My favorite Bahraini grills spot is still Ghadeer al Bahrain in Salmiya, even though after the pandemic they had to increase their prices by around 100 fils. But last night, I decided to try another Bahraini grills spot in the city called Tekka Lumee. This past winter whenever I drove by Tekka Lumee in the evening it would be super packed with people, they actually had to expand their outdoor seating and double the size because of their popularity. I was with a friend in the city last night and we were originally planning to walk over to Little Ruby’s for dinner when we decided to give Tekka Lumee a shot.
Tekka Lumee is a small place across the street from the newly opened Assima Mall. Unlike Ghadeer al Bahrain which has been around for 30+ years, Tekka Lumee is a new concept that opened up over a year ago. Their menu has a pretty good variety of items and you can check it out online here. We ended up getting hummus to start with and Tekka Lumee grills, Tekka Yogurt, Kebab Special and Special Tawooq for the mains.
A couple of minutes after placing the order the food started coming out. First the freshly baked Irani bread with the hummus, and then all the grills. If you’re hungry and don’t want to wait too long for your food then this is the place to come to. I quickly started digging into the food and right away knew what I liked and what I wouldn’t order again. Both the Tekka Lumee and Tekka Yogurt were great, especially the Tekka Lumee which had great flavor. The Tawooq was the third-best item, I usually wouldn’t order chicken at a Bahraini grills place but was curious to try it here but wouldn’t have it again. The most disappointing item though was the kebab, it was fairly dry, a bit bland, and was the only thing that we didn’t finish on the table. It sucks because I usually like ordering kebab with my tikka but wouldn’t do so again here.
Even though Ghadeer al Bahrain is a low-end hole-in-the-wall restaurant, I do feel like I have to compare it with Tekka Lumee only because they both basically sell the same food. Pricewise Tekka Lumee is surprisingly pretty good, their grills are around KD2.500 a plate and contain 5 skewers. What is important to point out is their skewers are longer than that of Ghadeer and contain more meat, so you could say close to double the size of Ghadeer’s. This means price-wise it’s fairly competitive to Ghadeer Al Bahrain even though it’s a much nicer (cough cleaner cough) place with a better dining experience. Tastewise the tikkas at Tekka Lumee were great but the kebab as I mentioned was a disappointment. The kebab at Ghadeer is much better but I’d still go back to Tekka Lumee for the other items (and for the bread which was crazy good). The total for two people including 3 drinks came out to around 13KD. If you want to check the place out, their Instagram account is @tekka.lumee, and here is their location on Google Maps.
23 replies on “Review: Tekka Lumee”
Its interesting to note that the word Tekka is Indian, and is quite different in terms of spices and sauces from the one used here. Its equally interesting to note that tawooq is the Turkish word for chicken. Finally, and most interesting is the fact that what is called “Bahraini” grills is just Iranian food from the Ahvaz region. The funniest bit of all is how Israelis will call all of it Israeli food. LOL.
Lol
ROFL
Apartheid Israel had the audacity to call “Mansaf” and “Knafeh” Israeli food on their Ministry of Foreign Affairs page.
They claim everything as Israeli food. Hummus, musabaha, shakshoka, tahina, baba ghanoush, mujadara, maklouba, labneh, falafel, tabouleh, kibba, kushari, shawerma, even warak enab and baklawa and halawa.
They don’t just stop at Arab food btw. They do the same for European food. They claim polish pierogis and German schnitzels and German pretzels and Austrian bagels and Hungarian latkes as Israeli food. ABSOLUTE BASTARDS!
https://www.worldtravelconnector.com/israeli-food/
They’re claiming the other foods because 60% of Israelis are Mizrahim ie they’re from the Middle East (Egypt, Iraq, Libya and other Arab countries) and the other 40% are Ashkenazi ie European, mostly East Europe where they do eat pierogis, schnitzel and challah (chałke in Poland).
But “msakhan“ and “knafeh” are not from those countries, they’re strictly Palestinian dishes. They originated from Palestine.
And “mansaf” is the national dish of Jordan.
They’re stealing our land and oppressing us every single day but that’s not enough for them, they now feel the need to steal the handful of dishes we have as well.
And mansaf isn’t even fkn kosher! You can’t mix meat with its milk products
Half or more of Israelis don’t observe kashrut (food) laws.
Some of them roast pigs on the beach.
Ever try Israeli salad ? Its greattttt
Do you support Apartheid Israel?
The bahraini grill is the new burger/pizza place. They’re popping up everywhere. Try Suwaikhat in Sabah Alsalem.
I used to order from Suwaikhat in Salmiya all the time but they closed down for renovations and just finally reopened yesterday.
Btw the Suwaikhat name is pretty common. Most of them are different restaurants.
I’m sure we are both talking about the same one https://instagram.com/swaikhat?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Yes that’s the one, but type suwaikhat in arabic in instagram and you’ll see what i mean. Suwaikhat comes from the word Seekh (صيخ) skewer, and in arabic you can miniaturize words, like Kout —> Kuwait, so Suwaikhat is miniaturized seekhs/skewers.
Hi Mark, the same swaikhat is there in sabah al salem with a bigger dine in.
Hey yes but the one in Salmiya is just more convenient for me since they’re just down the street from my place so food arrives really quickly
This is one of my favorites spots in town. Their spicy kebab is much better than the regular ones. I also recommend their grilled shrimp.
I had not so good experience in Ghadeer al Bahrain. I was served with cold iranian kuboos. Felt the skewers/kababs were pretty average. Hummous tasted pretty good tho.
That’s a funny coincidence, the restaurant is actually owned by a couple of my cousins! I’ll try to pass on your remarks to them about the kebabs, they’re usually very happy with receiving constructive feedback.
Does anyone even eat from Chicken Tikka anymore?
Had it for dinner last night, not bad at all..
Good option for a quick bite..
What did you have out of curiosity?