Relish: Saffron Moroccan Cuisine disappoints

By Catherine Bratic & Sarah Rutledge     3/25/10 7:00pm

One of the few North African restaurants in Houston, Saffron opened in 2004 to generally positive reviews. The Moroccan restaurant is located off nearby Shepherd Drive and owned by the same company that runs the Italian eatery Mia Bella next door. However, Saffron proves to have little of the charm and memorability of its sister restaurant, and instead disappoints with bland, overpriced offerings.Located on the opposite end of the building from Mia Bella, Saffron boasts an ambiance that tries desperately to evoke the sights and smells of Morocco. The heavy wooden front door is imported from Morocco, and bright yellow walls and red seats add a festive flair. However, large stained-glass windows establish much of the natural light in the large front room, which results in a surprisingly gloomy atmosphere - even for a sunny Thursday afternoon. Most noticeably, however, diners are initially greeted by the smell of stale incense. While this smell may enhance the exotic atmosphere, it is neither appetizing nor particularly appealing; in fact, we noticed a slightly foul underlying odor, which made us wonder what exactly the incense was trying to mask.

Though Moroccan food is typically served at low tables, the restaurant boasts conventional tables and chairs and luxurious couch-booths. Saffron seemed fairly deserted for 6 p.m. on a Thursday: We were one of three parties. Thursday evenings feature belly dancing and an open bar, though, so we expect the restaurant became significantly more crowded later.

For those new to Moroccan food, the menu offers detailed explanations of each dish and the wait staff is eager to help and to recommend entrees. Diners have the choice of soups, appetizers, salads, couscous, tagines - dishes cooked in a clay pot - and two significantly more expensive options: family-style dinners and eight-course meals, running $30 and $49.95, respectively. The appetizers run from $6.95 to $8.95, and main courses fall between $13.95 and $24.95. Though the menu is heavy on chicken, lamb and seafood, several vegetarian options are available.

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We started out with a saffron dip as an appetizer. Saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world, and a common feature of Moroccan food, so we were disappointed to see that the dip both looked and tasted oddly like hummus - and its thick, dry consistency seemed typical of the hummus we might buy in the student center, at that. The orange-colored dip came sprinkled with red pepper and surrounded by several slices of crunchy toast. While the red pepper added some extra kick, the saffron notes only emerged at the end, leaving us underwhelmed. The white toast added some crunch but this texture overpowered the flavors in the hummus, which prompted us to wonder why pita bread was not provided with the saffron dip. The soft bread would have better complemented the dip's subtle flavors.

As luck would have it, however, guests are provided warm, fresh, fragrant bread in a basket, along with several dipping sauces, free of charge. The takouba sauce was a mild, tomato-based sauce that seemed the Moroccan equivalent of salsa. The standout among the dips - and indeed, of the evening - was the traditional harissa spice mix, which boasted a complexity the others did not: It started out sour and finished up spicy. The olives provided with the dipping sauces, however, tasted tinny, like they had been canned. For a restaurant that aims to serve authentic, fresh Moroccan cuisine, canned olives - especially at these prices - should not have made it past the imported front door.

After the bread, we ordered the Saffron salad, per our server's suggestion. The salad came to the table as an unmixed plate of roasted beets, carrots, saffron wild rice with raisins and potatoes, in a faint vinaigrette. The potato salad was creamy but boasted no strong flavors, and this blandness was echoed in the surrounding vegetables. The saffron rice, in fact, was the only part of the dish with a distinguishable flavor, but eaten together, the salad was a thoroughly flavorless mash of unseasoned vegetables.

Couscous, another staple of Moroccan cuisine, also came highly recommended to us by our server. We ordered the Couscous Malaki, which came with lamb, seven vegetables and merquez sausage, a North African-style lamb sausage spiked with sumac, paprika and chili. A small cup of broth accompanied the dish, which our server advised we pour over the couscous to inject flavor into a starch she warned was bland. The couscous was soft and fluffy, properly cooked, and combined with the sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, potatoes and zucchini, resulted in a slightly salty, warm, comfort food-like mixture. Of course, like many comfort foods, this dish was safe, again bland and easily monotonous. The sweet potatoes, which are generally potent on their own, failed to stand up to the broth's salty beef flavors, and went virtually unnoticed until we reviewed the contents of the dish later. Though we should have tasted seven vegetables, we noticed far fewer, with the standout flavors emerging from the meats. The lamb was tender and savory, but was extremely fatty, and the slimy consistency effectively ruined its strong flavor. The sausage boasted the most nuanced tastes, punctuated with spices that, while strong, unfortunately failed to make up for the unremarkable vegetables and couscous surrounding it.

Saffron's main issues seem to arise from the chef's inability to conceptualize the plate holistically: Instead, vegetables and meats are prepared separately, then stuck on a dish as they leave the kitchen. Perhaps our salad should have been the tip-off. Each of those vegetables sat in isolation from the others, coming together only when we mixed them on our plates. The couscous dish was similarly designed, with lumps of dry couscous under smatterings of vegetables and sliced lamb. While many items must initially be cooked in isolation, diners consume these dishes and flavors together: In the case of the couscous, the dish should have highlighted the interaction between these flavors. Perhaps the vegetables could have been cooked with the couscous, so their flavors would seep into the wheat. Why settle for flavorless couscous, or rely solely upon the broth to provide flavor, when this issue could have been addressed in the kitchen?

Our visit ended on perhaps the most depressing note possible for any meal: Bored of our awkwardly textured meal, we failed to finish our food and left hungry. Worse, we felt cheated when the bill arrived, as Saffron's menu is priced in the ballpark of Houston's finer eateries. Although we had only ordered one entree between the two of us, we'd amassed a hefty $36 tab. But unlike what one might expect from an upscale eatery, the quality of the food we found at Saffron was laughably far away from this standard.

So we advise restaurant-goers to save $40 and forgo this experience. In the foodie Mecca that is Houston, we're sure a better meal can be had for a fraction of the price and heartache.

Catherine Bratic is a Hanszen College senior and Sarah Rutledge is a Martel College senior.

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