Written by
Suzanne Ling

I have never been a foodie.

Before I started running The Picha Project, I eat whatever that fills my tummy, and I rarely travel far for food.

Needless to say, I wasn’t an adventurous person who likes to try new food. However, being in this business pushed me out of my little bubble, and I found myself trying out new food from all over the world.

Not only that, to my own surprise, I found myself falling SOOOO in love with the flavours of all the new food.

After trying out more than 50 new dishes over the past 2.5 years, here are THREE Picha food that I think you shouldn’t eat too much, and you’re going to find out why.

#1 - Mantu

Mantu, oh Mantu. This dish in Picha has been called “The Legendary Mantu”, “The Heavenly Mantu”, and “THE Mantu”. This mantu drives people crazy and we haven’t found anyone who does not like it yet.

I mean, how can you not get addicted to this?

When you take a bite into this cute little dumplings, you’ll get minced chicken - seasoned & flavoured to perfection, wrapped with hand-rolled skin - steamed to perfection too, and topped with dhal and yogurt.

The problem here is this: I was so extremely terribly in love with mantu that I couldn’t stop eating them. During EVERY catering that I’ve been to (I’ve been hundreds of caterings as of now), I eat them mantus (leftovers FYI). During EVERY Open House in our Afghan family’s house, I EAT THEM MANTUS (I mean, i eat ONLY the mantus).

I was eating them so much that I got a mantu overdose, and my body started rejected my mantu intake *cries*. Now i get a natural gag-reflex whenever I eat Mantu. How sad is this???

And this is why I’m doing you a favor and warning you right now - YOU SHOULD NOT EAT TOO MUCH MANTU. Please do not be like me, please pace yourself so that you can keep eating them for the rest of your life.

One of my interns even joked and asked me “do you have nightmares of mantu chasing after you?”

From then, I learnt that I should never have too much of any Picha food, so that I can keep enjoying them in a long run.

#2 - Falafel & Hummus

Falafel & Hummus are like the perfect match in the Arabic food world, and I loveeeee the combination of these two.

But there’s a funny story behind why I have a special love towards falafel and hummus. #keepingthingsreal

When I was doing catering for two years, I always end up not having enough time to have my dinner. While the guests are having their Picha dinner, I used to wait in the kitchen, and guess what always get returned to the kitchen first? The leftover starters - falafel & hummus. And guess who always eat the leftovers starters? The very-hungry me.

Till now, I always get that “omg-so-delicious” feeling when I take a bite of the crispy falafel covered with creamy dreamy hummus, because this has been my comfort when I was hungry at work for the past two years.

If you haven’t tried this combination yet, you really should. It’s DELICIOUS.

#3 - Musakhan Rolls

Musakhan rolls are my latest new love! These arabic chicken rolls are made of roasted chicken slices stir-fried with sumac and onions, wrapped in Dalia’s homemade pita bread, and baked till crispy. IT IS SOOO GOOD,

It’s so good I secretly make a prayer that there will be leftover Musakhan when there’s a catering. It’s so good I order them for Picha Open House so that I can eat them. It’s so good I close my eyes and enjoy every bit of the taste every time I have a bite.

There’s no special reason why I love Musakhan Rolls. I love it because it’s too good.

Trust me, this is something you’ll want to keep enjoying for the rest of your life too!

These are the 3 Picha Food that you’ll definitely get addicted to, but you should definitely not eat TOO MUCH. If you haven’t tried them yet, you totally should! Get yourself a set here!

Again, remember to learn from my painful lesson and pace yourself in eating all Picha food! 😉