The largest Marks & Spencer store outside the UK opened up in Kuwait right next to Missoni Hotel recently so I passed by yesterday to check it out because I had heard they had a large food hall along with a cafe. Whenever I’m in London I usually pass by M&S to pick up a quick bite to eat like a sandwich or a quinoa salad and I was hoping they’d have the same items here.

The new store is huge, it’s four floors with the food hall being located on the last one. The new food hall is divided into 3 sections, the first one is similar to the food sections at the other Marks & Spencer’s and contains non perishable goods like pasta and canned food along with frozen food. The other two sections are new, the first one is a small bakery that sells bread, pastries, muffins etc.. and finally the final section is a cafe.

The cafe is similar in style to IKEA’s except with less hot food. Their small menu mostly consists of soups, salads, baked potato, a pizza, quiche and some desserts. The seating area seems quiet and cozy so it might be a good place to study or read a book.

Disappointingly they didn’t have a fridge with healthy food for me to pass by and pick up when I’m hungry. I can imagine it wouldn’t be very feasible especially since they don’t have high foot traffic when say compared to the Marks & Spencer on Bond Street Station but still, one always hopes. With the success of Gia I’m hoping more people realize that there is a market for healthy food in Kuwait.

q8geek instagrammed the photo above of Hard Rock Cafe from outside. Looks like they’ve shut down since they’ve removed all the branding on the outside.

Update: According to the comments, it seems Hard Rock Cafe will be moving to the Avenues and Alshaya will be taking over the old location for one of their brands.

Pizzeria Amami used to be located in Salmiya near AUK and behind Smash Burger, but last week they moved to a new location in Symphony Mall. I hadn’t tried the place until earlier today when I passed by for lunch with a friend of mine.

The place was empty and quiet so we picked a table near the window overlooking the Gulf Road. Once we sat down an Italian waitress came up to us with the menus. From what I could tell everybody working there was Italian which was a great first impression. The menu on the other hand was fairly disappointing being just A4 sheets of paper printed and then enclosed in transparent plastic. Mine was all bent and it just looked very cheap. The waitress recommended us the Parmigiana di Melanzane to start with which was fried eggplant with cheese and tomato sauce. I also ended up ordering the closest thing to a simple mushroom pizza I could find on the menu which was a pizza called Capricciosa containing, tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, olives and artichoke (I asked them not to include the artichoke). The waitress asked me if I wanted fresh mozzarella with my pizza and I figured the alternative was frozen mozzarella or something so I said yes. Once the bill arrived later I realized by fresh mozzarella she meant extra cheese on my pizza. Not cool but it must have been a lost in translation moment.

The first thing that arrived was the Parmigiana di Melanzane starter. Although the presentation wasn’t appealing the dish did taste better than it looked. But, I’d still order something else next time since it tasted more like a pizza topping than a standalone starter. Our main dishes arrived once we were done, my pizza was pretty big and looked delicious. I was hesitant to ask the waitress for ketchup since I know it’s usually frowned upon at Italian pizzerias but turns out they didn’t have any issues with ketchup and I was able to get a bottle. The pizza was good although I found it pretty heavy the rest of the day. I left there feeling like I had eaten something very unhealthy but I think that had to do with the fact my pizza had all the extra cheese on it which I hadn’t asked for (I should have said no to fresh mozzarella).

My biggest issue with the place was with their prices. My pizza cost KD5.5 while my friends Penne Al Formaggio (cheese pasta) cost KD6. With two mains, the starter, three soft drinks and 750fils for the extra cheese, the bill came out to KD19.250. The pizza barely makes it into my top 5 favorite pizzas in Kuwait ranking, maybe at #5 so combine that with the restaurants atmosphere and interior which was bland and the total experience just wasn’t worth it for me. If you’re interested in trying out the place they’re located on the Mezzanine floor of Symphony Mall in Salmiya [Map]. They’re open daily from noon till 11PM except for Fridays when they open a bit later at 2PM. Their phone number is 25770733 but the waitress told me it will only be active from next week.

On Sixth Street has been extended for one more today, so if you missed it yesterday you can pass by today. I passed by yesterday and thought it was pretty cool and today they’ve supposedly got more vendors taking part as well. For more information, click [Here]

Koryokwan is a Korean restaurant that’s been around since the early 80s. They’re considered to be one of the best and even provide the catering for Korean embassy events which is how I found out about them. This past saturday when I passed by the Korean embassy for their lunar new year’s they had the catering from Koryokwan (The Korean embassy in Kuwait by the way has to be the most beautiful embassy I’ve ever been to anywhere). So anyway, I didn’t end up eating at the embassy that day but I did pass by Koryokwan a few days ago to try them out.

Koryokwan is located on the ground floor of the very old Carlton Hotel in Kuwait City. It’s a 3-star hotel that was refurbished awhile back but the building still looks really old from the outside. The interior of Koryokwan on the other hand is just beautiful, one of those places where once you enter you feel like you’re no longer in Kuwait. I actually had the same feeling when I first visited the now defunct Singarea Korean restaurant in Dajeej. I used to love that place and it’s why I ended up mostly being disappointed with Koryokwan. Lets begin with the interior of Koryokwan, even though it looked amazing they had regular English radio music playing and CNN on TV. If this was Singarea for example they would have had either Korean music playing or some strange Korean soap opera on TV. I also found the prices of the dishes expensive. The soups started at around KD4.5 and the main courses at around KD6 and up. That’s 5-star hotel prices which is expected when you’re at a 5-star hotel and getting 5-star service like at Peacock or a restaurant at the Sheraton but this wasn’t the case here. Service was similar to a casual dine in restaurant and it wasn’t that great. Our order for example arrived in this order: Main course followed by our rice 5 minutes later and then followed by our soup. I went there specifically for one dish, the fried chicken with chili sauce and I liked it but you can’t really judge the food on just one dish.

The place is definitely worth trying out but mostly for the experience of trying something new. If you’re interested in passing by they’re open from 10AM to 3PM and then again from 5PM to 10:30PM. They’re located in the Carlton Hotel [Map] and their phone number is 22452759 or 99608277.

Last week I passed by the Sheraton Hotel and had lunch at their Bukhara Indian Restaurant. It was my first time at Bukhara and really had high expectations. I always love going to Sheraton since it reminds me of my childhood but I really wasn’t impressed with Bukhara. The location and service was great but the food was fairly lackluster for the price.

My usual favorite Indian restaurant is Saravanaa Bhavan but it’s vegetarian so I’m looking for recommendations on a non-vegetarian Indian restaurant. One I might not have heard of before, preferably a hole in the wall. If you know of a good one let me know.

Had the salmon dish above at the newly opened Café Coco at the Avenues. Although it was slightly overcooked it was still pretty good and it came with lots of veggies. It’s priced at KD7.5 but the quantity was larger than the salmon dish I previously posted about at THE One. Would definitely go back and have it again.

Solo Tacos is a new local restaurant that opened up just this past Saturday in Kuwait City right next to Solo Pizza. It’s owned by a few people including the owner of Solo Pizza as well as the two Mexican women who used to run the Mexican home catering service I previously posted about, Sahuaro.

The restaurant is pretty small with a few tables inside and outside as well as a bar on both sides of the window to sit on. One wall is covered with photo frames while the other wall has a cabinet with some colorful Mexican wrestling masks on display. Their colorful menu located on the wall on top of the kitchen counter is very focused with just quesadillas, tacos, a bunch of sides and drinks.

I originally ordered just the beef taco but found it so good that I ended up ordering the fish taco as well. Between the two I preferred the beef taco but next time I’ll also have to try the chicken. One of the Mexican partners was there and she told me about how they don’t fry anything and how they don’t even have salt on the tables because they’re trying to keep things as much on the healthy side as possible which I found comforting. On my way out I also got to sample two of their drinks, their Jamaica hibiscus juice (pronounced khamaica) and the Horchata (pronounced orchata) which smelled of beautiful spices and was the one I preferred from the two.

I really liked the food and I’m definitely going back but I also do think it’s a bit on the pricey side. For more information including a map to the location you could visit their website [Here]

Four new restaurants have opened up next to each other on Blajat Street, JJ’s Burgers, Sandawicha, Meywa and Abou Jassem. Have’t tried any of them but I do like the wooden looking (dont’ think its real wood) exterior facade of the restaurants. Makes the whole thing look a lot more interesting.

I got an email a couple of hours ago from Courtyard by Marriott letting me know they are holding a Greek Nights Festival for the next four days. It has to be perfect timing because just last week I posted about the lack of Greek cuisine options in Kuwait.

Starting from January 20th till the 24th, Greek chefs Loannis Tsivourakis and Papderakis Michalis will be serving a taste of Greece buffet from 7pm to 11pm. Price is KD12.5 per person, if you’re interested you can call them up for more information or reservations on 22997000.