Category: Food & Drinks

After closing for renovations for what seemed like an eternity, Barba reopened again a couple of weeks back and I think the place looks amazing, maybe even the nicest looking in Kuwait just because the space is unique being that it’s located inside a warehouse. Before Barba closed for renovation and expansion, the place hosted some very cool events so I’m hoping with the winter season just getting started they’ll be hosting some cool events again soon.

If you’re looking for a casual place to have a good pizza or burger then check them out, the Solo Pizza guy is one of the partners so you know the pizza is going to be great. Here is their location on Google Maps and you can follow them on Instagram @barba.casa

Back in September I posted that the popular UK based Italian bakery Princi was coming to Kuwait but didn’t know where they were opening. Well, they’re opening in Avenues Phase 4 since the store hoarding went up recently in the Grand Avenues. Princi was created by the restaurateur Alan Yau who is behind other popular brands like Wagamama and Hakkasan.

Last night I got on Carriage and got a pop-up message saying I needed to choose a new Carriage Black plan. There was previously just one option, KD3.5 a month for unlimited deliveries which honestly a too good to be true price and I’ve saved a ton of money because of it. But recently Deliveroo stopped their free delivery promo so Carriage has now updated their Carriage Black pricing structure as well.

The new pricing isn’t bad at all since I order from Carriage daily. I’ll probably go with the KD7.5 a month plan since I rarely order from the grocery section and if I do it’s nothing good, usually chocolates which I should stop ordering anyway. But I will miss the old days when Deliveroo was free and unlimited deliveries on Carriage was just KD3.5 a month.

Middle Eastern Eatery or M’EAT for short is opening a second location, right across from Little Ruby’s and PICK in the city. Their current location on the Seef Strip opened up back in 2017 but it was a pretty small space and not really walking distance from much. This new location looks to be bigger and right in the heart of the city.

M’EAT is a build your own bowl place created by the guys behind PICK. If you missed my previous post on them then click here.

Ghadeer al Bahrain isn’t a new place, it’s actually been open for around 30 years now yet I only recently found out about it. The place is even located very close to where I live so I’m not sure how I hadn’t heard about it until now. Ghadeer is a small hole in the wall restaurant serving super tiny meat skewers of different kinds. So far I’ve been there a few times and I think we’re averaging 15-18 skewers per person. I’ve tried their meat tikka, kebab, chicken tikka, and heart skewers and they’ve all been really good but my favorites are definitely the meat tikka and kebab.

The price of a skewer is 150fils which means mixing and matching is very doable (and more fun). Because of their size, the skewers also don’t take very long to be grilled so you can order as you go as I tend to do. There is indoor and outdoor seating but this place isn’t anything fancy, so manage your expectations before you get there.

Ghadeer al Bahrain is located in Salmiya and you can find it on Google Maps. They’re also on instagram @ghadeeralbahrain

I know this sounds weird but there is an Irish Pub opening down the street from my place in Salmiya. According to their instagram (@irishpub.kwt) they’re going to be opening up any day now so I’m obviously going to have to pass by and check it out. I hope me reviewing pubs is going to be a thing soon!

Thanks Sharan!

Has anyone tried the South American restaurant El Público located inside the Millennium Hotel and Convention Centre? I thought it just opened since press releases started popping up last week but looks like it’s been there since May. The restaurant blends Peruvian, Chilean and Brazilian cuisines all in one menu so it sounds interesting in theory but I haven’t heard anything at all about the place.

Back in August, I posted about a place called Tea Party Sweets that had Sunkist and Vimto flavored soft serve. Now the same place have created a new flavor based on the popular Yan Yan snack and the ice cream is served in the actual Yan Yan package similar to how the Sunkist ice cream was served in actual Sunkist cups.

I haven’t tried it yet but it looks pretty good from the photos although I didn’t think much of their Sunkist and Vimto ice creams. I do wonder though what other old-school based soft serve they’ll come up with next. Check out more photos on their instagram @tea_party_sweets

You would think this would be an easy post to do for me but with so many burger options to choose from, it was actually pretty difficult to find my very top three. Here are the results:

#1 BBT (KD1.750)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#2 White Robata (KD5.000)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#3 Little Ruby’s (KD4.750)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

My biggest difficulty with putting this list together was the fact that there are so many great burgers in Kuwait, but in the end, it really came down to which places I personally keep going back to. Up until a few days ago I had even decided McDonald’s should be on this list since the Big Mac is probably the burger I have the most.

The BBT is a delicious burger thats well priced and easily accessible. There are no longer any queues and it’s a pickup place so you’ll have to eat in your car but I love that. White Robata on the otherhand isn’t a place you’d associate with burgers, but the owner of the place also has Burger Boutqiue and OFK which at point also had my favorite burger. The wagyu burger at White Robata is extremely delicious and melted in my mouth like hot butter, but, if you don’t like your burgers cooked medium rare and bloody then you’re not gonna like this. White Robata currently have a sort of a social experiment going on, all their best cuts of meat can only be ordered medium-rare. I love that they’re doing that. Finally, the Bronte burger at Little Ruby’s has been my go-to burger since 2010, but even their double cheeseburger could have easily made this list.

What’s your favorite burger place in Kuwait?

Onam is the biggest and most important festival of the state of Kerala in India and it’s also celebrated here in Kuwait. Today and over the weekend some Southern Indian restaurants in Kuwait will be offering the traditional vegetarian dish Onasadya and I’ve listed some of those restaurants below:

Sangeetha Veg Restaurant – Salmiya
Price: KD2.250
Telephone: 56503003
Facebook: SangeethaKuwait

Saravanaa Bhavan – Fahaheel/Salmiya
Price: KD2.500
Telephone: 23929099 / 25716686
Facebook: SaravanaaBhavanKuwait

Thakkara – Fahaheel/Salmiya/Farwaniya/Dajeej/Abbasiya
Price: KD2.000
Telephone: 23920699
Facebook: ThakkaraKwt

Udupi Restaurant – Fahaheel/Kuwait City/Salmiya
Price: KD2.000
Telephone: 22423021 / 25456565

If you know of any more places serving Onam, let us know in the comments.

Earlier this year, Korea Grill, the small Korean restaurant in New Park Hotel closed down along with the hotel and so they were forced to relocate. Last week they finally reopened but this time at the Radisson Blu and they’ve rebranded to The Kimchi.

The Kimchi took over the location of the Polynesian restaurant Kon-Tiki which had opened back in 2004 when Radisson Blu used to be the Radisson SAS. I believe Kon-Tiki closed down over a decade ago (not sure) and I think its been empty ever since. I remember I saw the place when I got a tour of the hotel after they refurbished it, but I don’t recall what this space was being used for back then. The interior was always nice looking with lots of wood and bamboo and private rooms built to look like small Asian structures. The restaurant is located underneath the Al Boom ship and the hull of the ship is integrated into the interior. The Kimchi updated the space a bit and it still looks good although I do wish the lights were dimmed a bit to give the space a moodier feel.

The menu is pretty huge now so I’m assuming everything that was on the menu at Korea Grill is still there along with a lot more new items. I went for some Korean BBQ and ended up ordering their set menu of assorted cuts for 2-3 people. It was good but I felt it was overpriced at KD28 considering neither of us left full. I actually contemplated passing by Peacock to continue dinner there because I was still hungry. I didn’t want to order any more food at The Kimchi since the service was incredibly slow and disorganized. I know that’s normal for a place that just opened but it was still frustrating having to ask for things multiple of times or watching people get their drinks or food before us even though they had come in later. I couldn’t wait to leave honestly.

I’ll give the place at least month or two before I head back again, hopefully by then they would have worked out all the kinks. Right now The Kimchi is open daily for lunch from 12PM to 3PM and then again for dinner from 6PM to 10PM. The place is big with lots of seating so I don’t think you need reservations. For more information and photos check out their instagram account @q8koreagrill

A couple of weeks back Ice Breaker gum got banned for containing non-halal ingredients and now a bunch of protein bars were also banned for containing non-halal ingredients:

Public Authority for Food and Nutrition (PAFN) has called to ban all imports of several protein bars as it contained non-halal ingredients. Secretary General Adel Al-Suwait said that it was found that products like Snickers, Mars, Bounty and Milky Way protein bars contained non-halal ingredients. Source

The odd thing is I looked through the ingredients and can’t figure out what the non-halal item can be. For example, this is the ingredients list for the Mars protein bar:

Protein Blend (27%) (Soya Protein Isolate, Milk Protein Isolate, Skimmed Milk Powder, Whey Protein Concentrate (from Milk), Egg, Albumen, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin)), Caramel (16%) (Sweetened Condensed Skimmed Milk, Glucose Syrup, Invert Sugar Syrup, Palm Oil, Butter (from Milk), Sugar, Emulsifier (E471), Stabiliser (Pectin), Salt, Natural Flavouring), Milk Chocolate (15%) (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Skimmed Milk Powder, Cocoa Mass, Lactose and Protein from Whey (from Milk), Palm Fat, Whey Powder (from Milk), Milk Fat, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin), Natural Vanilla Extract), Hydrolysed Collagen (12%), Humectant (Glycerol), Fructo-Oligosaccharide, Humectant (Maltitol), Flavourings, Fat-Reduced Cocoa Powder, Barley Malt Extract, Salt.

So bizarre.

via Reddit

Back in 2010 Sultan Center stopped carrying Lucky Charms because it turned out the marshmallows in it contained pork gelatine. Since then it’s been off the local market but now Lulu has started selling them. Not sure how long that’s gonna last so if you’re craving Lucky Charms you should pick up a box ASAP. It’s being sold for KD2.990.

The popular UK based Italian bakery Princi is coming to Kuwait soon based on job listings by Alshaya. Princi was created by the restaurateur Alan Yau who is behind other popular brands like Wagamama and Hakkasan. I posted about Princi back in 2013 after trying it out and since then the brand Princi got sold to Starbucks a few years ago which is how it ended up on Alshaya’s portfolio. No clue when it’s opening but it’s probably safe to bet that they’ll be opening a location at the Avenues.

The decision was taken by the Assistant Undersecretary for Consumer Protection and Control at the Ministry of Commerce to ban imports because the product contains pig gelatin.
…
The authority stressed the gum products of all kinds are not suitable for people who follow halal food because they contain pig gelatin.
Source

It’s the same reason why we can’t get Lucky Charms and Count Chocula cereal in Kuwait anymore. From what I’ve been told, most gelatin is pig gelatin and if this rule was actually properly enforced, a lot more products would disappear from our supermarket shelves. If you want Ice Breakers you need to stock up on them ASAP before they completely disappear from the market.