Most people assume grilled fish goes over the fire. Masgouf does not. The fish is split whole, seasoned simply, then staked upright beside the burning wood, and cooked slowly by the heat of the flame rather than by contact with it.
What makes it masgouf
Masgouf London explains on its site that the dish grew up on the banks of the Tigris in Baghdad, where fishermen grilled their catch on an open fire at the river.
The fish was originally carp; in the restaurant today it is sea bass. The ingredients it lists are few: olive oil, salt, lemon, and a marinade of tamarind or tomato.
The result, as it describes it: smoky fish, soft inside, with crisp edges.
From the Tigris to London and then to us
The irony is that the restaurant serving this Baghdadi dish did not start in Baghdad. It opened in London in 1997, expanded there with further branches, and went abroad at the start of the 2010s.
The order of expansion, as it gives it: Dubai first, then Kuwait, then Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Iraq. Which puts Baghdad at the end of the list rather than the beginning. The flagship today is in Knightsbridge in London.
Besides the fish
The second dish the restaurant calls a signature is quzi: seasoned lamb slow-roasted for hours until it comes away from the bone.
The site lists details it says are part of the experience: hand-picked charcoal, a spice mix with rose, garlic and sumac, and Iraqi tea served on a hand-woven kilim.
Where to find it in Kuwait
The branches page lists two here: The Avenues, in The Gardens on the Fifth Ring Road, phone 1818555, and 360 Mall on the Sixth Ring Road.
Google Maps shows a third branch in Mutlaa, Jahra, which does not appear on the branches page. Anyone heading there should call first.
One detail worth mentioning
Also on its branch list: a Baghdad branch inside the Movenpick hotel, and a branch in Nasiriyah beside the Ziggurat of Ur. A grilled fish restaurant next to one of the oldest monuments in Iraq.
Photo: fish staked beside a fire rather than over it. By Al Jazeera English, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
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