Habibi-san is a new Japanese-Middle Eastern fusion place opened by a chef who used to be at Artichoke. The service is top notch and really friendly. Our server recommended us to get the Feeeeed me! menu, i.e. their omakase, so that we could try most of their dishes, and we went with it!

It started with some pita and 3 of their small plates. Of them all, I loved the baba ganoush. I haven’t tried much Middle Eastern food on the whole, but this tastes rather familiar because of the Japanese spin they put on it. Baba ganoush is typically mashed eggplant mixed with tahini, but here they used kinnogomadare, which is the delicious Japanese sesame dressing. It’s topped with roasted sesame seeds, chives and crispy chicken skin. It was the perfect dip.

The mentaiko taramasalata is a departure from the usual Greek meze made from cod roe. It has a good tang thanks to the housemade labneh (Greek yogurt) inside. It’s mixed with mentaiko and XO sauce, which gave it a hint of spice, and is topped with tobiko, fried shallots and chives. I haven’t tried a dip like this before, but the flavours slowly grew on me as I had more.

Lastly, the pickled beetroot was an unexpected surprise as someone who doesn’t enjoy pickled things or beetroot at all. The beetroot was juicy and not too earthy or sour, and the wasabi cream and wasabi pea furikake really balanced things out. It was refreshing compared to the other two dips and a good palate cleanser.