Best Grilled Fish @ Aden, Sharjah

we’ve heard of this place a thousand times from other malaysians in dubai. it’s always ikan bakar aden, ikan bakar aden. is it a seafood restaurant in the middle of the desert? is it a grilled spot famous for its fish? it’s our time to check the truth of those stories.

it is said to have the best grilled fish you can find in sharjah, with very affordable price.

 

 

it’s opposite safeer mall, at al ittihad road. there’s a big clearing next to the row of shop houses and you can clearly spot aden restaurant from its bold red signage.

when we arrived and looked at the menu, we realized that all these while when our malaysian friends keep mentioning about ikan bakar aden, they never mentioned that it’s actually a mandi restaurant! we thought it’s a seafood place or something! it’s basically a mandi restaurant, which happened to have a good grilled fish as well.

hmm, kalau macam tu, my favorite mandi restaurant tawasol pun ade ikan sedap…

 

the table-chair area for singles and men; while the other door leads upstairs where the family area is

 

as usual, most arab and indian restaurants here have a separate section specially for family or ladies only.

 

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the inside of the restaurant is just modest; nothing to shout about. i don’t know about you, but i am a bit skeptical with restaurants with bathroom tiles on its walls, no matter how clean they are. just me! hihi.

anyways, we were ushered upstairs to a more presentable sight – carpeted flooring, nice curtains to separate the tables, and what i love most is this elaborate wall decoration with quranic phrases. a lovely touch.

 

 

 

like many mandi restaurants, there would be small rooms for patrons who choose to sit cross-legged on the carpeted floor instead of at the table.

since we’re expecting abang shon, kak muna and uncle zul, we chose to sit at the tables. the sitting-down sections of this restaurant are all too small for more than two adults eating.

 

 

we went for supper, so it was way past the boys’ bedtime. the boys were asleep by the time we got to aden sharjah, so we just landed them on the carpet in the sitting-down area. the place was empty anyway! hihi

 

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a usual accompaniment of a mandi rice dish : the salad. i like this one – cut up pieces of cucumber, lettuce, grated carrot and onions. crunchy fresh!

 

this is the most comot plate of mandi rice i’ve ever eaten, but it tastes just as good! also, it’s the first time in dubai that mandi rice is served on a normal plate, rather than the large silver dulang. the taste and texture of the mandi rice leans more to our chicken rice. a different taste for mandi rice, but different-good!

 

…and this is why we came here in the first place – the grilled fish. ikan ape ni ye? the look : inviting. the texture : smooth and juicy. the taste : sweet succulently delicious.

but, we see no reason over the huge fuss that this is THE best grilled fish. sedap tu sedap la. tapi sedap biase. in my opinion, you can get better grilled fish (and closer too, since it’s right in dubai, no need to go all the way to sharjah) at chalet jumeirah! wanna read my review, click here.

 

a sleepy khaleef with the infamous grilled fish

 

my dear kak muna, abang shon’s wife brought along her home-made air asam and cecah cili kicap for the grilled fish. these are the must-have dips when malaysians eat grilled fish. these two dips absolutely take the fish taste to another level.

malay cliche : memang terangkat! ‘nuff said!

the moral of the story is, malaysians who wish to enjoy the grilled fish in aden that’s been named best in sharjah – please bring your own cecah cili kicap and air asam to make the dish perfect!

 

 

kahfi and kazim were still in slumberland, so only khaleef was enjoying this late supper at aden sharjah. he ate a little bit of rice, and this huge nan bread. it’s really the biggest arab bread i’ve ever seen!

us 5 adults and 2 kids could not even finish the bread. but of course, we already had the rice…

 

 

 

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we enjoyed the delight of aden’s grilled fish with mr. khairul’s mckk seniors abang faisal shon and wife kak muna with their daughter sarah, as well as uncle zul.

 

 

 

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uncle zul, mr. khairul, abang faisal shon, kak muna and little sarah

 

for a taste of reasonably good grilled fish with slightly different-tasting mandi rice, head on to aden restaurant in sharjah. opens from 11 am to 11.30 pm.

the grilled fish and mandi rice are delicious, but i may not go again anytime soon – i can get very delicious mandi rice at my favorite haunt, tawasol, and bait al-mandi. and if we want to have grilled fish, we can just go somewhere close like the chalet in jumeirah.

but if you’re in sharjah, go ahead and give it a try!