Dining with Natalie: Mandi Huis

As a native of culinary melting pot Malaysia and the daughter of a restaurateur, UG student Natalie Voo knows her food. Every other week, she reviews Groningen’s student-friendly dining scene. This time: Mandi Huis.

I stumbled upon Mandi Huis during one of my aimless city strolls. The name made me giggle to myself because ‘mandi’ in Malay and Indonesian means ‘shower’, so my brain immediately went, ha ha, Shower House restaurant, which obviously is the epitome of humour. Naturally, I went home, googled it, and found out it was a newly opened Yemeni place. And if there’s one thing I can never resist, it’s a new cuisine to try. 

Mains

We went all in and got the tabouleh (aka the herbaceous salad of dreams), chicken mandi, and lamb zurbian. The tabouleh was as fresh as a spring morning and paired beautifully with the unapologetically seasoned meat dishes. Both dishes came with Everest-level portions of rice – enough to feed us, a small army and still have enough leftovers for the next day. The chicken was nicely spiced, though a tad dry. Honestly, I could’ve bathed it in that spicy salsa thing they served on the side, but alas, there wasn’t enough. The lamb, however, was the star, similar to biryani, it was marinated in a bunch of spices and yoghurt, slow-cooked until it melted off the bone. Just gorgeous.

Service

Service was absolutely lovely – friendly, attentive, and just the right amount of present. They did sneak in a tabouleh we didn’t order, but I didn’t say anything as I thought perhaps it was God’s way of telling me to eat more vegetables. The interior was simple, chairs comfy, and they had a 4K slideshow of Yemen’s most Insta-worthy landscapes on a TV in the corner. 

Honestly, places like this are gems. Affordable, delicious, generous, and heartwarming, with a clientele that made me smile – expat families gathering to savor a taste of home. Now that’s something worth walking for.

Dutch