Category: Food & Drinks

Its an interesting question and some of the answers are pretty cool. I didn’t know I needed so little to make a complete diet.. [Link]

I don’t think I will ever have McDonalds again because of this extremely cheezy and poor advert. Come on, with all this improvment in advertising in the region this is what McDonalds is advertising? This is what McDonalds in the Arab world thinks is trendy? I can’t think of any brand that would suit this advert yet alone McDonalds! This advert wouldn’t even work for those cheap ass bargain bin stores in Salmiya. I am seriously shocked at how terrible this is. [Larger Picture]

Note: The headline roughly translates to “Keep your taste big”

When I saw the new ads for Hardees advertising the Chili Lava I fell in love. I haven’t had Hardees since I started my no fast food diet late last year, but I love Chili and I really love the Chili Hot Dog at Hardees so to have a Chili Burger was like wow! Sadly though the Chili Lava was a disappointment. Don’t get me wrong here, there was nothing wrong with the burger, just don’t expect to get what you see in the picture. The burger looked pretty boring but I liked how they presented it to me.. in a plastic basket covered with a sheet of paper with my curly fries and burger on top. It looked like something you would get at Fuddruckers or TGIF. Taste wise I was expecting it to be wilder but it was pretty normal. I would most probably have the burger again its just that I think their ads over hyped it so I was expecting more flavor. My biggest issue with the burger is the price, the single lave combo costs KD1.550 while the double lava combo costs KD1.750. When did the combos get so expensive? Even the regular Mushroom & Swiss or Roast Beef N’ Chedder combos cost like KD1.400 and I remember the Roast Beef used to always be cheaper then the burgers. Because of the expensive price and the lack of shock and awe I give the Chili Lava a 3.5 out of 5. [Chili Lava Poster]

This past week I have been having Booza Booza icecream for dinner. When I last posted about Booza Booza I spoke about how good their sorbet was but now I want to talk about how good their regular icecream is. Actually, what I think would be perfect is a combination of both. I really love their chocolate and pistachio icecream and I really love their strawberry and mango sorbet. I think thats what I am going to be ordering from now on, half icecream half sorbet. This is going to be a really good summer.

Someone told me that Krispy Kreme Doughnuts is opening up in Kuwait. This story was supposingly published in a newspaper that Khorafi got the rights to it. Anyone got more info?

Update: An anonymous reader has replied with the the following:

khorafi owns 6.7% of Krispy Kreme.The franchisee contracts have been signed and americana is in the process of setting up operations in Kuwait and Dubai simultaneously. hopefully by Sept – october Kuwait will have its first Krispy kreme Store.The quality will be the same as everything is imported,even the machines direct, from the US.The flagship restaurant wil have the trademark “doughnut showcase” window!

No one could come up with such an idea as pimping a snack unless they were stoned out of their heads. Seriously how else could you think of this? [Link]

[source boingboing]

I always thought cutting open a heart would be a cool experience.. well I tried it awhile ago and it isn’t. I just got Geo a lamb heart from Sultan Center to have with his dinner and its hard to explain how cutting open a heart feels. Its not smooth and silky like regular meat, its more plasticky and squijee (if there is such a word). When you slice up a heart it makes this squish sound, its really not a pleasent experience. Anyway Geo loved it and I think its his new favorite thing.

Probably the best bubble gum in the world.. if only the taste didn’t disappear so quickly… [Link]

A friend of mine had three of his sisters and one his friends get food poisoning at Johnny Rockets on Friday. They all just had milkshakes and later ended up in the hospital. So its better to stay away from the Salhiya branch milkshakes unless you want to get food poisoning to.

I tried Papa Johns pizza for the first time yesterday and it was really amazing. What everyone has been saying about Papa Johns is true, they do make the best pizza in Kuwait. I really really liked it a lot and I loved the pizza dips they gave with the pizza. They don’t deliver to Salmiya which sucks because it means I have to drive to Jabriya and pick it up but its worth it. If you want to try them out you can call them on 827272. I had the Little Italy pizza which has mushrooms, oregano, black olives, pepperoni and Italian sausages except I ordered it without the sausages.

OK, with all this cookie talk I have decided to do a cookie showdown where I will get cookies from a bunch of places and then try them all to see which is the best cookie. That way we can get this cookie business over with and move on to another addiction. These are the places I know of that have cookies, if you know of any more leave a comment below.

Fuddruckers
Choowy Goowy
KFC
Hardees
Starbucks
Subway
Costa
Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
Breadz
McDonalds McCafe

I used to make these cookies back when I was in university. They used to come out really good and everyone always nagged me about when I would bake some more. I forgot what brand of brown sugar I used but for the actually chocolate chips I used to use the brand Baker. I haven’t made the cookies since I came back to Kuwait because I can’t find decent brown sugar and I can’t find Baker chocolate chips which sucks. Anyway here is the recipe, I forgot where I found it:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (150 grams) white sugar
1 1/4 cups (270 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups (525 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons (6 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (375 grams) semisweet chocolate chips

————

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl cream the butter. Add the sugars and beat until well combined. Beat in eggs one at a time making sure to beat well after each addition. Add vanilla and beat until incorporated.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and beat until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts, if using. The cookie mixture will be moist and hold together.

Using two tablespoons, drop about 2 tablespoons of dough (38 grams) on the prepared baking sheets. Do not flatten cookies. Bake on the center rack of oven for 12 minutes, or until golden brown and still soft when gently pressed.

Makes about 48 cookies.

In November I posted I wasn’t going to have Subway again because their sandwiches were starting to taste really weird and crappy. Well today I went back to Subway and I have to say it was my best experience with them in a long time. The sandwiches tasted really good and it looks like they started using their old ingredients again. They also started making chocolate chip cookies again, this time they are selling them 3 for 400 fils and they are a bit larger then they used to be. Sadly though their older cookies tasted better, the new ones although look and taste better then a lot of cookies (costa and breadz for example) are still not better then my current top 3 which are Choowy Goowy, Fuddruckers and Hardees.

Breadz! Seriously, their chocolate chip cookies are the dullest. I just tried one over lunch and it didn’t tingle a single taste bud. Its also 50 fils more expensive then the big cookie at Hardees which I would rather have had. On a brighter note I heard Subways cookies have improved again, I used to like their chocolate chip cookies but for some reason they stopped making them at the 2 branches I used to visit. It seems now they are back so I need to go and get some. I love cookies.

My favorite sushi place in Kuwait is Kei but honestly I hadn’t tried sushi anywhere else here until yesterday night. Once you get used to a sushi place its difficult to eat sushi somewhere else because the dishes differ and your favorites in one place might be a completely different experience in another. Thats mainly the reason I have been hesitant to try any other place. Another advantage of eating at the same sushi place all the time is the fact that you make friends with the people who work there and if you are like me and only sit at the bar then you get to make friends with the most important person at the sushi place.. the sushi chef or “my bartender” as I like to call him. Our bartender is always creating new and exciting dishes for us to try including my favorites so far a sushi pizza and most recently maki desert which involves banana, mango, crab and some other ingredients wrapped in rice and seaweed. Yesterday night though I was invited to Maki and I wasn’t expecting it to be any good since Nat had been there before and given it a rating of 1.5 out of 5. My own experience last night was on the other hand a very good one.

Maki is a very trendy looking place that feels like a pub minus the beer taps and whisky bottles. From the minute you walk in you forget you are in Kuwait, which is a good thing when you want to get away from things. The interior is very cozy and the tables are closely packed together, not as close as Al-Boom but still very close. We sat next to the door, which is probably the best location since you could see the people coming in. Our host was a regular at Maki and he ordered a very large assortment of appetizers for us. My favorites were the Negimayaki, which consists of sliced beef rolled with spring onions surrounded by teriyaki sauce. I think it looked very appetizing and interesting, kinda like tiny potted plants.. My other favorite was the deep friend chicken with plum sauce. For main course our host also ordered a wide range of dishes including a maki dish that was named after him called the Issa. My favorite dishes from the main course were the Fusion, the Fusion 2, Issa and Ghandour. They were all REALLY incredible dishes. The Fusion’s were sushi wraps, but the wrapping paper is their own creation and tasted really good. The Issa and Ghandour were maki dishes and they were really superb, maybe the best maki dishes I have ever had.

The service was good and very friendly. The owner of Maki is Lebanese and the manager and main waiters are also all Lebanese which is similar to how Casper&Gambini and Waterlemon are. The problem I had with the place is that near the end of our evening they started playing Arabic music really loud which I didn’t find cool at all. If it was a pub I would have finished my drink and walked out and down to the next pub, but in reality its a Sushi place and there is no pub anywhere near.

The pricing is decent and compared to Kei, Maki is more expensive but just by a tiny bit. You can check out their prices yourself and compare it to your favorite place by downloading the menu from their website. I also noticed that Maki isn’t what I would call an authentic Japanese experience. They do have your regular maki’s and sushi’s but the regular dish I tried which was the Crazy Maki tasted normal and bland. Its their special dishes with their secret sauces and ingredients that are exceptional but they are what I call modern sushi.

Maki is located in Salmiya behind Diva’s. Its easy to find and if you want to pass by make sure you reserve since I went there on a Sunday night and the place was fully packed. At the end of the month they are opening a new location in Marina World in that thing I don’t know what you call it.. you know when you stand outside at Marina Crescent and you look right you see that large structure with colorful lights? Its the thing located between Marina Crescent and Hard Rock Cafe. Anyway they were opening there which should be cool.

I really enjoyed Maki and I would definitely start going there but I also won’t be ditching Kei anytime soon. Both places offer completely different experiences and dishes and I would rather have both then to choose either one of them. I am going to give Maki a 4.5 out of 5. It lost points on the Arabic music. You can check out more pictures and details on Maki by visiting their website olivermaki.com. Next week I will try Edo since they tell me its really good and will post a review once I do.