Last night I passed by Street, a new restaurant that just opened up this past weekend in Kuwait City. I had been waiting impatiently for this restaurant to open ever since I heard about it two months ago. The chef and mastermind behind Street is Faisal Al Nashmi, a Le Cordon Bleu graduate whom I had heard a lot of great things about, mostly from friends who had experienced his experimental eatery.
Street is part of the Al Makan project which consists of a coffee shop, restaurant (Street), art gallery and a workshop studio all sharing the same space. They’re located on the first floor of a tower on the same street as Pick Yo and Karak House in Kuwait City. I found the place pretty easily since the restaurant overlooks the main road and is all glass so I spotted all the diners as I drove by. When we got there the place was packed and there was a 45 minute waiting period so me and my friend ended up walking to Souk Mubarkiyah down the road to kill time while our table freed up.
The interior of the restaurant is very industrial looking with an open ceiling, bare concrete walls and a polished concrete floor. Some of the tables were standalone while others like the one we sat on was communal which I actually like. A communal table basically means you’re dinning next to strangers since everyone sits next to each other. Not only is it a great way of meeting people but it also allows you to see what others are eating (and if you’re nosy what others are talking about).
The menu is inspired by street food and isn’t that big consisting of around 16 main items and 5 desserts. Everything is meant to be shared so me and my friend ended up ordering the following dishes:
Crispy Duck Salad KD3.5
Spicy Crispy Rice Cakes & Brisket KD3.5
Green Curry Glazed Ribs KD4
Kimchi Fried Chicken Burger KD3.25
Brisket Bun KD2.75
Tiger Prawn Yakitori KD3.5
Chicken & Egg Bowl KD3.75
White Chocolate Tres Leches KD3.25
Snickers with Coffee Icecream KD3.75
Caramelized Pain Perdu KD3.25
Looking at it now we pretty much ordered everything on the menu, it definitely was a cheat meal. Even though Street was packed and had only been open for four days, the service was pretty good and the food came out fast and at a steady pace. I thought that was impressive. The dishes overall were delicious, some a lot better than others. It’s street food yes but more like gourmet street food which is an interesting combination but also explains why the prices aren’t very street food like. My favorite dishes were the Spicy Crispy Rice Cakes, the Green Curry and the Chicken & Egg Bowl (pictured above). My least favorites were the Tiger Prawn which didn’t look that great presentation wise but also didn’t taste that great either, the duck salad which was just pretty boring compared to everything else we had and the Snickers with Coffee Icecream because I hate both snickers and coffee so worst combo ever. They’ve only been open for four days so I’m sure they’re still fine tuning all the dishes.
I really liked Street and the whole concept and space. This is Faisal’s first restaurant and I think he has a lot of ideas he wants to share and Street is his canvas. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up changing the menu often or revamps the dishes whenever he feels like it. He’s young, full of passion (as you can see from his instagram) and most importantly, he has good taste. They’re currently in their soft launch phase and so are open from 7:30PM till 10PM. Check out their instagram [Here]
17 replies on “Street by Zubabar”
Just out of curiousity, how much capital is required to open a decent restaurant. Not too posh in a mall… but something like this?
100 grand? 250 grand?
Far less than that I would imagine. Rent is around KD 4000 /month plus a few other overheads. It also depends on how long it will take (if ever) for enough people to start frequenting your restaurant. Given that there are 3 restaurants per person in Kuwait, this is the biggest hurdle IMO.
You have to have a lot more than 1 month’s rent ready to open a restaurant. Rent will be anywhere from 1000-30,000, it’s wildly dependent on where you are.
You need staff. You need to be able to pay them on time before the restaurant even opens, you can’t just hire a guy and plop him in there and expect him to do well. The majority of restaurant staff are in the back, when you visit the average restaurant you don’t see how many people are actually working usually.
You need the shopfit costs. Designing the interior, ordering everything for it. You need the equipment to actually cook what you need.
Need to be able to afford and order the food you are cooking for people. For rent/Staff/Food costs you want to probably assume you have a year’s worth of them ready because you definitely won’t be making enough profit back to pay those all off in the first year.
Wow that much in rent? What about actual street food vendors? Are there any restrictions in Kuwait for that kind of business?
I’m surprised there aren’t any food trucks in Kuwait. I used to love them back in college. Freshly made, good quality food and very affordable to college kids.
Damn that looks great
Every time I read your restaurant review and see the list of items ordered, the first thing that goes through my mind is “That can’t be right. No human can eat that much of food!”
10 dishes for 2 people?
DINING not “dinning”.
Fixed
No non-meat options I take it. Shame.
They do have non meat options
I don’t think their menu is on the net, do you by any chance remember some of these items? I’m not referring to desserts which tend to be vegetarian.
Found it. Thanks! Looks great.
Kuwait should start a rating system for all restaurants in the country and this should be posted at the entrance. For example ratings can be awarded in a star system.
So oversimplified
Who awards the stars
who are the judges
what makes you think they won’t just end up giving 5 stars to whoever pays the most
Go look at the ratings system for Talabat where that happened
I think that the decor resembles a cafeteria. But I do adore the open ceiling concept it’s so Toronto’s King Street West meets New York’s Meat Packing district. Tell me Mark, are there vegetarian dishes on the menu?
Im shocked that it looks busy in the picture, usually it looks empty when I have to wait for my table at Namaste that’s directly under this restaurant. I’ve never seen Makan restaurant busy, and I’ve visited the restaurant below on numerous occasions at different times of the week.
But I’ll have to test their food.
Go there at night on a weekend, it’s super busy with a waiting list