Category: Food & Drinks

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.

I just came back from dinner at Maki. I was invited there by Issa, one of the owners of Choowy Goowy who I had been in contact with for some time now. It was my first time meeting him and he turned out to be a really cool guy. Maki was really amazing, I don’t have a clue how Nat gave it a 1.5 out of 5. I am going to counter her review with my own and never listen to her food reviews ever again.

This is something I wanted to post about ages ago and I actually thought I had but seems I never did. Most of you by now have probably seen the new rebranded Baskin Robbins at the Marina Mall food court. I really dislike their new logo, I don’t like the new colors and I don’t like the new typeface. Maybe they are trying to target young children and thats why they rebranded but as an adult I prefer the older cleaner looking logo. I actually think the new logo reminds me of Halloween for some reason..

I am sure many readers here have tried pouring ketchup from a new bottle only to fail misrebly, thats because you were doing it wrong, most probably banging it from the backside or something. This link will show you in great detail the correct way to pour ketchup, I have seen it in action many times at Johnny Rockets. [Link]

A week ago I got 2 liters of sorbet from Booza Booza to try out. Booza Booza belongs to the same group of young Kuwaitis that own Choowy Goowy cookies as I mentioned before. I managed to get more details on their sorbet’s from one of the owners yesterday and this is what I got.

Kuwaiti style sorbet is a 100% Natural, Fat free, Cholesterol free and lactose free products made from natural fresh or frozen fruits. We are able to customize any fruits or mixes that you require for any special occasion you have. Feel free to contact us for any order of our special Kuwaiti style sorbet. For customized orders, we offer, Deluxe, Premium, and Super Premium Sorbet.

Sorbet Flavors:
Mango Alfonso: Tasty Cool Mango Alfonso Sorbet
Spanish Strawberries: Made from Wild Spanish Strawberries.
Kuwait Islands: A Summer mix of pineapple Banana
Tropical Paradise: A tropical mix of Mango, Strawberry, Banana and pine apple
Lemon mint: The ultimate summer refresher of fresh zesty lemons and fresh ground mint leaves.

I tried the sorbet and as I told Nat, its as if I am having a fruit salad. The sorbet is very flavored with my favorite being Mango. The Lemon is also since its tastes like lemonade. When I had it with the other the other flavors though the Lemon was too over powering so it might be best to have it alone. You can order the sorbet the same way you order the cookies and using the same number and they will deliver it to you. The price of 1 liter of sorbet costs KD4. If you would like to order some maybe with a jar of cookies you can call them on 2626559.

Damn now I feel like ordering some cookies!

Update: I just got emailed information their regular icecream. Here it is:

Booza Booza is our frozen dessert factory, which provides Kuwaiti style icecream and sorbet products that are made from natural and high quality raw material. All final products are 100% Kuwaiti hand made from scratch by our precise, professional and specialized people. Our aim is not only providing you with satisfaction but consistency is the parallel path we keep in close proximity to keep our products in the highest quality.

Icecream Flavors:
Milk Icecream: Creamy Milk Icecream spiced up with traditional Arabic spices.
Chocolate Icecream: High quality European Chocolate mixed with milk for the creamy chocolaty taste.
Mango Icecream: Spoil yourself with the creamy natural Mango aromatic taste.
Strawberry Icecream: Creamy Smooth Strawberries.
Green Pistachio: Old fashion made green icecream mix with Persian pistachios and Arabic spices.
White Pistachio: Old fashion made creamy icecream with Persian pistachios and Arabic spices.
Lemon Sherbet: Zesty Lemon Frozen dessert with a touch of milk.

1 liter of regular icecream is KD3. You can also order it by calling 2626559 or if thats busy or no one is answer you can call them on 9112221

There is a guy going around trying and reviewing every Taco in LA. I want to do the same in Kuwait except I want to try and review every shawerma. That would be so awesome! [Link]

[source kottke]

I just heard that Totally Fish has now opened at Marina Crescent.