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You won't believe you're in Bangkok, Thailand. This place is a 30-year institution on Bangkok's Arab Street, known for serving the best Yemeni and Arabian food in Thailand. This Yemeni bread is incredible. Today, we're getting exclusive access to see how they prepare their famous mandi. We'll also try their bubbling Yemeni stews with one ingredient that makes them completely unique. And we'll also meet the legend Abu Jabal, who's known across the entire Arab world. Hey everyone, it's Mark Wiens in Bangkok, Thailand, and we have a really big lunch ahead of us. I'm extremely excited. Yemeni food in Bangkok, and it looks absolutely amazing.
Here we are. This is Sukhumvit Road, and then Soi 3/1, which is one of the main uh Middle Eastern, actually they call it Soi Arab. Hello. Hey. Hey, how are you, man? Nice to meet you. Thank you. Is this your restaurant? Yes. Petra? Yes. Okay, great. Mr. Muhammad, can you just tell us a little bit about your restaurant? How many years ago did you open? Uh 35 years. 35 years ago? Yes, sure. Right here, same Yes. same place? Same place. Okay, amazing. Yeah, you can't miss this restaurant with the big red interiors.
Yes. And my friend Fahad from Doha, he's actually in Bangkok right now, and he's about to come meet us as well for lunch. So, Yeah. we're going to have a Welcome. feast. Yes. Oh, I can't can't wait. Oh, there's Fahad. Sorry. Hey, man. Hey, it's okay. Hey, Fahad. Good. Yes. This is the best restaurant in money restaurant here in Arab Street Nana Street. I love very famous very good food.
So the Yemeni hospitality and before we go into the kitchen before we're going to eat yep Monday we're going to have a bunch of dishes. The bread the special Yemeni bread but before they insisted for tea before we go to the kitchen. Yemeni hospitality Yes, absolute legend. He's he's very famous. He's famous guy yes come see his picture outside he's like the mascot of this of Petra he greets everybody coming in like family coming into this restaurant in Arabic. And on that note we're heading into the kitchen to see the Monday. The salt with the saffron makes with saffron every piece of goat meat gets a nice coating of the
seasoning. With saffron to make it yellow Monday is one of the great dishes you'll find it all over the Middle East all over the Gulf. Monday is come from Yemen it's called and become viral in all GCC and all Arab words now everybody knows Monday but each region they say this is our Monday they put some more stuff to say it that this is belongs to us but the original is from Yemen. Oh yeah for sure they've influenced actually the entire Middle East with food but they're about to load it all up now all the meat is marinated all the goat also it goes onto the skewer first. So it's a young goat very young meat yeah wow.
Okay. That's three whole goats and you can just see the freshness of that goat. It is so fresh. The color, the bones, that is freshest goat meat. All the goats are ready to go. They've been marinated. They're on the skewers. And they're just firing up the well, increasing, cranking up the fire in the oven. They're about to go in there and roast. All mandi is one of the great dishes of the world. Here comes the rice next. Okay, so the rice goes on the bottom of those coals at the bottom of the oven, but they made sure to poke holes in the foil so the rice can properly steam. And then after that they hang, they drape all of that goat meat over the
rice in the oven. Three whole goats and then the lid immediately goes on. They have to act fast, but there's more. Oh, that's sticky dough. The dough goes to seal, fully seal the oven so no none of the air escapes. And that's going to cook now for about an hour and a half. That's going to smoke, that's going to steam, bake, everything all at once. We can't wait to eat mandi. No, we can't wait. Maybe we need a snack. Yes. No. No, we won't have a snack. He's transformed into the chef. He's the That big boss in kitchen.
Wow, good, good. Hello chefs. Oh, now we're in the main kitchen and he's going to show us the dishes. Masha Allah. Oh man, that looks amazing. It's a whole lamb boiling in the pot. Floating around with onions. Oh, this is kingfish next. Yeah, fish king, fish king fish. Okay. If you eat this Allahu Akbar. Masha Allah. Tabarak The next dish is over here. Lamb no touch water. No touch fire. No touch anything. Only steam. Steamed, right? Uh-huh. 1 minute, 1 minute, 1 minute. That is just melting. It is so tender. Oh, that's so hot. We have to juggle it a little bit.
Oh. Oh, wow. Oh, that melts in your mouth. Oh, that's insanely tender. The mud pool. Opening up a fresh pot of rice now. Wow, that rice is unbelievable. It's so aromatic. It's so fluffy. Yeah, the saffron, the fried onions on top. Green chilies in there. This is mandi. Okay, this is mandi. Down step. So, like this. This kitchen is absolutely insane. It's a playground of delicious food, but there's more. Moving over to the Yemeni bread station. Oh, that's a big ball of dough.
Oh. Whoa. What a slap. Oh, man. That is absolutely the hardest slapped out bread you'll ever see in your life. He literally like beat the dough. Oh, nigella seed. Nigella seeds go on. Flatten it out. You see the layers forming. That goes directly into the oven. Oh, wow. What a move. Yes, very good. First time in Thailand for Yemeni bread like this. That is absolutely unbelievable. And that just takes like a minute to cook.
Pulling it out. That's a huge bread. All perfectly bubbly and aerated. Wow. Huge. Look at the size. Wow. I love Wow. Yes. Right out of the oven. Oh. Oh la. All the layers of that bread. That is incredible. Oh man, that good. It's so flaky. So crispy. Malawach. Moving already on to the next dish. What is that dish called? So it's Lamb meat? Lamb meat or goat? Lamb meat. With tomato sauce.
Fenugreek. Yeah, that's fenugreek. Helba is one of the signature ingredients. It's fenugreek foam that goes on top. What a dish. That smells incredible. Man, this kitchen is absolutely amazing. We've seen all the dishes. I am so hungry. I cannot wait to try it all. Thank you. Amazing kitchen. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very So the meal is beginning and we're starting with soup. Welcome to Bangkok.
The best one. Okay. So the sauce goes in. And this is like A Yemeni special Yemeni sauce. It looks like tomatoes and green chilies mixed up into the soup. Okay. Oh, there's another thing going in. Oh, a squeeze of lime. Yes. Oh my god. Wow. Oh, wow. Nice. All the food is full on right now. Thank you. All right. Yeah. Back to that soup. Mhm. That soup is so rich. Oh. I love the addition of that the green chilies, the coriander, the lime juice in there. And you just taste it's like it's melted goat. And this is just like the warm-up. This is like just warming up our taste buds with the flavor.
Mhm. I take one of the green onions, dip it into the that tomato chili sauce, and then eat it. Amazing. We have two different uh stews, which are Yemeni stews served in the ceramic earthenware bowls. One of them is salta, and one of them is fasa. And then one of So, one of them is with like Oh, this one is the salta actually. I saw him. This is the eat? This one is salta because it's minced meat with potato with tomato sauce. This one is I think just pure meat. Fasa, yeah. So, let's try the fasa first. Look at that fenugreek. Oh, it's the This Yemeni bread is incredible. Oh, man.
Yeah. There's parsley in there. All that fenugreek foam is such a unique ingredient. Oh, wow. You can feel that fenugreek foam. It's so hot and flaming. Here we go. Mhm. Oh, wow. Very nice. That is incredible. The flavor of the parsley the meat melts in your mouth. It has this tomato-y flavor. And the fenugreek is so unique. It's like foamy and jiggly. And it has a like a bitterness to it, but in a good way. Very good. Can you see the chili? Wow.
Moving for that liver. Man, and he fried this in a wok with all the with the like flame. There's onions, there's tomatoes, there's green chilies in here. Okay. Okay, here we go. The pepper. The black pepper immediately. That liver is so tender. Juicy, yeah? Juicy. Onions, tomatoes, green chilies in there, but the pepper really stands out. Oh, it's awesome. Ooh. Oh, one. Woah, woah, woah, woah. Oh, we're supposed to mix it. Okay, you are better than us. Next up for the salta. And actually, we were supposed to mix it with the hilba. All that fenugreek, we're supposed to mix it all in.
Now it's all mixed in with the fenugreek. This one is with egg, with minced meat, potato in here as well. This is stirred up, huh? That's the real deal salta, yeah. That is incredible. Now that it's stirred up, the flavor of that fenugreek is so distinct. When do you know mix it together? Mhm. You will taste, you know, the fenugreek and the minced beef and egg, everything together and vegetables are in there. potato Tomato sauce. He added in like some stewed vegetables as well. He stirred right all that all around with a big fire. Amazing.
They're all kind of like ingredients that you've probably had before and familiar ingredients, but what makes it completely unique is that fenugreek. That makes it Yemeni. I need another bite of that immediately. This is so comforting. Oh, phenomenal. I love it. It's so good and so flavorful. Okay, so the next dish? The king fish. Oh la. Um. This is the king fish with the special, you know, gravy. Mhm. They do it in Yemen and Aden.
Wow. We call it kan'ad. Kan'ad sa- salona marak. Yeah. Okay. This is a gravy of king fish. Yeah. Really rich tomatoey. Like a mellow blend of spices. It's so comforting. It's like a rich such a rich stew. You know, let's get some bread, get some of that king fish. The fish dish I tried now. Oh, wow. This Wow, man. That is just incredible flavor. It's so comforting. Very nice. Yeah, acidity and tomatoey-ness. It tastes like the onions have just been stewed down and they're they're just melting into the sauce as well. Man,
this is really unbelievable education of Yemeni food in the heart of Bangkok. It's You will not believe you're in Bangkok when you're here. Yeah. We've had the first course, which has already just blown our taste buds away, but we didn't forget about the mandi, which is still been baking in the oven. An hour and a half later, it's ready to come out. Now, it's going to do they will open everything. They will take, you know, out to the dough and will take, you know, the mandi out.
Oh, release that steam. All the goat comes out of the oven. That smells unbelievable. And it actually extinguishes the coals at the bottom, but all that heat is released in the meat. So, when the like basically when the heat is over, that's when the entire process is over and the goat is ready. There's the rice. What a process. Air-sealed, steamed, baked, barbecued, everything all in one. It smells incredible with that rice. There it comes. Mark, I think you tried so many places around the world mandi and now you try it in Bangkok. Yeah, that's incredible. It's unbelievable.
Especially you know the this kind of dishes if they are Yemeni from the origin they will do it for you they will do it perfect. I am so excited. This is what we saw going into the oven. The wait is finally over for the mandi one of the great dishes of the world. Okay, go ahead let's go. We got a selection of everything from the leg oh Fahad look at this. Let's do let's shake it off. Ready? Yeah. Oh look at the juiciness on the inside. It's melting. You can just shake it and it falls off. Look at oh look at that. Because it's baby goat that's why.
Baby goat. Look at the way it's just look at that juicy oiliness of that. Wow. Okay. Yeah, here we go. Just taste the pureness of that goat first. Going just pure goat. The taste is incredible. It's absorbed that smoke. It's tender and juicy cuz it's a baby goat. It's just full of flavor. The taste of the saffron all the juices from you know the meat come you know to the rice. Oh yeah. You want to try it now? For sure. I'm going to mix it in with some of the meat with some of the rice now. And you have to try this.
Yeah, for sure. Okay. With the green chili. And now we have to try it. That was the tomato sauce. The rice is infused with all that goat fat. As we drip down, it's so fluffy. You taste the fried onions in there, the saffron. And then you have to taste the rice with the that tomato sauce. And that skin is just incredible. The skin of the goat the rib meat that rice is like a cloud of fluffy goat juice in your mouth.
So hot. What do you think about the taste of everything? Taste is 10 out of 10, man. 10 out of 10 it is, yeah. Without a doubt. In fact, a few minutes ago we were sitting here and a guy who was sitting at the next table over there, he said he's been coming to Bangkok for 18 years and he's staying in Bangkok for 1 month and he eats breakfast, lunch and dinner here every single day. He said, "I guarantee you the flavor here is exactly like at home." Yeah, like my mom cooking. He said my mom cooking. Mom cooking, yeah. Exactly. Oh, wow. That is extremely tasty. That goat that tomato sauce brings it to a whole 'nother level. And with the green chili, real deal authentic Yemeni food in the
heart of Bangkok. Really, I'm still I still feel like I'm in a dream. And a shout out to all the people of Yemen. People are so hospitable, so friendly and food is absolutely just unbelievable. This is a dessert. Dessert? This is a like a dessert after you finish. It's dates, bread and bread, and honey. Honey, yeah. Honey. And cream, gishda. Wow. So, let's go for the main dessert. Yeah. First time for Yemeni dessert. And it feels like crispy as well.
Oh, that's the ultimate Yemeni bread pudding. Like a bread pudding, Yemeni style. Very nice. Yeah. Very delicious. The dates, the cream, and the honey all together in your mouth absorbed by the bread. That's so good. It's not even too sweet, actually. Because it's date syrup and honey, but not like regular sugar, I think. Not processed sugar. No sugar. So, the sweetness is mellow and fruity. Now, follow that with tea. The sweets come from the honey and the dates, only. Yeah.
Perfect. Oh, and with tea, it's just a perfect combination. It's helping the digestion after all that food. This has been Yemeni food on a on the next level. Thank you so much. Shukran. Man, the incredible owner here at Petra. Shukran. Amazing. Yeah. Bye-bye. Thank you. Okay. Fahad, we are very full and very happy. We eat very good. Man, what a meal. Again, the restaurant is called Petra, right on Soi 3/1 Sukhumvit. This is also known as Soi Arab. And it is the most authentic, incredible Yemeni food. Unbelievable in Bangkok.
Yeah, I cannot imagine that a very good Yemeni restaurant in heart of Bangkok, yeah? Yeah. Amazing. Absolutely incredible. Highly recommended. Must try when you're in Bangkok. Thank you, Fahad. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. And thank you for watching this video. Give it a thumbs up, leave a comment below, and we'll see you on the next video. See you.
