Bahraini chef and restauranteur Roaya Saleh brings Villa Mama’s from the Saar district of Bahrain to Elystan Street.

Drawing on Roaya’s rich Bahraini heritage and a life well-travelled, Villa Mama’s seasonal, home-style dishes combine flavours and culinary traditions from across the Khaleej, Persia and beyond. The space is designed in a collaboration led by Erta Designs with furniture, artwork, textiles inspired by Roaya’s heritage and travels. Traditional Bahraini café style benches line the pavement for alfresco diners, and folding doors line the front, dressed with handmade Turkish curtains, and ready to be pulled open during the warmer months. A stairwell at the back of the restaurant leads down to the open pass of the kitchen and a small hidden courtyard of hexagonal terracotta tiles and filled with cooking herbs. The dining room seats 50 at pedestal tables, topped with Breccia violetta marble, and vintage chapel chairs and colour scatter cushions.

The menu focuses on sharing plates of traditional Bahraini dishes and those of the six countries of the GCC, alongside recipes influenced by her travels around the world. ‘Mezzeh’ offerings includes dishes such as ‘Mathrooba’, slow-cooked chicken, rice and cracked wheat and ‘Sayadieh’, turbot cooked in fragrant stock with pilaf and crisp onions. Open daily from 8am.

Ideal For

Persian plates

Signature Dishes

Khubus, a Tandoor-cooked flatbread, served with meyhawa; Lamb and Feta Kofta finished with cherry molasses; Tacheen for two, a saffron rice cake layered with spiced chicken and pine nuts.

Signature Drinks

‘Prunus’, plum, basil, Swedish bitters and lemon with optional Montenegro & golden rum; ‘Nostalgia’, sweet potato, pumpkin spice syrup and lime with the option of adding Flaming Pig whisky