Category: Food

I haven’t posted a shawarma review here in nearly a decade but that’s mostly because no new shawerma place has really interested me until now. Recently a new shawarma place opened up in Al Rai called Shakir and there has been a lot of hype surrounding it which is why I wanted to pass by and try it out. I think what grabbed my attention the most about the place was the fact they used freshly baked breadrolls for the shawarma, and after trying it out yesterday, I think that’s my favorite thing about the place.

Shakir is located pretty much walking distance from The Avenues, on the same street as Party Land and True Value. It’s a super busy area all day long so by the time you walk into the place you’re already stressed out from traffic. Your stress level will only get worse once you’re inside since there will most likely be a really long queue to order food. I stood in line at 5:47PM and got back to my car with the food by 6:22PM. That’s over 30 minutes just to pick up shawarma!

The place doesn’t have chicken shawarma, just meat with two sauces, either the regular tahina or the spicy tahina sauce. Other than that the menu only has fries, juices and laban. Pretty simple which I like although as a chicken shawerma guy, I would rather they have chicken instead of meat or the option to choose between either. While waiting for my food I spent most of my time watching them bake the breadrolls and I think that’s just the smartest idea and I don’t know why no other place does it. Plain fresh bread tastes good as is, so imagine how much better it would taste stuffed with juicy meat and tahina.

I ordered the regular shawerma as well as the spicy one along with fries and juice to go on the side. I think the regular shawerma tasted just ok with the spicy one tasting a lot better because of the more interesting spicy sauce. The best part about the shawerma was the bread as expected, and that’s what would probably make me go back, BUT, only after the hype dies down. It was definitly not worth waiting 30 minutes and I went at an irregular hour, so I can’t imagine how long the line would be during regular lunch or dinner timings. At 650 fils per shawerma I’d also expect the breadroll to be stuffed with a lot more meat which they weren’t. They’re pretty stingy with the shawerma which is a turnoff.

Shakir is on instagram @shawarmashakir and here is their location on Google Maps.

The popular Italian restaurant and marketplace Eataly is targetting to open up in Avenues on July 21st. Eataly is already open the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and although I haven’t tried it myself I’ve heard the food is great. The Avenues location is in Phase 4 near the Mercedes dealership and they’re on Instagram @eatalyarabia

McDonald’s on the Gulf Road has closed down after opening 25 years ago. This was the first McDonald’s to open in Kuwait back in June 1994 and I remember it made worldwide news because the drive-through line was over 11KM long that day.

Oddly enough just a few weeks ago I randomly found out that the wife of one of my friends was the first customer at the opening. Because she was the first in line, they told her she could host her birthday there for free which she did later on.

via Life in Kuwait

If you’re a fan of Katsu then you might be interested in Holy Katsu, a new katsu place that just opened up. I’m not a katsu fan but my brother is and he thinks their katsu is pretty great. Their prices also seem really reasonable, KD2.950 for a classic chicken katsu curry and KD2.250 for a vegetarian one.

Not sure if their location is open yet but they’ve already started delivery with Deliveroo. They’re also on instagram at @holykatsu

If you’re not fasting during Ramadan and want to order food before Iftar, then below are some restaurants that will deliver early. This year there are a lot more places that deliver before Iftar and so I decided instead of listing them all here, I’d share a smaller curated list.

China Garden
Chinese / 11AM
Telephone: 1805080 / Carriage / Talabat / chinagarden.com.kw

Clean Eats
Vegan / 12PM
Telephone: 60488799 / Carriage

Domino’s
Pizza / 10AM
Telephone: 1800800 / Talabat

Eighty Six
Burgers / 2PM
Deliveroo

Enab
Lebanese / 2PM
Deliveroo / Talabat

Joa
Japanese / 2PM
Carriage

Kau
Burgers / 12PM
Carriage

Leila Min Lebnen
Lebanese / 2PM
Carriage

Mana
Variety / 2PM
Carriage / Deliveroo

Q at the Yard
Variety / 12PM
Telephone: 99696718 / Carriage

Rustic Thai Kitchen
Thai / 12PM
Telephone: 22204758 / Talabat

Sim Sim
Middle Eastern / 2PM
Carriage / Deliveroo

Tashi
Japanese / 2PM
Carriage

The Untitled Deli
Sandwiches / 1PM
Telephone: ‭22273354‬ / Carriage / Deliveroo

Tiger Tiger
Chinese / 2PM
Carriage

Vigonovo
Italian / 2PM
Deliveroo

Wendy’s
Burgers / 1PM
Carriage / Deliveroo

I’ll be updating the list above as I find out about more places, if you know of a place that delivers before Iftar (like 3PM or earlier) let me know.

Like always, I’ve highlighted the price increases over the previous year in red, and the decreases in green. The list is divided into two parts, hotels and restaurants so check it out below:

Hotels

Al Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort – Taima’a Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12 (+5.000)
Telephone: 24590000

Courtyard by Marriott – Atrium
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 22997000

Crowne Plaza – Al Ahmadi Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16
Telephone: 1848111

Four Seasons – Jawaher Tent
Buffet Price: KD21
Telephone: 22006000

Hilton Resort – Teatro Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD18
Telephone: 22256222

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Garden Cafe
Buffet Price: KD20 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22269600

JW Marriott – Al Thuraya
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22455550

Millennium Hotel & Convention – Lamar International Restaurant
Set Menu Price: KD14
Telephone: 22050505

Movenpick – Free Zone – Bays Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12 (+1.000)
Telephone: 24610033

Movenpick – Al Bida’a – Breeze Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22253100

Radisson Blu – Al Bustan Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16 (+2.000)
Telephone: 25673000

Safir Hotel – Fintas
Buffet Price: KD11.9 (-3.100)
Telephone: 25455555

Sheraton – Coral Tent
Buffet Price: KD20
Telephone: 22422055

Symphony Style Hotel
Buffet Price: KD13 (-1.000)
Telephone: 25770000

The Regency Kuwait – Silk Road Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD19 (+1.000)
Telephone: 25766880

Restaurants

Al Noukhaza Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16 (+0.050)
Telephone: 24732100

Al Sanawbar Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD10
Telephone: 25756273

Assaha Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD11 (-1.500)
Telephone: 22533377

Avanti Palace
Buffet: KD4.5
Telephone: 25751081

Baker & Spice
Set Menu Price: KD8.750
Telephone: 22407707

Burj Al-Hamam
Buffet Price: KD13.5 (+1.500)
Telephone: 22529095

Café Bateel
Set Menu Price: KD10
Telephone: 22270204

Dar Hamad
Buffet Price: KD16
Telephone: 22275555

Enab Beirut
Set Menu Price: KD12
Telephone: 22063000

IKEA
Set Menu Price: KD2.250
Telephone: 1840408

Izmir restaurant
Buffet Price: KD5.950
Telephone: 66305554

Kosebasi
Set Menu Price: KD7.900 (-1.850)
Telephone: 22201910

Kuwait Towers
Buffet Price: KD12 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22081999

La Brasa Argentinian Grill
Set Menu: KD17 (+6.000)
Telephone: 22322230

Maize
Set Menu: KD9
Telephone: 69688056

Naranj
Buffet Price: KD10.500 (-0.450)
Telephone: 22268666

Palm Palace
Buffet Price: KD8.900
Telephone: 67009575

Paul
Set Menu: KD7.950 (+0.700)
Telephone: 22208204

Qasr Al-Saraya
Buffet Price: KD9
Telephone: 25711101

Sakura
Buffet Price: KD14.950
Telephone: 23733388

Vapiano
Set Menu Price: KD6
Telephone: 22597171

Villa Fayrouz
Buffet Price: KD9.500
Telephone: 22650052

If you’d like to add a restaurant to the list above email me.

Eggslut, the LA-based gourmet food concept where all the items on their menu feature eggs finally opened up a couple of days ago. Because of all the controversy the name caused when their original hoarding went up, they’re now sticking with the confusing “censored” version of the name Eggslt. Confusing because it reads like Eggslot, but they’re calling it Eggslt yet everyone knows the name is actually Eggslut.

I haven’t tried them yet but here is a copy of their menu. They’re open from 7AM to 11PM inside Crystal Tower in Kuwait City. Their instagram account is @eggsltkw

Around a year and a half ago, Vigonovo, the cozy Italian restaurant that was located in Salmiya closed down. But, they’ve now found a new location and will be reopening tonight!

The new Vigonovo is located in the Khaleejia Tower in the City, and I passed by and checked it out last week. The space is a lot bigger than their older location but Chef Marco still managed to keep it cozy. They also now have an outdoor area that overlooks a busy intersection, and since the weather is still good right now, I think that’s where everyone will want to sit. The whole place just looks and feels a lot nicer than the older one and Marco also has a bigger team to help him out this time around.

If you’re looking for a new place to try out then pass by them. For more information you can visit their instagram page @vigonovo_kw

The pop-up restaurant which uses a crane to raise diners up into the air got shut down by the municipality. According to Arab Times, the pop-up was shut down for violation of safety conditions and because they had not obtained the necessary license from the authorities.

I just checked the Dinner in the Sky instagram account and they don’t mention anything about being shut down. In fact, as of last night, they were still open and serving dinner according to their story.

Impossible Foods is a company that develops plant-based substitutes for meat and dairy products. They went viral a couple of years ago when they introduced their burger patty which not only looked like real meat but supposedly also tasted like real meat. Their burger patty was positioned as the future of meat since it used 96% less land, 87% less water and released 89% fewer emissions compared to burgers made with cow meat.

The Impossible burger grew in popularity and became available in a number of high end restaurants like Momofuku Nishi in NY and the Michelin-starred restaurant Public, but it also became available at more casual places like Umami Burger and White Castle. Now the Impossible patty has found its way to Kuwait.

The local burger chain Rock House Sliders launched the Impossible Slider funnily enough on April 1st. I haven’t tried it yet since I just got back to Kuwait, but I’ll be having some tonight since I’m really curious to try it. They have four different sliders made using the Impossible meat and they’re all priced at KD2.750 which is more than double the cost of their real meat sliders. So not cheap. But, if like me you’re interested to try it, RHS is on Talabat, Carriage, and Deliveroo. For more info visit @rockhousesliderskuwait

The Belgian based novelty pop-up restaurant which uses a crane to raise its diners and chefs up into the air is now in Kuwait. The set up is located at Marina Crescent and they’re offering a bunch of different packages which I’ve listed here:

Tea Break: KD30
Lunch/dinner: KD50
Lunch/dinner with live music: KD60
Coffee Time (Ramadan): KD40

Their booking page only lets you book till the end of June so I’m assuming that’s how long they’ll be here for, but it’s already getting pretty hot so I highly doubt it’s gonna last that long. Plus the timing is a bit weird since Ramadan is around the corner and people generally don’t eat out the first two weeks.

If you want to find out more or even book a lunch or dinner, visit their website dinnerinthesky.com.kw

Thanks Waleed

Singa Pura is a new Singaporean restaurant that just opened up last week. I think it’s the first ever Singaporean restaurant in Kuwait since I don’t recall there ever being one. I actually had never had Singaporean food before, nor did I know what to expect so I was very curious to try them out. Now that I have, I think the best way to describe Singaporean food is that it lies somewhere between Thai and Indian cuisine, but closer to Thai which makes sense since they’re near each other.

Although Singa Pura just opened, they’ve actually been around for a while in the form of a home catering business. They still have their catering business active so if you don’t want to visit the restaurant you can also do that.

When I passed by Singa Pura for lunch it was pre-opening and so we didn’t have access to the full menu or final prices. But, I’ll be passing by again soon and once I do I will update this post with their menu. For now, if you’re interested in checking them out they’re located in the basement of Dasman Complex in the city. Here is their location on Google Maps and they’re on instagram @singapurakw

They’re opening in the alleyway between 400 Gradi and Arabica in phase 4.

Starting today, City Center is now carrying Waitrose products inside their stores. At this moment the Waitrose products are only available at their Salmiya location, but they will soon be adding them in their Dasma and Shuwaikh stores soon.

Currently, only around 30-40% of their total shipment has arrived, with the rest of the Waitrose products expected to be in store in around a months time.

This isn’t the first time Waitrose products have been made available in Kuwait, around 5 years ago Sultan Center started carrying Waitrose products as well. The biggest difference this time around is that City Center have segregated the Waitrose products into their own section which makes it easier to find stuff.

Usually, when I write about new restaurants that just opened up I talk about the food, but not in this case. The Cardamom Club is a new Indian restaurant that recently opened up and I think it has the best looking interior of any restaurant in Kuwait.

The restaurant is part of the Napkin Affair group who also own the concepts Ubon, Ananas, Simsim, and Mana. They designed all their restaurants in house and until recently I had thought Ananas was their best work, but not anymore. So far I’ve been to The Cardamom Club twice and on both occasions, I thought the food was average but the interior really beautiful.

If you’re looking for a new place to try out you should give The Cardamom Club a visit, they’re located in Kuwait City right next to the pizza place Pinocchio’s. Here is their location on [Google Maps] and their instagram account is @cardamom.club