Category: Food & Drinks

I’m always on the look out for new places where I could pick up a healthy meal from and since trying A’s Chicken last week its now one of those places I’ll be frequenting often. I’ve already had them three times so far and even though their menu is super small that’s really not an issue. How small? They basically have only three main items, grilled chicken (1/2 or whole), grilled taouk and a chicken wrap.

I’ve only had their taouk (which is grilled chicken cubes) and I always request it to be spicy. It comes with french fries, a not very garlicky garlic sauce (thats a good thing),a soft drink and costs KD2. The french fries obviously isn’t healthy so if you can’t resist them just tell them not to include it. The reason I like them other than the fact the spicy chicken taouk is delicious is because whenever I’m in the city and need a quick meal I can just pass by them and pick up my taouk. The only downside is the fact that you need to call 30 minutes ahead so it’s not fast food. Also I wonder if they can replace the fries with a bit of salad? I’m already swapping the soft drink with a bottle of water so if they can swap the fries with salad that would make this an even better meal. I need to check this next time I place an order.

A’s Chicken is located in Kuwait City in an alleyway next to Solo Pizza and behind Solo Tacos. They don’t have dine in just takeaway and delivery so if you want some grilled protein you can call them on 22412124 or find them on talabat.

Instead of separate posts I figured I would combine all these into one. First up is Alfredo’s Gallery Restaurant which is opening soon in Avenues Phase III. According to their Facebook page they were originally supposed to open back in April but I guess they ran into some issues. According to a sticker on their store front as well as their homepage, Alfredo’s Gallery is the birthplace of the Fettuccine Alfredo.

The second restaurant thats opening is Wok Hay located outside the main entrance to Green Island right next to the new Egyptian restaurant that opened Abou El Sid. Wok Hay is an Asian dining restaurant and according to an employee I saw there it should be opening up any day now. Wok Hay is owned by Ruby Tuesday Inc. and last year they shut down all their US locations after running into financial difficulties.

Recently I went on a blender hunt since I wanted to replace my Philips blender which started to struggle making my smoothies. I started checking out the two best blender brands, VitaMix and Blendtec. Just like the great SNES vs Genesis battle there is a similar one between VitaMix and Blendtec. You have to choose sides, it’s either VitaMix or Blendtec and you can’t have both. Both brands have excellent blenders and no matter which one you choose you can’t go wrong. After watching countless videos on YouTube of people comparing the two blenders and basically just watching people blend stuff, I came to the conclusion that both blend extremely well but I was choosing Blendtec. Why?

• I liked the way Blendtec blenders looked like compared to the VitaMix blenders. Looks aren’t everything but if I was going to spend so much on a blender and bond with it then I wanted to like everything about it including looks. For people with low kitchen cabinets the VitaMix might not fit underneath because the VitaMix jars are tall and thin while the Blendtec jars are wide and short. The Blendtec blenders also look like modern kitchen appliances while the VitaMix have an old school look which is probably why they’re so popular with hipsters.

• I’m a huge a fan of the Blendtec informercial series “Will it blend?“. In the show the company founder tries to blend random objects in their blenders and he’s blended everything from iPhones and iPads to glow sticks and McDonalds meals. If it can blend an iPhone, it can blend my smoothie.

• The local Blendtec dealer is Mabrook, the same dealer as KitchenAid and I’m already a customer there.

There really weren’t that many models to choose from at the VitaMix and Blendtec dealers and both of them carried only the business range. The Blendtec dealer had only three models, the Blendtec Xpress, the Q-Series which was their midrange unit and the Chef which was their top of the line model. I ended up going with the Q-Series because I loved the size of the unit, the way it looked and the soundproofing features. The fact that Starbucks also uses the same blender didn’t hurt either.

The blender came in a huge unmarked brown box with just a small label on the side describing the contents. Inside the large box was the blender, two jars, some manuals and a CD. Setting up the blender was as simple as plugging it in and turning it on. It works right out of the box just like a regular blender. The “Q” in the “Q-Series” stands for quiet since the unit has sound proofing inside the case around the motor as well as a noise preventing cover that closes down over your jar. It’s meant for coffee shops and juice bars where they have to keep the noise level down as low as possible so as not to annoy the customers. The controls are fairly basic at first glance, 6 touch buttons on the top and a large power switch on the front but the 6 buttons on top are all customizable and programmable. The blender has 9 blending speeds and 30 pre-programmed blend cycles. Using the supplied “Cycle Chart” you can set up any of the 30 available pre-sets to any of the buttons on the blender and if there is a specific custom cycle you want you can take the blender to the dealer and they will program it into the blender.

I use one of the factory set smoothie cycles that is just 23 seconds long and consists of the following cycle: Starts off at speed 3 then goes to 5,1,3,5,3,6 and finally ends at speed 7. During the blending process the units LCD display will show you what speed the blender is on and how many seconds left for the blending process to be completed. The same blue LCD screen also displays a smoothie counter, kinda like how your car has the odometer, the Blendtec blender has a lifetime counter. As of this post I have made 95 smoothies in the two weeks I’ve had my blender.

There is literally nothing this blender can’t blend and no matter what I’ve thrown at it the blender has never even given the slightest sign of a struggle. My Q-Series blender has a 3.8hp motor and I haven’t used anything higher than a speed 7 even though it goes up to speed 9. I really didn’t realize how much my older blender used to struggle when making smoothies until I tried it again a week after getting my Blendtec. Not only did my old blender struggle but it also used to take around a minute to blend a smoothie. On the other hand I had a smoothie party last week and I was blending smoothies left and right flipping between two jars like a pro and blending nearly 3 smoothies a minute. I love this blender.

There are some downsides though. First is the fact the blender came with the regular 4-side jars and not the newer 5-side WildSide+ jar which is supposed to blend even quicker. The other negative is the fact the lid of the jar leaks when I clean the jar. To clean the jar all you do is fill it up with a bit of water and add a drop of soap. You then mount the jar on the the blender and use the “Pulse” button until the jar is clean. Only issue is unless I’m really holding down on the lid really hard it ends up leaking water from the top. I haven’t had any issue when blending my smoothies just when cleaning the jar but still, it’s annoying to have to keep wiping my blender down after cleaning a jar. The last issue is the price.

Before I mention the price I have to say, this blender is not for everyone in the same way Subzero fridges and Viking ranges aren’t for everyone. If you want a really good blender at a great price then I highly recommend the Philips which I previously had. But the Blendtec is one of the best blenders you can buy period and it’s commercial grade which is why it costs a staggering KD375. Even the Blendtec Xpress which is the entry level blender at the local dealer is still KD193. But good blenders cost a lot of money and it’s not just Blendtec or blenders, commercial grade appliances be it a fridge or a toaster will cost considerably more than regular plastic appliances. The VitaMix blenders I checked out locally were expensive as well with their entry level Drink Machine Two-Speed going for KD260 while their Vita Prep 3 is for KD359.

I love my blender.

Update: So my Blendtec sadly died on me 7 years later. No biggie except for the fact that they discontinued the parts for it and to fix my issue (which is the motherboard), I need to swap out the whole blender innards for a cost of KD128. So not worth it obviously since I can get a new Vitamix for that price.

Gia, my favorite little cafe in Salmiya with all the quinoa salads is going to be expanding by taking over the space next door. They’re going to close down over Ramadan and use that time for the renovation. Currently the place is always packed in the evenings so the expansion should reduce the chance of not finding a place to sit. Check them on out on instagram @giakwt

I was at the Saveco Supermarket yesterday and spotted seedless watermelons. I have no idea why no other supermarket has thought about getting seedless watermelons to Kuwait, it’s the most amazing thing ever.

The melons are mini sized and they weren’t cheap at around KD1.5 per kilo so my melon ended up costing around KD3.5 which is still a lot cheaper than the KD99 heart shaped melon at Sultan Center. I’m really loving Saveco.

A couple of days back I had just finished having lunch at Salhiya and as I was leaving the area by car I spotted the Finger Sushi sign on one of the buildings. I hadn’t noticed the sign before and since I was driving I made my friend note down Finger Sushi on my phone so I could check it out later once I got back home. That same evening around 1AM while watching the movie Non-Stop, I came across the note Finger Sushi on my phone and decided to see if they had a website or instagram account I could check out. I ended up finding both and right away what caught my attention was the fact that they’re open 24 hours a day. Me and my friends always have a hard time finding a place that isn’t McDonalds that is open after midnight and a 24 hour sushi place is exactly what we’d want late at night. So I paused the movie and gave them a call just to confirm that their dine-in is open 24 hours and not just the delivery and the guy on the other end of the line said I could come by any time of day and eat. So I decided once the movie was over I would head to Finger Sushi and try it out.

It was just after 2AM when I left my house and headed into the city. I put some Chet Baker on and took the scenic route arriving at the restaurant around 2:20AM and obviously, I was the only one there. There menu is very basic with just 7 makis, some salads and a handful of side dishes. By 7 makis I actually mean one kind of maki but you get to choose if you want it salmon, crab, shrimp, tuna, chicken, meat or vegetable. I decided to go with the salmon maki and asked them to make it spicy, the chef recommended I choose the red colored rice if I wanted it spicy but I decided to stick with white for the salmon and ordered another spicy crab maki with the red rice. I asked the chef what the sweet salmon salad was and he told me it was similar to the popular salmon avocado salad except with a different sauce. I ended up going with that as well and a side order of edamame. The cashier asked me if I wanted chopsticks which I replied yes to and he then asked me if I wanted soya sauce which I also said yes to. Turns out both are chargeable items costing 100fils each.

While waiting for my order to get ready I took some photos of the place trying my best to make it look cooler than it actually is and while I was admiring my handiwork, the waiter calls me up and hands me over a tray with my order. All the items I had ordered were nicely packaged so I took a group photo and then opened the packages for one more round of photos before I proceeded to munch away on the food.

I started off with the edamame which is impossible to go wrong with and once I was done with the edamame I started on the sweet salmon salad. This honestly was the worst thing I ordered and I have no idea why the chef would even compare it to a salmon avocado salad at other restaurants since its nothing like it. The salad was mostly lettuce with four or five small cooked and dry pieces of salmon covered with Lays chips. Not even the sauce could rescue the salad from disaster so save yourself the disappointment and skip the salads all together. Once I put the salad aside I started on the makis.

According to the chef all their makis plates come as six pieces with each two pieces having a different sauce on top. I’m sure you could stick to one sauce if you want to but for your first time you’d probably want to have the three different sauces so you could get an idea of what they all taste like. The makis also all come covered with crispy tempura. I personally wanted to order my maki without the sauces and the crispy tempura but since I was going to write about the place I decided to keep everything as it was. All three sauces tasted fairly similar and they were strong enough to overpower the flavor of the whole maki. It didn’t matter if there was crab or salmon inside I couldn’t tell the difference. On the other hand the red rice gave it an interesting flavor since its prepared using rose water.

Overall it was pretty much what I was expecting from a 24 hour fast food sushi place along with a bill that fit the experience:

6 Piece Salmon Maki – KD1.200
6 Piece Crab Maki – KD1.200
Sweet Salmon Salad – KD1.000
Edamame – KD0.750
Soya Sauce – KD0.100
Chopsticks – KD0.100

Total: KD4.350

It’s the perfect place for late night munchies and I would go back again with my friends when every other place is closed. But, I would save my money and avoid the salad next time as well as having the makis without the crispy tempura or the sauces. Finger Sushi is located in the same building as Opera Cakes and Sahara Hotel which is on your left hand side once you leave the Salhiya area [Map]. They’ve been open for just over a week now and you can find them on instagram @fingersushi or online at fingersushi.com.

Sultan Center are now selling heart-shaped watermelons for a ridiculous price of KD99 each. According to Sultan, only 120 pieces of these heart shaped watermelons exist and 40 were sent to Russia, 40 to Japan and 40 made it to Kuwait. I have no idea who would pay KD99 for a watermelon but they seem to think there are 40 people in Kuwait who would.

Thanks Abeer

The popular Egyptian restaurant Abou El Sid is opening soon in Kuwait right outside The Green Island entrance. I haven’t been to Abou El Sid before but I just checked their website and the interiors of the restaurants in Egypt look authentic yet chic so I’m hoping they carry that design over here as well. Even the music sounds very cool (based on whats playing on their website). No clue to the exact opening date though, will update this post once I find out. [Link]

Update: Even though it still says opening soon outside it turns out its actually open already. They’re currently opening from 5PM to 11:30PM and the official opening will be on June 1st.

Sounds like fun if you’re into pizzas and not on a diet. Only a few days left to register. [Link]

via Life in Kuwait

Post by Patrick

I’ve been wanting to try out Urban Cafe ever since I found their Instagram account which has a lot of good looking photos of the food they serve. I finally passed by earlier in the week to try it out and had a fairly pleasant experience. I went in the evening with a friend and the place was fairly packed. The weather was pleasant so there weren’t any places to sit outside and so we ended up inside. Sitting inside wasn’t a bad thing because the place is bright and seating is comfortable although I did find the music to be a bit too loud.

We ended up ordering the Baked Portobello and the Quinoa Salad for starters and the Wild Mushroom & Truffle Pizza and Basil Pesto Fusilli for our main course. What I found disappointing about the menu itself was that there aren’t many choices if you don’t want a sandwich. The Quinoa Salad arrived first and I thought it was okay. I found it weird that they mixed in large pieces of lettuce since this made the salad slightly awkward to eat but I did think the addition of rocca leaves was a nice touch. The Baked Portobello which comes stuffed with mozzarella cheese and mushroom was pretty good and flavorful and once we were done with the starters the pizza and pasta both arrived around the same time. The pizza looked and smelled really good and it tasted similar to the mushroom pizza at OFK which I also like. On the other-hand the pesto fusilli was a bit too creamy and a little boring. There was an option to add grilled chicken to it, so maybe that would have made some difference.

After we were done with our main course we decided to try out the bread pudding with Nutella for dessert. It took long for the bread pudding to come out and when I finally asked for it, it was obvious they had forgotten that we ordered any dessert. The waiters were pretty apologetic about it and the bread pudding got to our table pretty quick after that. I didn’t think the bread pudding was that good, and I’m a big fan of Nutella. There was just too much Nutella and it ended up feeling too heavy on the stomach. On the other hand, my friend really enjoyed it and said they would order it again. Urban Cafe isn’t short on desserts though and they had quite a few cakes on display besides the various dessert items available in the menu.

Even though I wasn’t a big fan of the pasta or the dessert I would be interested in trying the other items on the menu like the Barbequed Beef Brisket and their breakfast which they serve until 2PM. I found their prices to be pretty reasonable, the mushroom & truffle pizza was KD3 while the pesto fusilli was KD2.500. One thing that might be an issue is parking. When I went in the evening I was able to find a spot behind the cafe in a small sandlot, but I would imagine that during the day time it might be difficult to find parking in the area. If you’re interested in Urban Cafe they’re located in Sharq, you can find their location on Google Maps.

Post by Patrick

I’ve been making an amazing smoothie recently and figured I would share my simple recipe here. It’s very easy to make and really tastes delicious, here is what you need:

– 2 scoops Whey Protein
– 1 large ripe banana
– 5 pieces of frozen strawberries
– 4 pieces of frozen blackberries
– 8 pieces of frozen blueberries
– a spoonful of honey
– 4 large ice cubes
– 150ml water

Put them all in a blender and blend. The smoothie comes out pretty thick and the quantity is enough for two people although I drink the whole thing myself. For the Whey Protein I use the strawberry flavored VPX SRO Zero Carb Protein which you can find locally at Health Planet. For the frozen fruits you can find them at Sultan Center and they’re pretty economically priced. Finally, you could replace the 150ml water with almond or soy milk but you really don’t need to.

Udupi is a popular Indian restaurant with a few branches located around Kuwait. I recently found out there was one that was fairly close to my home in Salmiya so I ended up passing by there with a friend for dinner. Even though we went mid week the place was packed and we had to wait for a table to free up. It’s a hole in the wall place with two different seating areas, you have the main area where the entrance is and which also has a large window overlooking the busy kitchen, and then another seating area in the back which I personally think is claustrophobic since there are no windows.

The menu is vegetarian based and and made up mostly of South Indian dishes like Vada, Upma, Dosas and Thalis along with a few rice dishes. We ended up ordering a bunch of things including the Thali (which is unlimited refill) but what had to stick out the most for me was the Gobi Manchurian, a fried cauliflower dish which tasted more Chinese than Indian. It was delicious and I’m not even a cauliflower fan.

The waiters don’t really speak English and the menu is just a list of items with their prices so your best bet when ordering is:

1) to go there with someone who knows what everything is
2) use google to try and figure out what everything is
3) order by looking around the restaurant and point at peoples dishes
4) Russian roulette, just choose items off the menu without knowing what you’re ordering

One thing I’m curious about and maybe someone here can answer has to do with the tea. The tea comes in a steel cup with a steel bowl and everybody at the place was using the two to drink the tea. They would pour the tea from the cup into the bowl and then back into the cup and they kept doing that over and over as they were drinking. I figured this was either to keep mixing the tea or it was a way to cool it down.

The place if very affordable with the most expensive dish on the menu being a special Thali which is only available on Fridays and costs KD1.5. In comparison, a regular Thali is just KD1 while the Vada is 300fils, Gobi Manchurian 900fils and a plain Dosa just 550fils. Other than the Gobi Manchurian, everything else I had I thought Saravanaa Bhavan did better. But Udupi is a lot cheaper and it’s also basically walking distance from my house which makes it much more convenient for me. The Udupi I went to was in Salmiya [Map] but as I mentioned earlier they have a bunch of locations around Kuwait and you can check out the full list [Here]. Definitely worth checking out.

Last month I mentioned that Edo was opening a new branch at Sahara Country Club and it turns that they are not the only restaurant thats opening there. A new “village” is being built right next to the resort and it’s going to be called the Sahara Restaurant Village. I was able to obtain some names of the restaurants and shops that will be opening there but this list is unconfirmed. The places I’ve been told that will open there are:

Slider Station
Burger Boutique
Villa Fayrouz
Tatami Japanese Restaurant
Edo Japanese Restaurant
52 Degrees
Caribou Coffee
Costa Coffee
Inspire Fitness
Athletes Foot

Construction recently started but all the restaurants and shops are expected to open at the same time on November 1st.

SAVECO is a new supermarket that opened up in Al Rai right next to Lu&Lu hypermarket. A friend had recently passed by and told me it was worth checking out so I passed by yesterday during the day and ended up leaving pleasantly surprised.

I’m not sure when exactly the supermarket opened, but I’m guessing it was sometime this year. The place is immaculate, extremely tidy and the aisles are super wide. My favorite section is probably the health and beauty section where all the shelves are backlit making everything look really good.

I’m not sure how the supermarket compares in product selection to other supermarkets. I do all my shopping at Sultan Center and it seems every supermarket in Kuwait has more products and a larger variety than they do. There is one brand of dish washing soap which I really really love (Dawn with Olay), I love it so much that when I realized Sultan were not restocking it anymore I went to 3 other Sultan branches to buy up whatever remaining stock they had. I thought the brand discontinued their partnership with Olay since Sultan just started bringing regular Dawn but yesterday I found shelf after shelf of it at SAVECO. They also had a huge selection of none dairy milk like soy, almond, hazelnut, rice etc.. again this might be normal all around Kuwait but compared to my supermarket the selection was a lot bigger.

Going all the way to Al Rai to shop isn’t practical for me but the supermarket looks great and as a friend put it, it feels very therapeutic shopping there. The biggest issue is probably parking but if you come in from their back entrance avoiding the whole 4th Ring Road entry and parking mess you’ll be a lot better off. Check out the map above of how to get there using the road 55 entrance. Also here is the location on [Google Maps]

Costa just emailed me about this thing they have going on for Earth Day:

In an hour, we’ll be posting a picture of one of our locations on Instagram (@CostaKuwait) as part of our ‘Follow the Frog KW’ campaign. If you go to that branch today and say “I follow the frog” you’ll get a free coffee! It’s Earth Day and our Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee is kind to the forest and supports farmers and farm workers worldwide who are working to improve their livelihoods and those of their families.

So, in honour of Earth Day, enjoy a coffee on us! We’ll have free coffee at another branch tomorrow, and at a third branch on Thursday. The locations will be revealed on the day, so stay tuned!

So if you want to get free coffee, just find out where the frog is.