Category: Food & Drinks

Yellow Lemon is a new small breakfast place that opened up around two weeks ago in Salmiya near Sultan Center Shaab. It’s been awhile since a new breakfast place opened up and I’ve kinda started getting bored with my usual spots so I was pretty excited to check this place out.

When we arrived to the place it was empty except for one other table that was occupied. In total there are only five tables in the place, two large ones enough to fit four, and three small ones that fit two. The menu is divided into three main parts, omelettes, pancakes and more eggs which are different dishes made using eggs. I opted for the Turkey Muffin, a no carbs dish consisting of baked eggs wrapped in smoked turkey and filled with tomatoes and feta cheese while my friend went for their signature Lemon Pancakes. We also ordered a small bottle of water and orange juice for our drinks.

There wasn’t any music playing so it was a bit awkward having a conversation in such a small place since it felt like everyone could hear us. But, just as our food arrived, more people came in and filled the place up creating a much more cozier and comfortable atmosphere. My dish looked great and had a side of chopped watermelon. It was a very light carb free protein dish that might have been just a tad undercooked but was still fine since I prefer that to it being overcooked. My friend enjoyed the lemon pancakes as well so we were both pretty satisfied with our choices.

My biggest issue with the place had to do with the price of the water and orange juice. A small bottle of water costs KD1.000 while a teeny tiny glass of orange juice was for KD1.500. There is absolutely no reason why water should cost so much at a small hole in the wall and the same goes with the orange juice. The food was more reasonably priced with my Turkey Muffin costing KD3 while the Lemon Pancakes KD3.750. Nothing on the menu exceeded KD4.

The question on would I go back is a difficult one to answer. On the one hand my favorite hole in the wall breakfast place is The Early Bird and one of the best things there is the atmosphere of the place which this place lacks. Yellow Lemon feels like they want to be an upscale hole in the wall breakfast place targeting posh girls, and you know what, that might actually work. On the other hand I would only go back if I’m looking for a quiet private place, maybe for a morning business meeting.

For more information on Yellow Lemon including a map, check out their instagram account @yellowlemonkwt

A couple of friends and I passed by the Turkish Steakhouse Sultanchef yesterday for lunch. I hadn’t heard of the place before but my friend had and supposedly it was really good so we decided to try it out. The restaurant is located in Al Tijaria Tower which I consider a dead mall so I was pretty surprised to find the restaurant fully packed when we arrived. This was a mid week lunch in a mall with very little footfall yet we had to wait 5 minutes for a table to free up in what is a pretty large restaurant.

Once we were seated we asked our waiter what he would recommend to which he replied telling us if it’s our first time visiting we should come with him to the fridge so he could explain all the different cuts of meat and dishes they had. We headed to the far end of the restaurant where two large fridges displayed all the meat… a lot of meat. One by one he took us through everything and in the end we ordered the following:

Goat Cheese Salad (x2) KD4.000
Sultanchef Cheesy Meatballs KD4.750
Marinated Sliced Beef KD9.800
Sultanchef Burger KD4.600
Rack of Lamb KD34.600
Sultanchef Special (x2) KD15.150
Special Antep Baklava (x3) KD8.850

The first dish that arrived were the cheesy meatballs. Even though they’re called meatballs they weren’t really balls but more like large semicircles. The presentation didn’t look that great but damn they were good. If we hadn’t ordered so much food we would have definitely ordered another portion of these. Once we were done the sliced beef on skewers arrived and those tasted even better than the meatballs. It was a great start to what would be a protein overdose lunch. Just a quick note, by default everything is cooked medium well so we had to tell them to cook everything medium for us. The burger arrived after chopped in four and even though it was overcooked it was still pretty juicy. The burger had caramelized onions, cheddar cheese and a slice of smoked beef all packed between a delicious bun. A good burger that we ordered out of curiosity but this really isn’t the place to order one. The goat cheese salad arrived somewhere between all this and I didn’t really like it. Not that it was bad (my friends liked it) but I just thought it was unexciting compared to everything else we were having.

Once we were done with our starters one of our main courses arrived, the rack of lamb. When you order the rack of lamb the chef comes from the kitchen to slice it up for you table side. The chef is a character of his own, he puts on a great show and even feeds you the first bite which is hilarious and awkward at the same time. The rack of lamb was delicious and the quantity was huge. We were three guys and the portion was more than enough for us. Once we thought everything was done the Sultanchef special arrived which is thinly sliced beef fillet drenched in butter. By this point even though we had eaten enough meat to feed an adult tyrannosaurus, we still managed to dig into the Sultanchef special as if we had just started our lunch. Just like the rack of lamb, the chef comes to your table to serve you the food. Once we were done with our food we decided to order dessert. If there is one thing you should have at Sultanchef it’s their baklava. The chef also comes to your table to prepare and serve their special baklava and come to think of it the chef is a pretty busy guy. He comes table side with the baklava and some ice cream, he then splits open your baklava, spreads the ice cream inside and then closes the baklava creating a baklava ice cream sandwich. That’s just INSANE. 50,000 calories later and right before we slipped into a food coma, we asked for the bill while sipping on some traditional tea.

Even though the place was packed with every table occupied the service was incredible and surprising for a place that has been open for just two months. Usually places take a lot longer to get their service working like clockwork but these guys somehow managed to do it in a much shorter timespan. Our waiter was Turkish and very knowledgable, friendly and helpful which is why he ended up with a big fat tip at the end. Pricing on the other hand is an issue. All the food was delicious and I’d love to order all of it again but at the end with the drinks and tip we ended up paying around KD35 each. That’s pretty expensive for what essentially isn’t a high end luxury restaurant. But based on how packed the place was, it seems a lot of people don’t mind paying that much for what really is a great steakhouse.

I first found out about Onam last year and I’m glad someone reminded me yesterday that it’s taking place again in a few days. From onamfestival.org:

Onam is the biggest and the most important festival of the state of Kerala, India. It is a harvest festival and is celebrated with joy and enthusiasm all over the state by people of all communities. According to a popular legend, the festival is celebrated to welcome King Mahabali, whose spirit is said to visit Kerala at the time of Onam.

Every year on Onam, the Caesars Dakshin Restaurant in Jleeb Al Shyoukh serves the traditional Onasadya dish which comprises of 20 vegetarian items served on a large banana leaf. I tried it last year and loved the experience and this year I’m going back and taking more friends with me. They even had a guy last year dressed as the mythical King Mahabali which I got to pose with for a photograph. If you’re interested, check out the flyer [Here]

Theres going to be a bunch of food related posts coming this week since I’m trying to catch up on all the new places that have opened up recently but, I’m going to start off with one that just opened on up this past wednesday called The Foundry.

For those of you who’ve visited Qout Market you might recognize The Foundry since that’s where they started. They were one of the popular food stands at the market with a speciality sandwich called the foundry chicken sandwich which I looovvveeee. It features their very own marinated chicken, provolone cheese, avocado, sundried tomato and the foundry pesto sauce which has a slight hint of garlic. With the opening of their restaurant they’ve added more sandwiches (or sammiches as they call them) to the menu bringing the total to five including a vegetarian option called the avocado smash. I haven’t tried their other sandwiches yet but I will on my upcoming visits.

My favorite thing about The Foundry is that they’re located in Salmiya close to where I live. They’ve setup shop in the parking lot next to Eureka Salmiya and they’ve done a really great job with the space they had to work with. The place is small with around 5 or 6 tables but it’s really cozy and looks fantastic. Because the place is run by the partners who have full time jobs, they’re currently only opening in the evenings from around 6:30PM to 9:30PM. That’s a small window but understandable.

If you’re interested in trying them out, here is their location on [Google Maps] and here’s a link to their instagram account @thefoundrykw

Sultan Center in Shaab have a new section called “Consume Fast”. It’s a section where food that is about to expire is displayed and their prices are discounted. I was expecting the prices to be half off or more but most of the stuff I saw were just slightly cheaper. Still for items that are going to be consumed right away it’s a better deal.

I heard about 5 Stripes from a friend of mine and I thought it was an interesting idea. 5 Stripes is a local creation and according to their website they’re the first company in the Middle East that allows you to custom mix your own cereal from a wide range of organic ingredients. They also have pre mixed cereals but whether you custom mix or go with a pre mix, they all come in cool long cylindrical containers.

You can custom mix your ingredients using their website and once you place an order you get a special code which you could use the next time you want to reorder the same mix. That way you don’t waste time creating your custom mix over and over again. If you’re interested, check out their website [Here]

The Souk Sharq branch of Sultan Center has a new large organic/healthy section that I’m hoping they’ll start introducing into their other branches. I found lots of products which I hadn’t seen before in any of their other locations and the whole section looks like something from Whole Foods.

Speaking of healthy food, for some reason Natureland has increased the price of their quinoa and they’re now selling 500g for KD2.990. They used to sell it for KD2.050 so that’s a whopping 45% increase. Luckily for us, there are a lot more options for quinoa nowadays and Sultan sell a few options including one which costs KD2.500 for 500g.

Koryokwan, the Korean restaurant located in Carlton Hotel is opening a new location in Symphony Mall in Salmiya. My guess is that they will be moving out of their current location in Carlton Hotel since the building is very old and in the summer the air conditioning isn’t that great. The new location will be located in the basement of the mall right next to Party Land and hopefully it’ll end up looking as good as their current location.

I was at SaveCo yesterday and noticed they’re now selling Click & Grow products. Click & Grow is an automatic plant growing system where sensors, processors and special software take care of the growing for you. They’re not cheap though, the Smartpot with Basil is being sold for KD35 while most refills are KD10 each. So if you’re considering saving money by growing your own products look elsewhere.

If you’ve been following my blog for a few years then you’ve probably seen my previous posts on Tesco (here is a link that summarizes them). Originally I had posted that Alshaya were bringing the Tesco brand but then it turned out they were getting Florence & Fred, the clothing division of Tesco. I then posted that Sultan Center was bringing Tesco but that deal fell through and Sultan ended up getting Waitrose products. Now though my source tells me the new SaveCo supermarket will be bringing the brand to Kuwait.

The company that has an exclusive agreement with Tesco to supply their products to the Middle East is called MH Group and they already supply Spinneys in Lebanon and Qatar with Tesco products. Now they’ve supposedly signed with SaveCo who will start stocking the products in around a months time once they arrive.

Based on the order list my source sent me it seems they will mostly be stocking non-perishable food items like canned goods, sauces and spices. That’s similar to the Waitrose items Sultan Center stocks although it looks like SaveCo might be bringing in a much larger selection.

I can’t publish the list of products they’re bringing but if there is a specific Tesco product you’re interested to know if they’re getting, let me know and I’ll check and see if its on the list.

The new Edo location at the Sahara Kuwait Golf Club recently opened up and the view is spectacular. The new location overlooks the golf course so its lots of grass, trees and people playing Golf as far as the eyes can see. Probably the nicest view for a restaurant in Kuwait thats not overlooking the sea. The Shaab location for Edo is also currently closed for renovation and will be open again on July 26th. Edo is a popular local Japanese restaurant that has been open since 2002.

Below is a list of buffet prices (and in some cases set menus) of various restaurants around Kuwait. I tried to get a variety of styles of restaurants ranging from American franchises, to hotels to Arabic restaurants but if you want to include a restaurant on this list, leave the details in the comments below. What I’ve done this year as well is mention how much the price has increased or decreased over the previous year just for fun. If you don’t see any red or green number next to the price it either means the restaurant kept the same price as last year or they’re new to the list.

Abdel Wahab
Buffet Price: KD10 (+1.250)
Telephone: 1821000

Al Noukhaza Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD11.950 (-2.000)
Telephone: 24757775 or 1823888

Avanti Palace
Set Menu Price: KD3.5
Telephone: 25751081

Cafe Blanc – The Avenues
Buffet Price: KD7.750 (Buffets only on weekends) (+0.250)
Telephone: 22597568

Courtyard by Marriott
Buffet Price: KD12 (+3.000)
Telephone: 22997000

Crowne Plaza – Al Ahmadi Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12.5
Telephone: 24757775

Hilton Resort – Teatro Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22256222

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Garden Cafe
Buffet Price: KD16 (+2.000)
Telephone: 22269600

JW Marriott
Buffet Price: KD13 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22455550

Leila
Set Menu Price: KD8
Telephone: 22996414

Movenpick – Free Zone – Bays Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD13.5 (+2.600)
Telephone: 24610033

Movenpick – Al Bida’a – Breeze Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 22253100

Naranj
Buffet Price: KD12.5 (+0.500)
Telephone: 22268666

Paul
Set Menu Price: KD7.900 (+0.650)
Telephone: 22597044

Qasr Al-Saraya
Buffet Price: KD8 (+0.500)
Telephone: 25711101

Radisson Blu – Al Bustan Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD13 or KD11 after 10PM
Telephone: 25673000

Red Lobster
Set Menu Price: KD7.950
Telephone: 22200536

Ruby Tuesday
Set Menu Price: KD5.750 (+0.750)
Telephone: 22444454

Sakura
All You Can Eat Price: KD14.950 1st 10 days of Ramadan (+2.000)
Buffet Price: KD15.950 11th day onwards(+2.000)
Telephone: 24757775 or 1823888

Sheraton – Coral Tent
Buffet Price: KD17.250
Telephone: 22422055

Symphony Style Hotel – Luna Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 25770000

THE One
Buffet Price: KD9.500 or KD4.750 for kids under 12
Telephone: 22244511

The Southern
Set Menu Price: KD9.5

Villa Fairouz – The Avenues
Buffet Price: KD12.5 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22597200

Zafran
Buffet Price: KD7.5 or KD4 for kids 5-10
Telephone: 25750647

Zahr El Laymoun – 360 Mall
Buffet Price: KD8 (+0.500)
Telephone: 25309511

Near the end of last year a friend of mine told me about a new restaurant that was opening called The Southern. I checked out their Facebook page and started following them, waiting for the day they would announce their opening. That day finally came last week so I headed out to Mahboulah to try them out.

The Southern is a small restaurant owned by a Kuwaiti couple and focuses on Southern (American) classic dishes. Both mums of the couple are American with one mum originally from North Carolina and the other from Kentucky so most of the dishes served at The Southern are based on recipes taken from their mums. The fact that their head chef is American also helps keep everything as authentic as possible. The interior of the restaurant is designed by the very talented Lab100 design studio, the same studio behind the design of Ubon and Rio. I loved everything about the way it looked and once the weather gets cooler they will even have outdoor seating.

When I arrived to the restaurant the waitress told me I was their first lunch time customer. They had soft launched a week earlier with just dinner and they had just started opening for lunch on the day I passed by. I always prefer having lunch at a restaurant I’m reviewing just for the simple fact the photos always come out better. Their menu isn’t very big with just 3 starters, 5 main courses and 3 desserts. Since I was alone I decided to skip the starters and instead have 3 main courses and a dessert. I ended up ordering the following:

Bayou Fried Shrimps KD3.75
Spicy Pulled BBQ Chicken Sliders KD2.95
Sloppy Joe Sliders KD2.8
Southern Biscuits (side dish) KD0.750
Baked Mashed Potatoes (side dish) KD0.750
Soft Drink KD0.500

The first thing that arrived was the Bayou fried shrimps. I found the dish unexciting both in presentation and flavor. It was good but it just wasn’t special, it was too similar to regular breaded shrimp I could have anywhere else because there were no new flavors in it for me to explore. The portion was also small and it would make more sense having it as a starter than a main. After the fried shrimps things took a giant leap forward. The next dish that arrived was the pulled bbq chicken sliders and I fell in love. It was delicious and full of flavor, even the buns were perfect and I was just starting to think to myself how I would come back for it when they brought over the sloppy joe sliders.

Their sloppy joe sliders were ridiculously good. Right after taking the first bite I took my beloved pulled chicken sliders dish and put it across from me on the other side of the table. Even though I had ordered three main courses I knew right away that it would be the sloppy joe sliders that I would fully consume. It was the third main course I was having but it was so good I couldn’t stop eating it (obviously I wasn’t dieting that day). Once I was done I ordered the fried blueberry pie which I just realized they didn’t charge me for (it’s KD1.750). I was having a hard time deciding between the peach cobbler and the pie but ended up going with the pie because I was looking for something sweeter. The pie took around 10 minutes to prepare and it came hot with ice cream on the side. It was pretty light and crispy but I was also curious to try their cobbler and if I wasn’t so full already I would have ordered that as well.

Overall I had a great experience and I would go back again for sure (on a cheat day). The only negative feedback I have is with the waitress who had trouble answering some of my questions regarding some of the dishes. But, they had only been open for a week so that kinda makes it ok I guess plus she was friendly and bubbly which is always more important. Their regular timings are from 11AM to 11PM but in Ramadan they’re open from 6.30pm to 8pm and then again from 11pm to 3am. They also have a set menu for Ramadan which is KD9 per person if you prefer that. For more information including their location, check out their page on [Facebook]

Post by Amy Freeman

I thought I would follow up last weeks post with some points on why I believe gluten isn’t necessary as part of anyone’s regular diet. This kinda leads on from why I believe that the ‘Paleo’ or ‘Whole Food’ nutrition is benefiting everyone not just for improved body composition, but for overall general health and wellbeing.

Gluten free seems to be a term that is thrown around a lot these days which has some people interested and others rolling their eyes thinking it’s another fad. Gluten is the protein in wheat and cereals that gives dough it’s elasticity and therefore bread it’s addictive, soft, chewy, air light texture.

So why is gluten getting such bad press now?

Well in the 2009 study published in Gastroenterology, it showed that celiac disease has increased in 50 years from 1 in 650 people to 1 in 120 people.

This is largely down to the difference in the wheat we are now consuming compared to our parents and grandparents.

In order to meet the demand for factories with the amount of processed food, the increased population and increased general consumption, wheat farmers now use a hybridized grain that grows fast, is bug resistant and contains new proteins that were never in original wheat plants. These new proteins are not easily digested causing widespread gluten intolerance, high rates of celiac disease, increased inflammation and really bad side effects.

After seeing the transformation in many clients that had never thought gluten had been an issue for them until they cut it out and all of a sudden saw bloating disappear and health issues lessen, I believe that many people have an intolerance of some kind to it and luckily most people I know whether friends, family or clients seem to be aware that they do feel better overall when they don’t have it as part of their regular diet.

It is also very apparent in supermarkets these days with the vast amount of gluten free products this is becoming a very adopted way of living for people and I can say i have noticed that the cost of gluten free products (in Kuwait) now compared to 2-3 years ages also validates that. 2-3 years ago it was a ridiculous amount of money for quinoa and gluten free flour options and after studying the supermarkets at places like Sultan Center and SaveCo, the prices are substantially lower than they used to be because of the many more market players of gluten free products.

So for those that may not be aware of some of the classic side effects that gluten can cause on your body this may help identify some tell tail signs:

– Bloating after eating bread, pasta or wheat based products. Bread for most is a standout.

– Irritable bowel episodes

– Constipation and or diarrhea

– Inflammation in the joints. I’ve even read celiac websites that have said white specs have showed up on an MRI of a patients brain that was found to be gluten and the cause of the patients migraines.

– Severe acne

– Headaches/migraines

-Skin irritation/Eczema

Just to finish be aware that when you opt for some gluten free products, they often will have more sugar, fat and fillers in them to make up for the lack of texture and taste from real wheat so always read the ingredients and make sure you are aware of what they are using instead of wheat and don’t be blinded by the gluten free label. This is kind of the same as fat free products. When something is taken out it has to be replaced, just be aware and make sure that you aren’t replacing your wheat with a chemical concoction of god know what.

Happy Training Kuwait

Post by Amy Freeman, a Strength and Conditioning Coach from New Zealand and currently a Personal Trainer at Inspire Pure Fitness in Kuwait.

Photo by jmlpyt

Turns out the Hurom brand of slow juicers isn’t the only option for slow juicers in Kuwait. I spotted the above two Kuvings slow juicers at SaveCo and although they cost more than the Hurom (KD124 and KD109 compared to KD99 for the Hurom), the model on the left does accept larger pieces of fruit and according to this comparison video, can also yield more juice than the Hurom. For those of you who don’t know, slow juicers are preferred by some people because they tend to retain more nutrients during the juicing process when compared to normal juicers.