Category: Food & Drinks

Once the lockdown is over and restaurants can reopen again for dine-in, where are you going first? I think for me it’s gotta be Peacock.

Yesterday the Kuwait Municipality announced that starting today you can only get your coffee delivered. Up until yesterday you could still pick up a coffee from your favorite coffee shop or use their drive-thru service. I’m guessing the reason behind this decision is that having your morning coffee isn’t considered essential and so no reason for you to leave the house or wait in a busy line just to get it. On the bright side, most coffee shops are now on the delivery apps and Arabica have started delivering hot coffees as well.

A lot of you don’t know this but for the past two and a half years I’ve been working in the restaurant industry. It’s a really challenging field and I’m working harder than I have ever done but I’m also loving every minute of it. Right now the restaurant industry all over the world is facing a major crisis. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of restaurants have had to stop operating dine-in and those who offer delivery have had their sales drop considerably.

I’m still ordering food in as I usually do and in the rare occasion when I need to get out of the house, I’m going and picking up the food myself. But, a lot of people have stopped ordering and that’s really hurting restaurants (of all sizes). I’m trying to do my part in trying to support local restaurants and with the number of discounts and offers right now it’s a good time to be a customer. Below are some of my favorite places which I’m supporting:

Delivery
Abby Shawaya – Best pulled chicken sandwiches (musa7ab)*
China Kitchen – My favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant
CHKN – Best fried chicken sandwiches in the world* (I’m serious)
Clean Eats – My favorite vegan restaurant
Enab Beirut – They’re one of my favorite Lebanese delivery places
Frankies – One of the hottest breakfast spots in town now delivers
KAU – One of my favorite burger places right now (order the truffle burger)
Lavan – My favorite Indian restaurant now also deliver
Momo Zaa – The Bhutanese dumpling place now deliver
Leila Min Lebnen – My other favorite Lebanese restaurant
Lucky Bun – Another favorite burger place (order the Ooh Mami with an extra patty)
Madison & Heig – Probably the best bakery in town right now
Roto – Delicious wood-fired rotisserie chicken
Rustic Thai Kitchen – Authentic and delicious Thai food
Tampopo – Best Ramen in town easily!
Vigonovo – Still my favorite Italian restaurant in Kuwait
Wachamean – Order the Wacha Burger with an extra patty

Pick up
BBT – I love this tiny burger place
Shawarma Shakir – Their spicy meat shawerma is the best

You can also support your favorite restaurants by following them on instagram and writing reviews about them. If you have a favorite little place you want to support, let us know about them in the comments below and what kind of food they serve.

*One of the brands I work for

Have you gotten your loved one a Shani today? [Link]

Well this sucks!

Hello Mark,

Please note that we will soon be discontinuing the Carriage Black service.

If you have an active Carriage Black plan, you will be able to enjoy your Carriage Black plan benefits until the end of your billing period without interruption. Your plan will not renew after the end of your billing period.

If you have any questions about your plan, our Customer Care team will be happy to help. You can reach them easily using the Customer Care feature in your Carriage Application.

With warm regards,
Your Carriage Team

I guess the bright side to now having to pay for delivery will mean I’ll be ordering a lot less munchies late at night.

A few weeks ago a new restaurant opened up called ROTO which is based around the concept of a wood-fired rotisserie. The restaurant is owned by the guys behind Little Ruby’s and Chef Khaled Al Baker (@chefkb) whom I’ve previously posted about on the blog. I’m not generally a fan of rotisserie chicken but because Khaled is a friend of mine I decided to (translation: I had to) check the place out. Good thing I did because I’m now actually a huge fan of Roto.

I think the main reason for me not liking rotisserie chicken in the first place was because I only ever had it from those street side rotisserie places and I always found it too greasy plus I don’t like chicken on the bone. So when I told Chef KB that he assured me it would be a different experience, plus they serve the chicken off the bone so I didn’t have an excuse not to try it. Before even getting to the chicken though I have to say what I probably like most about Roto are the starters. Two things you need to have, his Burrata dish and the Corn Brûlée. I’ve literally gone to Roto just to have the corn brûlée, it’s that good!

The rotisserie chicken, on the other hand, tasted wayyy better than I was expecting it to. It definitely didn’t taste like a regular street side chicken and the ability to choose from a variety of different dipping sauces gives it an even greater appeal. Part of what makes the rotisserie taste so good is that it’s grilled in a Josper Rotisserie using wooden coal, so you end up with a nice crispy exterior, a juicy interior, and a slightly smokey flavor. But, what I liked even more was the pulled chicken sandwiches they have on the menu which have become my new favorite lunch thing. The Musahab panini with extra garlic sauce is my favorite one with the shawarma panini coming a close second.

Pricewise it’s fairly reasonable with the rotisserie chicken costing KD4.5, the musahab panini with fries KD3.5 and the corn brûlée for KD3. So a meal for two can cost around KD10 with drinks which is pretty good nowadays. Roto is located in Kuwait City in the new glass tower across the street from Crystal Tower [Google Maps]. They’re open from 1PM to 11PM and you can follow them on Instagram @ontheroto

Top and bottom photo taken from Roto

Last week Carriage and Talabat announced they were joining forces and that there were major improvements coming soon. Yesterday the first change arrived.

If you update your Carriage app to the latest version you’ll now see a bunch of major changes from a new updated interface, to the fact there are now over 2,000 restaurants listed. My first impression isn’t that great but only because it’s a pretty big change to an app I use on a daily basis. One of the first things I did after launching the updated app was going into my account settings and shutting off the options to receive Newsletter and SMS subscriptions. With this new update, the settings are turned on by default so if you don’t want to get spam, turn them off.

With this new update, Talabat has killed off some sections like Electronics and Flowers but left the Grocery section. The biggest change though is the increase in the number of restaurants available through the app since they’ve now added all the Talabat restaurants to the Carriage app. The new total is around 2,200 restaurants which is pretty crazy and means Carriage users now have access to some previously Talabat exclusive restaurants like PICK. Another major change is the fact there are restaurant ratings now so once your order is completed, you can now rate the restaurant you ordered from. Carriage Black still works since I see the discount being applied when I’m checking out, but other than on the checkout page, I can’t seem to find any info on it anywhere in the app which leads me to believe this might be something Talabat will be killing very soon (I hope not).

There are also changes happening behind the scenes. Talabat’s drivers will now start handling all the Carriage deliveries and Talabat will also be handling all the Carriage payments and customer support. The delivery radius has also decreased so some places that used to deliver to my place no longer deliver.

I’m curious to see how this new Carriage and Talabat partnership continues to develop. Hopefully, it means better overall service and experience since that was one of the major complaints people had about Carriage. Right now I care more about Carriage Black than better customer service so hopefully, they don’t phase it out.

Here is an updated list of all the restaurant and cafes now open at the Kuwait Airways terminal (T4):

Al Refai
Cafe Coco
Caribou
Del Monte
Le Pain Quotidien
McCafe
McDonald’s
Pizza Express
Raising Canes
Shake Shack
Starbucks
WH Smith (munchies/drinks)

Back in June McDonalds closed down their Gulf Road location but looks like they’re coming back again but in a new location. McDonalds will be taking over the old Ruby Tuesday location right next to the Kuwait Towers which I think is a better spot than their previous one. There’s a lot more parking and it’s right under the Kuwait Towers so it definitely has a better view.

No idea on when they’re opening but it would be safe to assume it would be sometime over the next few months.

My favorite % ARABICA location which was also their first location has closed down. They’re demolishing the building and I was expecting the location to close but didn’t expect them to close it down overnight without warning. I was basically at that location on a daily basis and I’d also run into the same people there every day. It was my goto spot for meetings but also my favorite spot when I just wanted to drink my coffee early morning while browsing reddit and posting on the blog. No idea if they’re going to open another location in the same area but hopefully they do.

Spotted this in Dubai over the weekend. It’s an autonomous vehicle that just drives around until someone waves at it and then it stops. Once it stops you can then buy water and snacks from it.

Last time I checked, the top seller for nearly every burger restaurant on Carriage was a fried chicken burger. The reason I had checked was because a friend told me that was the case and I hadn’t believed him. But it’s true, we love our fried chicken sandwiches and that’s why we’ve got some really great options to choose from. Below are my favorites:

#1 Slaw CHKN from CHKN (KD2.650)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#2 Crispy from Little Ruby’s (KD4.350)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#3 Milkyway from Lucky Bun (KD2.500)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Firstly a quick disclosure, CHKN is actually a brand I’m involved in as part of my day job, but only for the past year. I’ve actually been a diehard fan of their fried chicken for years which is how I came to be involved with the brand. I love their burgers, they’re huge, crispy and I love the way they look.

Little Ruby’s, on the other hand, have one of my favorite beef burgers and also one of my favorite chicken burgers. Their Crispy burger uses Rice Krispies for the breading and it just tastes so good (without the pickles of course). Finally, Lucky Bun has recently become one of my new favorite places to order from mostly because they have a kitchen in Salmiya but also because their beef and chicken burgers are really really good. Picking between their Chick of LA burger and Milkway burger was difficult, but the Milkyway comes with a turkey slice which always reminds me of KFC’s Zinger Supreme which I also love.

What’s your favorite fried chicken burger?

A couple of new places opened up last week and one of them is a meat eatery called Low Slow which I got to try out last week. I actually went to a tasting for it a couple of years back but the project got delayed and finally opened up last week. It’s a small place located in Lilly Center in Shuwaikh and as you can guess, it revolves around slow cooked meat.

Low Slow is simple but cool looking on the inside. The place has around 40 seats and so is cozy in size with a small kitchen in the back dominated by a large grill. Nearly everything on the menu is grilled which I love from the tapas to the mains. The menu didn’t have any prices on it when I was there since it was a private invitation, [check it out here] but I got to try something from every section. My favorite item was easily the burrata fig salad which was the best burrata dish I’ve ever had anywhere, while my least favorite item had to be the brownie dessert.

If you’re looking for a new place to try out or if you’ve been looking for a place with good brisket or bone in ribs, then you should give Low Slow a shot. They’re currently in their soft launch phase and open daily from 6PM to 11PM. You can find them on instagram @atlowslow

I rarely ever post commercials on my blog because 99.9% of the time they’re usually pretty lame. But, these new Slice commercials on the other hand are really funny. There are four videos in total and all four are in Arabic sadly, so if you can’t understand Arabic you won’t get these.

Check out the remaining two below.

EDO used to be my favorite Japanese restaurant in Kuwait back when they were open in Shaab (pictured above). The space was cozy, the food was great and there really wasn’t much competition back then. But, when they closed their Shaab location and moved to the Sahara Country Club I stopped going because it was just too far and I really didn’t like the space anymore, it was just too open and it lost all it’s coziness.

Photo by @mohamadchehimi

But, last month EDO closed down their Sahara location and the rumor I’ve heard is that they will be moving to Al-Khaled Complex in Salmiya. That’s where GIA is located right now and where the Italian restaurant Vigonovo used to be. I passed by Al-Khaled Complex last week and looks like there is a lot of renovation going on so hopefully this rumor is true.

If it is true then I think Al-Khaled Complex is a much better location for EDO. Until they reopen, if you miss EDO they’re still delivering on Talabat.