Category: Food & Drinks

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.

Mango soft serve is all the rage right now (well every summer) so I decided to try three of the most popular ones and do a comparison. Here are the results:

#1 Press ( Starting from 950 fils)
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#2 Pick (Starting from 600 fils)
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#3 Ananas (KD2.450)
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

A few months ago during Ramadan I was driving by the Press location in the city and noticed a long queue out the door. So I called up a friend and asked them why that was and they told me it’s because of their mango soft serve. I ended up trying it a few weeks later and I’ve been hooked on it ever since. From the three soft serves above, the Press one tasted the closest to an actual mango which is why it’s my favorite of the bunch. Pick on the other hand which is usually my goto soft serve place came second for me even though their mango soft serve is really great, it’s just that Press set the bar pretty high on this one. Finally in third place it’s Ananas, their soft serve tasted the most creamy-ish and the least fruity, even though it came with actual mango pieces and mango syrup all over it

What’s your favorite mango soft serve in Kuwait? Also what else do you want me to compare? Best burgers? Best car wash? Give me some ideas.

Since I had a lot of free time over Eid I decided to do a hotdog comparison. My go-to place usually is Shake Shack but decided to try out the Five Guys hotdog and the Johnny Rockets one which I hadn’t had in years. Here are the results:

#1 Shake Shack (KD1.000)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐
Hotdog: ⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#2 Five Guys (KD1.750)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hotdog: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#3 Johnny Rockets (KD1.700)
Bun: ⭐
Hotdog: ⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐

I had all three hotdogs with just ketchup and mustard. My favorite tasting one ended up being the Five Guys hotdog but in the end, Shake Shack ended up slightly edging out because of the price. Johnny Rockets was easily the worst of the three, the bun to hotdog ratio was completely off and I also thought it was the greasiest of the three.

What’s your favorite hotdog place in Kuwait?

Update: The Shake Shack hotdog is no longer being sold for KD1 and instead now costs KD1.5

Around a month ago, Trolley launched ICEE drinks in its convenience stores across Kuwait. If you’ve never had ICEE before they’re frozen carbonated drinks that come in fruit or soda flavors. At first, Trolley launched ICEE with only fruit flavors which I’m not a fan of, but this past weekend they started rolling out the cola flavor across their stores so I decided to pass by and try it out.

I ended up going to the Trolley location in Mansouriya which is the largest one in Kuwait. I think the gas station it’s located in is also the largest in Kuwait and looked brand new as well.

In the States they have Pepsi and Coke flavored ICEE which is what I was hoping to find but Trolley right now has the generic ICEE Cola flavor instead. Doesn’t taste quite as good as Pepsi or Coke but is good enough if you’re looking for a drink to quickly cool you down.

ICEE comes in three sizes:
Small – 750fils
Medium – KD1
Large – KD1.250

I’m not sure if all the Trolley’s have ICEE machines or the cola flavor, but if you want more info you can always check the Trolley page on instagram @trolley_kw

Over the weekend I passed by a place called Tea Party Sweets that had Sunkist and Vimto soft serve which in theory, sounded like the best idea ever. They have two locations, one in Ardiya and one in Salmiya right off the 4th Ring Road. I went to the Salmiya location since it was nearest to me and the place looked like one of those random dessert shops that open up and never get a single customer. Except in this case, the place was packed and everyone was there for the exact same reason, Sunkist and Vimto soft serve.

I picked up both to try out and was looking forward to the Sunkist one the most but sadly it didn’t really taste like Sunkist. If anything it tasted closer to Tang than Sunkist. The Vimto one, on the other hand, tasted exactly like Vimto but in soft serve form.

It’s a fun idea and probably doing really well since it’s a great Instagram gimmick. I just wish the Sunkist tasted more like Sunkist. You can find Tea Party Sweets on instagram @tea_party_sweets