When you first enter Olive Tree restaurant in Little Arabia, you are reminded of a warm, welcoming place somewhere on the streets of the Middle East.

A small restaurant, Olive Tree seeks to provide Arabic fare that’s authentic, delicious and diverse. Whether it’s mansaf, kebbeh labaneah, or stuffed chicken, you can eat these dishes at owner Yusuf Abdo’s restaurant, however you just have to be mindful of what day you’re going to go there.

A selection of main dishes are offered at the restaurant, two every day of the week. On Wednesdays, for instance, you can order stuffed chicken and "molokhia." On Fridays, you can have "mansaf" and "freekeh" with chicken. Then there are appetizers, meat and veggie plates and sandwiches that you can also order.

Since I went on a Wednesday, I had stuffed chicken and molokhia. Now I have never tried molokhia before, so it was a unique experience. I’ve been told molokhia - a liquid concoction – is made of jute leaves. You add lemon juice and can either have bread or rice with it. A picky South Asian eater, I forgot to add lemon juice and poured the molokhia on top of a yellow bed of rice in my plate. I am sure it was good but I couldn’t taste much without the lemon juice and decided I’d have to give it another try in future to give an educated opinion.

Then I was offered golden brown stuffed chicken, on a bed of rice sprinkled with pine nuts and ground beef. The aroma enticed me. After the first bite, the first thought that came to my mind was: "mmmm…mmmm!" I started chomping away, watching an Arab soap on TV and looking at Yusuf Abdo scramble back and forth along with his employees as he sought customers’ orders and filled them.

Then I realized something – all of a sudden I started to feel hot. It wasn’t the warm food in my mouth, but rather, the surroundings that contributed. The air-conditioning was probably not working. On a sweltering day in August, it was a bit difficult to continue with my lunch, and so I asked for it to be boxed. I regretted leaving without having tried more dishes.

Abdo is a nice man. He says he opened his restaurant to offer home-cooked meals to customers. He also says he wanted to be a restaurateur after his retirement as a textile engineer. According to Abdo, the restaurant has been successful from the day it opened its doors a year and a half ago. As for competition, he says, "My success comes from God. It’s not from people. My intention is clear."

My recommendation: go there if you’re looking for a quick bite, some quiet space and don’t want to pay a lot of money.