more enjoyable. (3.5/5)

we do like the potato wedges that comes along, no doubt to cater to local palates. if you're ordering this platter, be sure to ask for more hot sauce!

on the drinks menu, you would find your usual tea, fruit juice, and even milo and nescafe! but we're not here to have the regular stuff, are we? what sounds the most intriguing are the three "egyptian healthy drinks". we tried the sahleb ($4), which is a milky coconut drink. it tastes sweet and creamy and goes down smoothly. slurp! (4/5)

turkish coffee ($4) is served here, which isn't all that surprising since it is the commonest kind of coffee in the middle east. the first thing that comes to mind is its unusual dark brown color with the foamy layer on top. there is a strong aroma and an extremely rich flavor, even richer than the traditional coffee offered at places like old town. it suffices to say that i like turkish coffee. (4/5)

with something that rich, it can only mean that a lot of coffee grounds has been used. true enough, there is a slight powdery texture to the coffee. it's a good idea to let the powder settle before drinking.

see? there's the sludgy coffee sediment at the bottom of the cup that can be used for a kind of fortune telling called tasseography. after drinking, the cup can be covered with the saucer and turned upside-down. the patterns that form from the coffee grounds are used to tell a person's fortune. (the other type of tasseography is tea-leaf reading.)

i really like the whole unique experience at altazzag, although middle-eastern cuisine isn't something i can easily get used to that easily. i went there looking for something different, and the restaurant delivered.

we didn't get to venture to the second level, but i heard diners can sit on the floor and eat from low tables, similar to the concepts of lagnaa and essential brew. you need to call in advance to reserve seats there though.

personally, i would prefer sitting at the outdoor tables and chairs, just by the road. it probably feels like street-side dining in cairo.

one more thing: the restaurant does not charge for service or GST. yay!

View full review and photos at Sparklette - Singapore Food Blog.

Have been to this place twice.. Seriously there was a big difference between sitting downstaris (w/o air con) compared to upstairs where there's air con. Having enjoyed the hummus dips for the first time which was finger smacking good, I went back and tried it a 2nd time only to find tt the quality seems to have dropped. wondering if it was bcos the first time was preordered and emphasized tt it was a special occassion so .. they did thier best to provide quality food.

The seafood platter coupled with grilled chicken, lamb, beef meatballs was really tasty but they seem to use the same sauce for all their dishes.. Although the food was the same for both the times I went, the prawns for the 2nd time seemed to have shrunk considerably.. hmm very inconsistent.

Sitting inside the restaurant on the first floor was also very oily and stuffy.. Quite different from sitting upstairs with all the decor and stuff.

If you haven made reservations, beware coz the place is very crowded and almost no empty seats.. think I'll revisit only some yrs down the road...

I made a reservation for 15 of us to have dinner at this little makan place at Haji Lane.

I must say the owner...Aziz went out all the way for us. He really did take care of us well. The food came out on time, it was delicious BUT we had too much.

The service...well nothing much to rave about. Aziz the owner took care of us but i cant say much for the rest of the staff.

The food - my hats off to the fish kebabe, the dips were AWESOME...

But the lamb was dry..sad to say and so was the chicken. And guess what NO DESSERT...that was dissapointing!!! How can we finish dinner

All in all it was an ok meal. If you are in a big group...PRE ORDER ur food before going to the place and ask to sit UPSTAIRS.

I actually created an account just to write this; that's how unhappy I am.

Service was painfully slow, even the drinks (and I can't really imagine the amount of preparation that goes into that) took forever to come. Even the special platter of PRE-PREPARED dips took an hour to appear on the table. Would have been okay if the food was phenomenal, but it wasn't. My lamb shish kebab was tougher than I would've liked. My egyptian tea, which costs $4, tasted like diluted milk tea, and the flower juice, which my friend ordered, tasted like diluted ribena. TO be fair, the chickpea dip was nice. Still, overall: Do not go unless you want to wait eons for mediocre food.

Dined here with friends just two weeks ago but we returned again last week because I was having particular cravings. I love the food here.

Unpretentious surroundings and good food. Do be prepared to wait awhile (reasonable, 15 minutes) and dont eat or pack away if you're in a rush cause there's only 1 chef/cook.

The humus (chickpea dip) dip with pita is my absolute favourite. Goodness I could have this all day. Note that the pita hardens rather fast so have it quick if you're packing it home. We packed some for 2 hours later and ended up having hard tough pita instead of the soft piping hot one there.

The fish kebab was slightly salty but still rather good. And the chicken shawarma is my particular favourite. The half/whole chicken was alright, rather nice but troublesome to eat. (I'm a lazy eater).

If anyone wants to try something new, you gotta try this restuarant.

This place is quite difficult to find if you are very new to haji lane. When i first entered into this place, me and my friends feel like we have entered into another country. The whole place is quite peaceful, but well-decorated. Perhaps the signboard isn't that attractive. But when you stepped into the restaurant, you really feel something different.

There are some breads and sauce served. Don't ever belittle the breads. Cause the sauce is kinda so weird that sometimes you might think that is tuna, but it isn't. It just some kind of egpytian sauce i guess.

Me and my friends ordered different things. I ordered the grilled salmon, it is taste really great. It is quite different from the one that i usually ate at the western restaruant. The sauce is like a little spicy, juicy.

Even the fish and chip taste different. I got this particular friend who did not dare to try other food, ordered this fish and chip. And guess what ? the appearance may look like it is very "not nice", when you bite it, the outer taste like GORENG PISANG, and the inner taste like FISH !!! lol.. sunds weird right? bt it taste really not bad. however, it is quite heaty.

Next, my friend tried the seafood platter. OMG. It is really delicous!!! i loved the rings !!!! But still... Fish and Co is still the best la...

And still got the chicken chop. Buess it is the SAUCE that makes the food taste so yummy.

So once again, remember to try this restaurant if you want something different. Oh ya, remember to make your reservation at the 2nd level. The seats are more comfortable and you definitely can feel the culture of the egpytain. ( cause i make reservation and forget to mention that i want the 2nd level).

By the way, there's a set menu that cost $22 (inclusive of 10% srvice charge)for 1 main course, 1 soup and a dessert.

Have a nice day ! hope this help !

Like many of the restaurants around the area, Altazzag Egyptian Restaurant offers resonably priced middle eastern fare. A hole in the wall, the restaurant offers a range of original Egyptian cuisine where the owner Mr. Hassan Saad has lived in Singapore for the past decade whipping up his Egyptian Mixed Grill ( which consists of a mixture of kebabs) and Baba Ganoush (an Egyptian egg plant dish). The sauces are made from scratch at the restaurant itself, and Mr. Hassan believes that this is his unique selling point.

For those who would like more privacy, the second floor offers a seating room that can fit about 20 people for a small private function. Note though that you would have to eat the traditional Middle Eastern way - ie: consume your meals while seated on the floor with low rising tables.

Little known fact from the owner himself: Former Singapore Idol winner Hady has been apparently known to freqeunt this restaurant.

It was my fren's bdae. She wanted to TRY something different. So we went to this Egptian Restaurant to try out some of the dishes.

Its only a few minutes walk from Bugis MRT station. However, the lanes are kinda dark, so better to go in big groups unless u are travelling by car.

We got one of the PIC to recommend us some dishes for 6 pax. Humus with PITA & Fish Kebabs were really good! The Fish had a bit of curry spice and herbs on it. From the taste of it, u can feel that the chef had marinated it for a long time.

However, it's a small shop with only one PIC who's able to speak English well and 1 cook. Hence, a bit of waiting time lor. Otherwise, all's fine.