5.0 out of 5 based on 3 reviews. – Customer review on 14/03/2009

This is a beautiful book, full of wonderful photographs and exotic yet "do-able" recipes! It would make a lovely coffee table book, too, as is so interesting to leaf through. Delivery was within the timeframe promised, and I was very satisfied with this purchase.

5.0 out of 5 based on 3 reviews. – Customer review on 18/09/2008

It's a truly magnificient book,that will have you and me salivating at every turn of the page.

5.0 out of 5 based on 3 reviews. – Customer review on 21/06/2008

Whoopsie! Not that I was looking for it, but I found a recipe of Julie Le Clerc's that doesn't seem to work as well as I have come to expect from this prolific author. Taking Tea in the Medina is her 9th cookbook and, as the previous one, Made in Morocco, it's a feast for eyes and tastebuds. While Made in Morocco is dedicated to the food of that particular region, Taking Tea in the Medina takes culinary influences from Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Turkey and the Gulf States. Le Clerc presents authentic tastes with recipes that are well-adapted to Western cooking methods.
Readers will find well-known classics, such as baba ganoush, falafel, fattoush and tabouleh as well as recipes for the delicious toum (a potent garlic sauce) and quite stunning salads with pomegranate seeds, mint and other typical ingredients from the Middle East.
The combination of sweet and tart are found in many dishes - stews soured with pomegranate molasses, and meat cooked with apricots, rhubarb or figs are common throughout this vast culinary area.
Recently, I combined a leg of lamb, slowly cooked with spices, stock and raisins with the unforgettable Jewelled Rice from Taking Tea in the Medina. I completed the meal with cumin-flavoured broad beans and silverbeet with tahini sauce and served baklava, which I also took from the new cookbook, for dessert. The dinner was a succes - except for the baklava. Le Clerc's recipe produced a sodden, cloyingly-sweet and greasy mess that was too lemony and not nice to eat. I won't take her recipe next time, but if you're inclined to try it, I recommend taking only half of the butter, omitt the caster sugar from the nut mix, and use only one recipe of the floral syrup instead of two. When making the syrup, you can safely halve the sugar and take only one lemon.
Although this baklava will not become my favourite, I still enjoy Taking Tea in the Medina, not least because of John Bougen's and the author's lovely pictures and interesting travel stories.