ARABIAN TEA SHOP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 182, 3 August 1932, Page 11

ARABIAN TEA SHOP.

There has recently been opened in Regent Street a real Oriental chaikhana, or tea shop, where, for a small matter of two shillings, one may eat the food of Bedouins or Eastern brides in luxurious surroundings. The cafe is called Al Nineveh and is run by Captain Antoun Hormuzd Rassam, the only Arab who has served in the British Army. Every item in the chaikhana is correct, from the Chaldean dreeses of the waitresses to the silken robes of Muhammed Ali, the Arab boy who sings Arabian songs and shakes hands with you when he gives you your coat. On the floor and walls are carpets and cloths of woven silk from Beyrout and Bagdad. The lamps are from Damascus, and on the tables stand ash traye of beaten braes inlaid with silver. The air is fragrant with the essence of Oriental spring flowers. Perhaps the most ornamental item of all, however, is Andreas, the coffee master, who wears a blue and gold jacket, gold fabric trousers, red slippers and a eheik's 'burnous. The menu includes Bagdad wedding cake steeped in honey, halva, a delicious sweetmeat made from camel's milk and nuts, vine leaves, and cucumbers etuffed with spices.