REVIEW: Bedouin

A great getaway from the Cambridge bubble

bedouin bedouin cambridge food review north africa north african food party venue Restaurant review

Bedouin is a lovely little restaurant located on Mill Road, just past Parker’s Piece. Its website promises to ‘transport you to the Sahara’ with its North African cuisine and beautiful interior, designed in the manner of a Bedouin tent. It may be a little further out than you’re used to journeying for a meal, but it’s well within comfortable walking distance from the city centre and feels more special than your average chain restaurant.

I’m a big fan of lights

Flic and I were welcomed in to a completely full restaurant resplendent with Turkish lanterns, bronze camels and striped carpets. It looked amazing. After our coats had been taken, we sat down at a low wooden table adorned with a complimentary olive bowl each (!) and a burning candle.

The exotic juice order was placed straight away (lemon and mint for me, mango and passionfruit for Flic). These were brought to us along with some water in a delightful jug.

The very jug

The juice was honestly great. We perused the menu, realising that we both wanted the same starter and main, and that our back-up choices were the same too. We came to a deal wherein Flic had starter dibs, I had main dibs, and we were happy to share along the way.

Having dealt with that quandary with the utmost maturity and sophistication, we ordered our food and some wine.

It was probably at this point we realised we were sat right next to a couple on their first date (highlights included overhearing the man listing out all the different types of burger he could think of, and asking what his date’s name was 3 courses in).

We sniggered smugly considering our comfortable coconsumption.

Much camel

Despite how busy the restaurant was, our starters arrived snappily. Flic seemed pleased with her borek juba (brik pastry rolls filled with spinach and goats cheese), and my crevettes mchermla (king prawns in a spicy tomato sauce) were extremely tasty. This romantic candlelit dinner was certainly going well.

 

Once we’d cleaned these plates entirely, our mains were brought out: chicken and aubergine tagine for me, tagine belda for Flic (slow-cooked lamb tagine). Most mains come with either bread or couscous, and are beautifully spiced and seasoned. Flic would not stop talking about how tender her lamb was, with quotes ranging from “omg so tender” to “look how it just falls off the bone”.

To be fair, it did just fall off the bone.

Awkie waiter pic

By this time, we were bursting at the seams and couldn’t even finish our plates. The portion sizes are superb. Nevertheless, we hesitantly agreed that it couldn’t hurt to look over the dessert menu. These also looked great (one option was spiced rice pudding), but we were simply too full to battle through.

In a final effort to usurp me Flic said she was going to order the mint tea just after I had expressed my interest in it. I gave her a steely glare.

And then decided I could probably find some room for a creamy hot chocolate.

I actually won that round

After spending a joyous few hours away from the Cambridge bubble, it was time to head home. One of the lovely waiters helped us with our coats and we were off back to Magdalene.

I must admit that the fresh air was welcome, as it had become quite heated indoors, but this was Bedouin’s only drawback.

Bedouin is reasonably priced and the ideal place for a special dinner or party.

You can even pretend you’re on holiday once you get there.

Open Mon to Fri 12 – 3pm & 5 – 11pm. Sat 12 – 11pm. Sun 12 – 10pm. 

Bedouin Cambridge,

98 – 100 Mill Road Cambridge CB1 2BD