So we have Steven here, the cashier here at Fava Pot!
Thank you for being here and for being part of our video.
He's going to give us a quick tour of the kitchen, the behind the scene of Fava Pot.
Do you want to tell us a little bit about what's going on in here…
Yeah, so here we have most of our desserts
From the other side you can see the display
So we have everything displayed.
We have here a special Egyptian drink, called iced hibiscus,
And here we have our hot things like coffee, And we make our mint tea as well from here.
We get our coffee locally So we got it from Cervantes, Springfield.
Okay what else do you have over here
Here we have the salad bar
So this is where the main prep is, After they bring the main course
and we'll add the salad or side Here's like just the garnish stuff,
like cilantro on top And then if you want to walk into the kitchen…
This is our main grill All the food is like half cooked
When it's ordered, we recook it here, so you get that nice finish.
That is about it!
Wow that's a really quick kitchen tour!
I can see that a lot of things are really made fresh
Cause I don't see a lot of food, like ready-made food that are laying around
So you're definitely… people ordering, and then you making it right away
That's right.
That's awesome!
Is there something that you'd recommend us to order?
We've never… we've had a lot of Middle Eastern food,
You know, there's a lot of Middle Eastern restaurants out there,
But is there something that is typical to Egyptians?
A really big Egyptian dish is Lamb Fattah
Lamb Fattah is just a braised chunk of lamb…
And that is actually not cooked until it's ordered
So we cook it right on this stove right here Oh this is where you cook the lamb Fattah
Yeah so it has a crispy golden color And then the meat just actually falls off the bone
Oh wow..
That's actually on a bed of rice with a garlicky tomato sauce that is also homemade.
The sauce is right over here at the corner…
Okay a homemade tomato sauce, that's awesome!
Yes, everything is homemade There's nothing canned or processed,
And everything is made fresh daily.
Awesome… so we're definitely going to get that.
Thank you so much Steven for all your time And for this little tour!
I think we're ready to order!
Awesome!
We got the Iced Hibiscus Tea to start with This is one of the most common drinks here
And I see that a lot of people order this as well
One thing to point out is that this herbal…
They got it directly from Egypt So it's not from here, it's not like Starbucks
Let me take my first sip
Mmm...
It's very fruity, a little bit sour. It's not super sweet.
It's almost like pomegranate/cranberry juice
But it's a herbal tea and I heard that It's really healthy and it's a very common Egyptian drink.
Definitely try this out if you get to come here!
Mmm... Very refreshing, I love it!
The first dish we got here is the Koshary Bowl.
It is a very typically eaten food in Egypt.
It has rice on the bottom, and then mixed with Macaroni,
And also lentils and some caramelized onions as well as their homemade spicy tomato sauce
We also have three pieces of tiny falafels on the side
These are optional, and, so if you order the Koshary Bowl without them,
That's fine too, they can be eaten alone
But we added three pieces of their falafels
Ohh… looks at this… it has a lot of lentils in it.
It feels so healthy already.
Mmm...
Mmm...
Mmm...
A lot of beans… that's right there's chick peas in here too
Oh so good
It feels very healthy because it has Egyptian grain rice
And it has a lot of beans
It's not salty, it just feels very hearty It's a very filling dish
After pouring a little bit of that smashed tomato sauce in it
And then mix it up with the rice and macaroni
Let's try this out.
Ohh look at that
Mmm… the sauce is very tomatoey
Mmm… nice and sweet and garlicky as well
It just makes this dish… originally already tastes really good
But it's a bit more on the dry side, With the tomato sauce in it,
it just makes it more moist, more tomatoey
Okay, time to add a little bit of that green spicy sauce in here
This is the original Egyptian eating way
So originally, it should be a spicy tomato kinda sauce
But they took it out on the side
In case some people cannot handle spiciness
So I just mixed a little bit of that jalapeño green sauce in
Mmm…
It's hot
Ohh It's very hot!
Oh… it's good though!
It just added more excitement to it
It's pretty spicy
If you can't handle spiciness, just don't put that much sauce in it
We're here in Fava Pot, so how can we come to Fava Pot and not try their fava beans falafel
So this is basically a crushed fava beans…
and they fried it…
Made it in a circle shape like this
Mmm… it's green inside
Mmm… wow!
It's very crispy on the outside And the inside…
oh this is really… really
stuffed in a … It has like green onions inside too I think,
It's very flavorful I love this!
Oooh Iced Mint Lemonade Look at that bubble on top
I've had a lot of lemonades But I don't think I've had one that has
mint in it
Oohh very minty and
Pretty sour
Which is good because it doesn't have a lot of added sugar to it
I love this
This is super refreshing, definitely more sour than the hibiscus tea
Yeah this is really good And I think these two drinks are the
most popular drinks here
I see a lot of people order…
Kids love them, adults love them
This is a very nice Summery drink
The second dish we got here is the Lamb Fattah
It's a very typically eaten dish in Egypt as well
It's basically braised lamb shank put on top of a bed of Egyptian whole grain rice
and vermicelli noodles
Inside there's some tomatoey sauce in between
And then it also comes with a side of crispy pita bread
The lamb here looks really tender
I can't wait to just dig in!
Ohh… this is fall-of-the-bone tender… look at this
I didn't even have to use my knife at all!
I just used my fork to sort of fork out the lamb and
It just comes right off of the bone, look at this.
This dish has actually some lamb juice in it.
Just sort of added a little extra lamb flavor
to the lamb dish
Mmm… oh my gosh the lamb is so tender
The lamb meat has a pretty strong flavor
But it goes really well with the tomato sauce
I love it... I just love how tender this is
And because their rice is mixed with vermicelli noodles
It just sort of added an extra texture to this dish.
Mmm… very special
I'm sure my husband is going to love the rice together with the spicy jalapeno sauce
I'm just going to mix it in and try it out
Very flavorful
it goes so well with the meat
We just love meat that has some spiciness to it.
Oh this is so good.
The side pita bread, I'm just going to dip it in my tomato garlic sauce
And just… try this out
Mmm… the tomato sauce is… really well done
I think we can live in Egypt!
We have the owner of Fava Pot, Dina here next to me
And she'll sort of tell us a little bit of the background of the restaurant
Sure, I started Fava Pot food truck in August, 2013
Yes, because that was a huge shift for me…
From office work to food truck and working on the street…
The idea of the food truck…
I was on a mission trip in Kenya, I started to think what is my next step
and I was searching online… and it popped up…
this food truck trend that was going on in DC
And I started that
First two years I was putting between 12 and 15 hours a day,
Between preparation because at that time I had only one employee
because I cannot hire…
Right you couldn't afford when you first started… of course…
Then, we gained a lot of followers and they always kept telling me
"Dina, we wish you have a restaurant so we can get our family at night here."
The food truck also, I have to shut down in the winter
Because it's very challenging to work during winter
and I guess less people eat outside when it's so cold…
Exactly
I tried to fits… down from being seasonal
to a full-time career…
And the idea of a restaurant came… and we started!
Yeah no it's amazing and it's a very cozy little restaurant and I saw a lot of people
earlier and it seems like you kind of know almost everybody here
And you try to greet everybody…
Yeah, this is something that I always pray about
This restaurant… if you come, not only do I feed his stomach,
But also to feel welcomed, to feel home away from home
I love to treat behind-the-scene so that's why
I try… everyone to come here to think this is his own restaurant
Right, and connect with your customers and people
And make them feel comfortable
Yes, yes
Yes this is amazing, I think you're achieving that
The second question we have for you is We saw that you're partnering with a non-profit
organization helping some children that are in need in Egypt
Can you tell us a little bit about the partnership with that organization?
Sure, I used to work with Coptic Orphans It's a non-profit that's focusing on education
for the girls in Egypt And I was the director of the organization there
Which I have seen first-hand how God uses
this organization to transform lives in Egypt
Egypt is different than here
You have to be from a wealthy family and you have to have connection to be
Able to climb the ladder
When I moved here, I started to realize
How many opportunities there are for the ones who want to succeed…
Who want to study… like It's always a choice for people to be successful or not
In Egypt, it is not a choice
It is forced on them to stay where they are So I see Coptic Orphans... what they're
doing for their children
And first three years we were sponsoring girls
in Egypt until they finished their college
Now, we're not sponsoring kids
because I'm in the second start-up
We're established, but we have a lot of expenses.
So all the support I'm doing now with them
is promoting the cause until we break-even,
and then we will start again to support them financially.
Got it.
That is a wonderful story… you do have a good heart I can see…
You're not just a very business oriented person… because sometimes…
I mean it is a business, this is a restaurant so it is a business
But, at the same time, you need to be able to pay your bills
at the same time, you're doing something good for the people who are in need
So that is amazing and is a very touching story
This is amazing… it's very very nice restaurant, And the food, of course it's great
Yeah thank you so much for your time
Thank you so much for having us and thank you so much for coming
No we love it here, so thank you!
Dina just brought us this hot mint tea to finish off our meal today
on a fall Sunday afternoon
And we just added a little bit of brown sugar
to our tea that came on the side So let me take my first sip
It feels so good…
It's nice and hot and it just feels so soothing after our lamb and carb
I know outside is pretty cold right now on this fall day
And look at the decoration here, they're ready for Christmas
It feels so good…
I wish outside is snowing right now...
It would be a perfect scene
Together with the tea, she brought us some almond cookies
It's homemade, everything is homemade here Nothing store-bought
Mmm… mmm…
The cookie is very soft…
Oh I love the almond flavor in there…
It's not super sweet It goes so well with the tea seriously
I'm surprised… this cookie is so good oh my gosh
Mmm… it's so… like Powdery… the cookie crusts…
so good…
It totally just… perfected out meal So good!
It was an awesome first-time Egyptian cuisine experience here at Fava Pot
Very nice owner, Dina And then very nice and friendly staff here as well
I'm so glad we got to talk to the owner
talk to the some of their staff members…
And got to see the behind-the-scene kitchen as well
So, if you never had Egyptian food, make sure you check this place out
If you're in Falls Church Virginia…
Fava Pot!
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Also, don't forget to check out Fava Pot's website
for their food truck hours to see when and where
they're having their food at their food truck
So until the next video
Stay happy!
Eat yummy!
I'm Naomi!
See you on the next video!
Bye!
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