2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
Did you know that you can purchase the waffle cones from Baskin Robbins without ordering ice cream? The regular sized waffle costs 100 fils while the large waffle cone costs 150 fils.
Quick Waffle Desert
Ingredients:
1 Large waffle cone
2 Bananas
Jar of Nutella
Instructions:
Chop up the bananas and place them in the cone.
Pour Nutella over them.
Eat.
Even their salad is fattening!
Hardees’ chicken salad — topped with onion rings and crispy chicken — has 1,100 calories and 83 grams of fat.
[Link]
I passed by McDonald’s today for a quick bite to eat and noticed they had spring rolls on the menu. I hadn’t had McDonald’s since before ramadan so I don’t know how long they’ve been serving them but I decided to give it a shot.
It’s very rare for a fast food place like McDonald’s, KFC, Hardees or Burger King to introduce an appetizer and have it succeed. The only successful appetizer I can think of is the popcorn chicken at KFC. With that in mind and with the fact that chinese food is the last thing I would think of finding at McDonald’s, I proceeded to order my spring rolls with caution.
I know this might sound crazy, I know that my taste buds can be screwy sometimes and I know the Chinese are going to hate me for saying this but… the spring rolls at McDonald’s weren’t bad at all. In fact they were pretty good. I’ve tried nearly everything that McDonald’s in Kuwait ever introduced to their menu and this is why I know to always expect the unexpected with them. When they introduced their Mushroom and Swiss burger I expected it to be the best burger they’ve ever created and it turned out to be the worst burger ever.
The spring rolls comes with a sweet chili sauce which is actually a big part of the reason the spring rolls are good. The price is also good, 550fils for 6 pieces. In the end, these spring rolls are not the best spring rolls in the world. They are not even close to being the best spring rolls in Kuwait but compared to what other fast food places are offering like the crappy Hot Rods at KFC or the overpriced cheese sticks at Burger King, these spring rolls are the best appetizers being offered at the moment and best value for money. I give them a 3.5 out of 5.
The Kuwait Flour Mills started producing a new type of burger bun. Or at least I think its new since I never spotted it before and its still not listed on their website. The new bun is similar to the buns used at places like Burger Boutique and Johnny Rockets and doesn’t come with sesame seeds on the top. By the way you have to check out the Kuwait Flour Mills website, its really strange. They have an online shop which doesn’t seem to work, they have a section called “Attractive Corner” and they have a weird flash intro. On the bright side, its cool they have a site. [Link]
I was just checking the Alshaya website for info on their new Italian restaurant when I found an article on the first Starbucks that opened up in Moscow last month. It was a joint venture between M.H. Alshaya Co. and Starbucks Coffee International. I thought that was pretty cool. [Link]
Still can’t find any info though on their new restaurant. A friend told me they opened up an Italian restaurant in The Avenues and supposedly its really good.
Taken from the Little Treats website:
Pink Ribbon Awareness
It’s Breast Cancer Awareness month. we will be donating our profits from this line to Kuwait’s Cancer Association. Join us and be part of the community!!
You can order the cupcakes by phone or visiting their store in Wataniya Complex, Salmiya.
The Choowy Goowy website has been redesigned. It’s now flash based (urgh!!!) but the site does look much better than it did before. They have all their latest cookie flavors listed including our Mark & Nat oreo cookies. So check out their website and leave any comments or feedback on the new design below. [Link]
A friend emailed me while I was in Beirut asking if I could help him out with something. For awhile now he’s been pondering what Banak really is and what its called in English. He did a bit of research online and all he found was another blog that was asking the same question. So does anyone know the answer?
Picture taken from COLoriya
A few weeks ago a new shawerma place opened up called Mr Subs. I got emails from readers of the blog telling me about it and some friends also recommended it to me. What made this shawerma place special is that it was owned by Samir Saeed, the owner of Mr Baker.
The place is located in Jabriya, over looking the 4th Ring Road near where Mr Baker is. I passed by last week for dinner and it wasn’t that hard to find, you take the first right after Hardees, then another right so that you are driving in the direction of the 4th Ring Road and at the end of the street take a left to find Mr Subs on your left hand side.
Mr Subs serve a variety of stuff other than shawerma but I wasn’t interested in them. I ordered two chicken shawermas and was told I had a choice of 3 different bread to choose from. I chose the regular Arabic bread, the other two choices were a burger bun like bread and a bread that had olives in it or something. First thing that struck me about the place is how clean it was. It’s probably the cleanest shawerma place I have ever seen, the area around the shawerma grills were spotless which really impressed me. Sadly that was the most impressive thing about the place.
After picking up my two shawermas I went back to the car and started munching on them. I wasn’t very impressed. The shawermas reminded me a lot of the Kurdo shawermas which I am not a fan of. Its what I call commercial shawerma and its mostly because of the sauce they use. Notice I said sauce not garlic because thats basically what both Mr Subs and Kurdo use. Its a consumer friendly replacement to regular garlic most shawerma places use. The sauce which probably does use a bit of garlic doesn’t taste like garlic, instead it tastes more like mayonnaise which I can’t stand. Its also very liquidi which makes the shawerma feel greasy.
Another problem I had with the shawermas were the price, starting from 600 fils per shawerma its not cheap. The cheapest shawerma they have is the one that comes in Arabic bread, the other two choices of bread add 100 or 200 fils more to the price. At 600 fils a shawerma is also puts it really close in the price range of the Villa Fayrouz Express shawerma which tastes a lot better and is of much better quality. Oh and while I was waiting for my shawermas at Mr Subs I saw them pre grilling their burgers. They were grilling their burgers and then placing them in a container so that if someone ordered a burger they could just place it on the grill and heat it up. Although the place is really clean I didn’t like the idea they were pre-grilling their burgers. Anyway for the final score I decided to give their shawermas a 3 out of 5.
[YouTube]
A friend of mine is directing this new show on Bahry TV called Bhar w Bahar. It’s a cool Kuwaiti cooking show thats really fun to watch. The video above is of the promo while the second video below is of the pilot episode. The show is aired every Saturday at 4PM then re-run at 10PM and on Tuesdays at 9PM and Thursdays at 4PM. You can get the Kuwaiti station Bahry TV on NILESAT 10892H.
[YouTube]
I was browsing Safat when I found a post by CyberRowdy on this local website where you can purchase fish online and have it delivered to your house. It’s pretty strange but cool, they have pictures and everything check it out. [Link]
Source CyberRowdy
A while back Villa Fayrouz Express opened up on Baghdad Street in Salmiya. It’s a take-out version of their popular Lebanese restaurant of the same name minus the express. Since the place is in my neighborhood I had to try their chicken shawermas and I have to say I was surprised.
I was surprised because each chicken shawerma cost 750 fils! That officially makes it the most expensive shawerma I have ever reviewed and it also makes it the most expensive shawerma I know of in Kuwait. 750 fils, thats three times the price of a shawerma at Badar Al Badoor and more than double that of Dodo. So is it worth it?
It takes only one bite to realize why the shawerma is priced so expensive. Its the quality of chicken they use, it tastes fresh and healthy. From the chicken to the garlic its all just top notch quality. They also aren’t stingy, I can barely finish two sandwiches at Villa Fayrouz Express while at Dodo for example I could easily have three in addition to a side order of fries. The sandwich isn’t huge mind you, its fat and short but not huge.
So back to the main question, is it worth 750fils? No, I personally don’t think so. I mean I really don’t care where I eat shawerma (except for this one place next to my office) as long as it tastes good. I have now had shawermas ranging from 200 to 750 fils and I can confidently say that I would rather have Badar Al Badoor’s 250 fils shawerma over Villa Fayrouz Express. Not because for the price of one shawerma at Villa Fayrouz Express I can have two shawermas and a kofta sandwich at Badar Al Badoor, but I also felt Badar Al Badoor’s shawerma was more fun. Shawerma isn’t meant to be healthy or made from great quality, its supposed to just taste good and thats it. Still though for people who care about hygene and are looking for a good shawerma Villa Fayrouz Express is highly recommended. My final score is a 4 out of 5.
I just noticed today that Sultan Center now carry Altoids! They had three flavors available, Cinnamon, Raspberry Sours and Tangerine Sours. The price? Not cheap at KD1.650 per tin!
For people who aren’t going to fast during Ramadan, a great solution for lunch is microwavable meals. I have a decent collection of reviews of some meals available at local supermarkets and I will be adding more during the month of Ramadan. For now here are the ones I have available:
Microwave Meal: Chicken Masala
Microwave Meal: Beef with Classic BBQ Sauce
Microwave Meal: Beef Patty Sandwich Builder
Microwave Meal: Manicotti
Microwave Meal: El Charrito Grande
Microwave Meal: Fried Chicken Meal
Microwave Meal: Chicken Fingers
According to this random old guy who was watching over the bakala I frequent while the regular bakala guy was out praying, KDD has increased the price of the Silver ice cream by 50 fils and so is now being sold for 200 fils. I don’t know if other KDD products increased in price but if this very reliable source is right, I am guessing they did.