- Okay and next up, they're gonna throw more herbs on here,
- Wow. - Wow, look at that.
- It's musical, you know?
It's very musical.
- It is, it's a work of art.
- Yeah, work of art.
- All the different pieces and the smoke is coming up.
- And everyone know how to do,
everyone know how to do this art.
- Yeah.
- You know?
- Yeah, it's like a symphony, they're doing it.
- Yeah, symphony, that's why it's a work of art.
- All right, check it out guys.
It's Trevor James and Ting.
We just got into South Saudi, we're in Abha.
This place has some the best lamb platters,
best food in Saudi.
Just landed, we're super pumped
and we're gonna go check it out, let's go.
(upbeat instrumental music)
What you're about to witness
is an extremely rare and unique Saudi food
that we flew in solely to eat.
And in this Saudi Series part one of three,
we're starting off strong by flying into Abha,
from Riyadh to meet with our local friend and guide,
Hisham Baeshem, who's taking us full on
to a local little village
to try the most authentic way of cooking
and eating Haneeth, let's eat.
- Wow, the weather is just gorgeous here.
It's like 22 degrees, super comfortable.
And we're gonna check into the hotel first,
and then we're meeting up with our buddy Hisham
and we're gonna take a road trip to a,
I think it's like a local little village outside of Abha
for a super special, super special lamb cooked with leaves.
Oh, no way.
(Ting laughs)
We got picked in a Rolls,
that's an amazing start to the trip in Abha.
Oh my goodness, wow, beautiful.
Look at that, look how the door opens backwards.
Oh, that's comfy.
Thank you for the nice pickup (laughs).
Wow and this is just beautiful.
We got picked up in a Rolls Royce,
heading to Bayat Hotel, it's gonna be amazing.
It's gonna be good food.
Yeah, first time, same, same.
Here we are coming up to the hotel.
Thank you, Bayat Hotel amazing.
Hi, how are you?
- How are you?
- [Trevor] Thank you, good, how are you?
- I'm fine, thank you.
- [Trevor] Oh, great, really good.
Wow, this is beautiful.
Already have the room ready, wow.
- Here you go.
- [Trevor] Okay.
- (indistinct)
- And here we are.
- Okay (indistinct).
- Okay, thank you, see you.
Okay, let's check out the room.
Holy wow, there was just no check-in
they gave us the keys in the Rolls Royce
and we just walk into this gorgeous room.
And they gave us some flowers, fresh roses, here Ting.
- Wow, nice.
- [Trevor] Amazing, wow, nice lounge area, super luxury.
Morning bro.
- Morning.
- How you doing? - How do you do?
(both laugh)
so what's the plan today?
- The plan we are gonna go now to (speaks foreign language)
to taste the best Haneeth in your life.
- Number one Haneeth?
- Yeah, you will see.
Trust me, this is the best one you're gonna eat.
- Let's do it.
Here we are.
(car engine starts)
Thank you so much.
- Welcome, welcome, welcome, assalamu alaikum.
- Thank you much, here we go.
Okay and we are just making
our way out deep into the desert now to see the making.
This is a classic dish from the region, right, so?
- Yeah, it is.
It's a classic dish from the region.
It's one of the oldest dishes that we have,
one of the oldest.
- Oh, very historical.
- Yeah very historical.
So he will not turn on the engine, the engine will be off.
- Oh we're going down with the engine off.
- Yeah.
- Really? - The engine will be off.
- [Trevor] Oh wow, we're going down.
- [Hisham] That, D two
- [Hisham] D two, like what I said,
- Okay. - It will be D two
- All the way down.
- Yeah all the way down D two.
He said, don't worry I'm doing that weekly.
- Doing it every week.
Okay. We're going in deep Ranidh.
- Then we're just going into a tunnel.
- Crazy, we're going down deep.
Oh man.
- Wanted to check the mountain.
- [Trevor] Here we are.
- Check the mountains, come.
- [Trevor] Look at the view, (exclaims) whoa.
- [Hisham] See.
- It's a massive cliff.
It's just crazy.
- It is crazy.
- Look at the mountains all around.
And we're going down to the very bottom for Haneeth?
- Yes (laughs).
- Haneeth Ranges, let's go.
- Let's go.
It's just amazing, we're almost at the bottom now.
Farms on the bottom.
- [Hisham] See some camels on the road.
- There's camels on the road.
(Hisham exclaims)
- We're almost there, it's Al Mandi.
- [Hisham] Al Mandi and Haneeth.
- This is ours right here.
- [Hisham] Yes.
- Wow, we're going in, we're going in?
Oh, it's crowded.
Oh, we're going right into the back entrance
to see the making.
- Yalla, lets go in.
- Okay, here we go, let's go.
Here we are.
Oh wow look at the pits.
- So they cook it over here.
- Look at the pits.
Whoa, so this is where it's gonna start right here.
- [Hisham] Yeah, we'll start right here.
- The wood, the firewood is on,
- [Hisham] Yes.
- Natural firewood,
- Yeah you can check this one's still on.
- Wow, assalamu alaikum. - Waalaikumsalam.
- Hey, how are you? How are you?
- Fine, thank you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you too. - Ahmed.
- And here we are with the chefs and,
- Yes,
- The masters here that have been making this.
- Yes.
- Is this a family restaurant?
(all speak foreign language)
Family restaurant.
- Yes. Yes.
- Amazing and we're gonna watch the full process.
- Yes.
- Let's go. - Let's go.
- Shukran, thank you. - Shukran.
- Man and this is just so unique.
So what are these?
These are the local herbs, right?
- Yeah this is called (speaks foreign language).
- (speaks foreign language)
- You find it, you know,
while you are walking in the desert, you will find it.
- So they're like on the hills,
- Yeah,
- And the rocks and I looked it up,
it's called the Leptadenia
- Leptadenia, yeah.
- And it gives it a good aroma, right?
- Give it a very nice aroma
- Starting making,
- Nice grill mark also.
- Come take a look.
- [Hisham] So there is lots of charcoal.
Now they will put the metal.
- [Trevor] Wow.
- [Hisham] Check, this is called (speaks foreign language).
- [Trevor] Oh, and there's more coming, what's this?
- This is (speaks foreign language).
This one will be in the bottom.
- [Trevor] On the bottom.
- This one will be in the bottom.
- [Trevor] Okay.
- [Hisham] So it's hold the meat.
- Okay, here we go.
Let's see how it's made, oh wow.
This is the most unique way to smoke meat.
Wow, they're just placing it down
and there's a bed of coals underneath.
This is the shrub from the mountains in this dry region
of South Saudi Arabia.
They're adding the second layer on here.
So there's two shrubs from the hills here.
And look at this, here comes the lamp heads,
and then, oh wow, look at this.
Here comes the lamb heads, the lamb heads going on.
Look at there's the heads
- [Hisham] Check how small it is.
- Wow, and then here comes the meat pieces.
Some organs, looks like some kidney, going right on.
Wow, so what do we got here?
- [Hisham] This one is the neck.
- Oh neck. - This is the neck.
- And they're covering it more there.
- [Hisham] And that one is the back.
- The back.
- [Hisham] And the head in the middle
- Head, wow, it's like a work of art, like you say.
Oh, these the leg piece.
- Yeah, this is the leg piece.
Check the legs very small.
- Yeah, baby leg piece.
- You know, this is two months old?
- [Trevor] Two months.
- This is two months old.
It's musical, you know, it's very musical.
- [Trevor] It is, it's a work of art.
- [Hisham] Yeah work of art.
- All the different pieces and the smoke is coming up.
Okay and next up, they're gonna throw more herbs on here.
- What. - Wow, look at that, oh my.
So there's layers and layers here?
- Layers and layers.
- [Trevor] Look at all the fatty pieces now,
oh these are the rib pieces.
- [Hisham] When this one goes blue.
- Yeah. - It means it's very young,
check how blue it is, very blue.
- [Trevor] Oh it is blue.
- [Hisham] Yeah, yeah.
- Oh, very young.
So Hisham was explaining that this just pure flavor,
just salt and you get the natural aroma from the herbs.
- The salt is at the end.
- Right? Yeah, salt in the end.
And then the natural aroma from the smoke, right?
- Yes.
- So smoke and the salt and the fat.
- Yes.
- Those three things, right?
- Yep.
- [Trevor] And look at these ribs
they're just placing down here.
Those are so small.
So I think they've already added
in like three layers of meat.
Each time they add another layer of these greens.
And look, here's another layer of these greens.
Okay and then here's the final step, cardboard.
- [Hisham] Okay.
- [Trevor] Cardboard going on and it's gonna cover
and smother it, right?
- [Hisham] They will put the carton
so they hold the smoke inside.
- [Trevor] Okay.
- And to help the cartons,
later on they will put some towel.
- [Trevor] Some towel, okay.
- [Hisham] Yeah.
- Final step here, look at this.
They're covering it with sand
and that's gonna make sure that no oxygen can get in
so the fire dies.
And there it is guys, look at that completely smothered.
We're gonna wait an hour and a half for that,
two hours, let's go.
Okay, so it's been an hour and a half now, we've waiting,
- Between one hour and a half and two hours, okay?
- [Trevor] So we've be waiting for it,
- Yeah. - To be finished.
- Yes.
- [Trevor] And this is the moment, this is the reveal.
- See how much effort they put.
- [Trevor] Yeah.
- Just to cook that lamb.
- [Trevor] Wow.
- [Hisham] Too much effort. Too much effort.
- Okay so they've just cleared all of the sand.
They've cleared the blankets.
- Yeah they've cleaned everything.
- [Trevor] And only thing left
is the cardboard and the herb.
- Yeah, excited moment.
- [Trevor] Yeah, this is the moment
- We've traveled all the way just to see this.
- Yeah.
(both exclaim)
Look at all the lamb under there.
- See?
- Oh, it's juicy and fatty.
- Yes, yes, yes, very juicy and fatty.
- Oh my goodness.
You can smell that.
(both exclaim)
Sprinkling salt, wow.
- Its very small. - Oh, look at the baby ribs.
- Baby ribs very small.
- [Trevor] Look at the baby ribs.
Oh bubbly, bubbly. - Very small.
So there's the fatty bit.
There's the liver and the ribs.
- Yeah.
- And then look at him just loading the fat in here.
Wow, that's the fat and the liver.
- [Hisham] Very tender, very tender.
- [Trevor] Look at that fat, bubbly bubbly.
- [Hisham] Very tender.
- [Trevor] Looking so good.
- So they put it in the foil
so they keep the heat,
- [Trevor] They keep the heat in there.
- They keep the heat you don't lose it.
- Can I try?
Oh the juicy bit, look at that.
Let's try it out.
- It's a, this is a fresh bite.
Wow, piece of heaven.
- Piece of heaven, its so juicy.
- Piece of heaven, it's so juicy.
- Look at those ribs.
Those look so juicy, so fatty.
I can try.
(laughs)
(exclaims)
Seriously.
(speaks foreign language)
Man, wow this is just amazing.
Hisham you were saying these guys
should have Michelin Star, right?
- Yes, you can see technique in everything.
How they prepare, how it's the ending
- And I was hearing is this true that Prophet Ibrahim,
this came down from the Quran, is that true?
- Yeah, this meal is already mentioned in Quran.
- Really?
- Yeah, it's mentioned in Quran.
- So how are we gonna eat this, with bread, with rice?
- Usually it depends on how do you like it.
You can eat it with rice or with bread.
All wheat bread or white rice.
- Oh,
- Yeah. - Sounds good.
- Yeah.
- And you can see, they're just preparing the rice.
- Yeah, preparing one over there
Yeah, preparing one over there.
- Colorful rice.
- Very colorful
- With the raisins and the aroma of these herbs.
- I feel hungry.
- Yeah, listen to the crackling.
- Yeah, the crackling,
- Of?
- This is the fat crackling with the charcoals.
- Wow, it's gonna have that sizzled aroma,
- Yeah because you know,
they are taking the meat out of this
and the meat will drop the juice on the,
- Onto, - On the coals
- Onto the coals, - Yeah.
- So then it sizzles, - Yes.
- Man, this is just so unique.
I've never seen anything like this in my whole life.
You gotta travel to Saudi to taste this.
- Yeah, yes.
- Incredible.
- You go to Abha and from Abha you go
to (speaks foreign language).
- Once in a lifetime,
- Once, yeah. - This is just
such a rare, extremely rare thing
- Yeah.
- To experience, thank you for bringing me here man.
- So what do you think, one Michelin Star or two?
- Oh yeah, for sure.
(laughs)
Let's go eat, let's go.
- Yeah, let's go eat, yalla.
- Let's go.
- For me, this is the best part, check it out.
- Oh, what's happening, what's happening?
- It's the part in the bottom, it's,
- More smokey.
- More smokey, more grilled.
And it'll have more, more colorful, it'll be pinky.
You can check it's pinky, right?
- Right here.
- Yeah its pinky.
- People just take it to go.
- Yeah.
(both exclaim)
- It's the head.
- Wow, wow.
- Steamy.
- You will eat that, you need that?
- Oh yeah, let's have that one.
(speaks foreign language)
There's just so many different cuts of meat here.
- Yes.
- There's the head.
- All, everything, there is the head, the shoulder, the,
- [Trevor] Everything.
- The legs, the chest.
- Wow, and look at it just go right out.
- Yeah.
- And there it is, it's done, we're gonna go eat.
Wow, we're going right through the back,
instead of the front.
- Yes.
- Amazing, wow.
- It is preparing the dish.
- Preparing the dish.
You like?
- I like,
- Number one,
- (indistinct)
- Number one.
(all speak foreign language)
- Yes, yes.
- Okay so this is how its served with the rice,
- [Hisham] Okay.
- Is this, oh so the plain rice
and then the sweet rice, right?
- [Hisham] Yeah.
- [Trevor] Oh, and then it's just served, oh,
- [Hisham] Yeah.
- With the juiciest pieces.
- [Hisham] Yes.
- [Trevor] Wow, look at them.
So there's the regular rice.
- [Hisham] Yeah.
- And then the, - The garnish one.
- The garnish,
- The stuffing, the stuffing
- [Trevor] The stuffing,
- The stuffing.
- This has to be one of the most special,
rare goat dishes, meat dishes in the world.
Just with the way they cooked it was incredible.
And look at the plating here.
Amazing, look at that plating.
That rice has the raisins, it's got the dried lemon.
You can see cardamon in there and all of this is gonna
be covered in that goat right off of the flame.
Okay, man, lets go eat. - Let's go eat.
- Let's go eat.
We gotta eat. - We gotta eat.
- Lets go, lets go.
Okay and then this is the eating section, right?
- Yeah eating section.
- Wow, okay.
Take shoes off here.
Take shoes off.
Wow, AC that's comfortable, yeah.
And we're gonna eat right here.
- (speaks foreign language) You know,
I came with winter cloth and thought it's cold over here
but it turns out it's very summery.
- Sweaty, oh and here it comes
- Here it comes here, here it comes.
- Oh my look at that.
Okay, so we're gonna start eating.
How do you do it?
You go like this.
- Yes.
(all laughing)
- For the comfort, right?
- Yeah, very comfort, yalla.
- So what do we have here?
This looks beautiful.
- Looks beautiful, now, if you wanna eat it,
if you wish to eat it with the rice
or you have this whole wheat bread.
- Oh, this is bread.
- And this is the sauce.
- It's like,
- It's called khamir.
- Khamir. - Yeah khamir.
- It's red.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- And you can see there's some spices
in there is that?
- This is corn, this is red corn with the spices.
- Red corn.
- And this is what we came for.
- (speaks foreign language)
- So what else do we have here?
We got some amazing gravies to go, I think
- Yeah gravy with it, but I prefer to eat it with nothing
then start with the gravy.
- Oh, just go in, okay.
What's this here?
- This is the backbone.
- Oh back (exclaims),
- This is the backbone.
You can see the whole kidney,
- Oh kidney.
- Very small.
(speaks foreign language)
- Oh yes. - And this one is the liver.
- Oh, kidney, liver.
And then you can flip it and see, (exclaims)
- Yeah.
- All the meat on the back.
We gotta try that out.
- Yeah, you have to try it. Let's begin.
- Let's begin.
- Wow.
(both speak foreign language)
- Wow, smokey.
- Smokey.
- You can taste that natural smokey aroma.
That is so unique, one of the most unique meals to me.
- This one called helba.
- Helba.
- It's very powerful, powerful taste.
- What's it made of?
- [Hisham] Fennel seeds.
- Fennel seeds?
- [Hisham] Yes, fennel seeds
- It's like a fennel seed dip.
- Yeah, yeah.
- So do you pour it on the meat?
- You pour it in the, with the rice and the meat,
- Okay.
- With the rice and the meat, a little bit, a little bit,
- Its a a little touch.
- A little touch because it's very powerful,
(both exclaim)
That's big one.
- Is that big?
- Yeah, (speaks foreign language) just go ahead.
Gonna be challenging.
- Oh,
- Aromatic, huh?
That's strong flavor.
- It's almost spicy in a way.
- Yeah.
- Yeah with fennel seed.
Okay, so next up what, should we try the bread?
- Ah, yeah, now the bread it called come khamir.
- Khamir.
- Yeah we will try.
This is with red corn, see, this is how we,
with some fat also
- That's fat and meat.
- Now check the experience.
How is it?
- Oh yeah. - It's much better?
- Wow.
- Different.
- The bread is so hearty.
- Yeah.
- The corn flavor.
- Yeah, different flavor.
- The meat is so smokey.
This is one of the best meals in the world right here.
(laughs)
For sure.
- Yes.
- What an amazing day.
- Thank you, thank you.
- I wanna give a big thank you.
(speaks foreign language)
- And thank you for Chef Ahmed.
- Thank you for Chef Ahmed.
Thank you for Hisham, amazing guy.
Check him out in the description below.
Thank you guys, that was just amazing.
- Yes. - Love Saudi Arabia.
Thank you guys, amazing, shukran.
- Thank you, we will be waiting for you again, okay?
- Yeah, what an adventure.
- Yes, what an adventure, we'll waiting for you again.
- Yes, we have to come back, thank.
(all speak foreign language)
- Ah, wait, he's asking for you how it was the meat?
- The best, the best, number one, number one.
(all laugh)
- Yalla.
- Thank you, shukran.
- Yalla, shukran habibi.
- Love Saudi. - Yalla.