Category: Food & Drinks

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.

Last week I was invited to pass by the new seafood restaurant at the Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel called Salt. I personally think the hotel is the nicest one we have in Kuwait right now so I was pretty interested to try this new place out. One thing I really hate about the hotel though is you’ve got two options for parking, either (a) you give your car to valet or (b) you park in the sand lot across the street. Since I don’t trust valets with my car I have to use the sand lot and it’s never a great start to dinner when you have to spend the first few minutes cleaning the dust off my new fancy sneakers.

If you’ve been to Messilah before then you probably know that most of their restaurants are located in the lower level of the main lobby. Salt is located there as well and they’ve taken up the whole left side area. Once we walked into the restaurant we could immediately tell that they wanted to be the most luxurious seafood restaurant in Kuwait and at the moment they probably are. The restaurant is long and not very wide with two kinds of seating areas, on one side they have curved couches going along the wall and it’s nicely lit. On the opposite side is a much brighter open floor layout with beautiful chandeliers. So far the experience was very fancy until the menu arrived and I opened it up to reveal bright yellow text on a dark blue background which looked really tacky layout (take a look). If I could change one thing in the place it would have to be the menu thats for sure.

Because this is a high end restaurant, everything has to be top notch especially the service which in this specific case I found difficult to judge for a number of reasons. First is the fact I was invited and so they knew who I was, and secondly they had barely been open for a week. Still, if I did compare it to other hotels and restaurants in Kuwait I would say the service was in the top 10 but not top 5. In other restaurants where the service is in the top 5, the staff have been working there long enough to see me grow old while Salt has just opened.

Since we were two we ended up ordering the following items from the menu:

Acqua Morelli Sparking Water (x2) KD7.000
Baked Chermoula Prawns KD7.500
Pan Fried Scallops KD7.250
Lobster Bisque (x2) KD9.500
Whole Lobster (Medium) KD28.000
Whole Sea Bass KD15.000
Pearl of the Ocean drink KD3.350
Messilah Journey (mixed dessert) KD5.750

From the two starters we ordered I was expecting the Baked Chermoula Prawns to be my favorite since it was prawns stuffed with scallops. But to my surprise I ended up preferring the Pan Fried Scallops instead. That’s because the scallops dish had so many different flavors from the scallops itself to the stuffed calamari, squid ink risotto and even the puree which were all delicious. Once we were done with the starters they brought over a soup plate which large chunks of lobster inside but no soup. I started thinking to myself maybe this was their interpretation of the lobster bisque? Just as I was thinking that the waiter came over and started pouring the soup over my large lobster chunks. Presentation was an easy 10/10 and from everything we ordered I would also have to say the Lobster Bisque was by far my favorite dish.

The Egg Minder is an egg tray that connects to the internet and can be accessed with an app so you can check and see how many eggs you still have in your fridge and how old they are. When I originally posted about it on my instagram account it happened to be on April 1st so some people thought it wasn’t a real product. Well it is real. The way it works is very simple, when you first turn on the Egg Minder you connect it to your home network via an app you download. Once you’re done you then place your eggs on the tray and put them away in the fridge. From that point on whenever you open the fridge door and the light comes on, the egg tray will turn on and connect to the internet. There are also little blue LEDs on the tray, they turn on in order of the oldest egg in the train to the newest one as you pick them up.

I don’t remember how I found out about the Egg Minder but when I did I knew I had to get one. I’ve had it for nearly a week now and I love it, mostly because of how absurd it is. But, I have to say that even though it’s really silly, it is actually useful. As someone who has eggs every morning and who does his own shopping, on more than one occasion I’ve ended up waking up to find out I had run out of eggs and forgotten to get some the night before. With the Egg Minder I will now get notified when I’m running low on eggs and I can also check and see how many eggs I still have at home while at the supermarket.

It’s a fun little gadget that doesn’t really cost that much. Even though the official price is around $70, ThinkGeek are selling it for just $29. It’s an impulse buy so if you’re interested in getting one, here is the [Link]

Back in February I asked for recommendations on Indian restaurants and I now have probably 50 places try out. The first place I decided to go to was Anjappar in Farwaniya (they have a Fahaheel branch as well). I used google maps to help me find the location although google knows it as Anjappar Hotel for some reason.

The restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of the building right across from Metro Complex. The interior wasn’t anything fancy and a friendly waiter seated us right after we walked in. We ended up ordering a bunch of things including:

Mutton Sukka Masala KD2.100
Butter Chicken Masala KD1.750
Anjappar Chicken B/L Masala KD1.600
Steamed Basmati KD0.750
Butter Naan KD0.250
Chicken Kheema Appam KD0.650
Masala Dosai KD0.500
Mango Lassi KD1.000

The food overall was good, I hadn’t had the Chicken Kheema Appam before and loved it. We ordered three main dishes recommended by the waiter and was the Butter Chicken even though the chicken was a bit dry. My biggest issue with the place was actually with the service, and not the waiters who were very friendly but the kitchen who were just too slow. Our rice came out more than 5 minutes after the main courses and then the Mango Lassi and Butter Naan arrived 5 minutes after that. The table next to us were complaining as well since they were there before us but hadn’t received any of their dishes.

The prices were very reasonable and you can actually check out their whole menu online [Here] for a better idea. I’d probably only go back there if I wanted to show someone Farwaniya but other than that I don’t think it’s worth the trip unless you’ve never been there before and want to try something new. Here is their location on [Google Maps]

Edo, the popular Japanese restaurant located in Shaab is opening a new second location at the Sahara Kuwait Resort. The new location is nearly complete and is expected to open in the next couple of months.

I also heard that the Inspire gym will be opening there as well although don’t have much details on this.

Although originally set to open back in 2012, Lu&Lu (previously know as just LuLu) finally opened up their Dajeej branch right next to Sears. That large block now contains a Sultan Center, a City Center and now a Lu&Lu. Here is a link to the location [Google Maps]

IKEA recently added a freezer to their little food store near the exit and they’re now selling frozen salmon as well as their popular Swedish meatballs, the KÖTTBULLAR. A packet contains 1KG of meatballs and they’re selling it for KD3 which isn’t too bad. For the healthy eaters, an 8oz of frozen salmon is for KD1.750 which is slightly cheaper than the fresh alternative sold at supermarkets.

A while back I contacted KDD and asked them if I could visit their factory so I could post about how my favorite ice creams were made. After a few emails back and forth I finally got to pass by earlier this week for a private tour. I was given some basic rules with regards to photography. I wasn’t allowed to shoot video or take wide shots of the factory floor and all the shots I did take would have to be approved by them. I thought these were fair requests and as long as I could still tell the story of how the ice creams were made I didn’t mind them.

The KDD factory is located in Subhan and is really huge. Before going on the tour I was required to wear a lab coat, a hair net, wash my hands and remove any jewelry. We then had a long walk to the ice cream making section of the factory and when we finally got there it turned out it was my lucky day. The first ice cream machine was busy making my favorite ice cream ever, KDD Silver. Because the post is long and full of pictures you have to click on the link below to check it all. Also if you want to go on a tour yourself there is contact info at the end of the post.

As part of GREAT British Week, British chef Gary Rhodes will be coming to Veranda restaurant at the Avenues. There are two different events that will be taking place:

Gary Rhodes Afternoon Tea
Venue: Veranda Restaurant
Date: 26 March 2014
Time: 14:00
Price: KD12

Gary Rhodes VIP Dinner
Venue: Veranda Restaurant
Date: 27 March 2014
Time: 19:00
Price: KD22

If you’re interested you need to call Veranda to book tickets on 22283141

Thanks jhonybravo

The largest Marks & Spencer store outside the UK opened up in Kuwait right next to Missoni Hotel recently so I passed by yesterday to check it out because I had heard they had a large food hall along with a cafe. Whenever I’m in London I usually pass by M&S to pick up a quick bite to eat like a sandwich or a quinoa salad and I was hoping they’d have the same items here.

The new store is huge, it’s four floors with the food hall being located on the last one. The new food hall is divided into 3 sections, the first one is similar to the food sections at the other Marks & Spencer’s and contains non perishable goods like pasta and canned food along with frozen food. The other two sections are new, the first one is a small bakery that sells bread, pastries, muffins etc.. and finally the final section is a cafe.

The cafe is similar in style to IKEA’s except with less hot food. Their small menu mostly consists of soups, salads, baked potato, a pizza, quiche and some desserts. The seating area seems quiet and cozy so it might be a good place to study or read a book.

Disappointingly they didn’t have a fridge with healthy food for me to pass by and pick up when I’m hungry. I can imagine it wouldn’t be very feasible especially since they don’t have high foot traffic when say compared to the Marks & Spencer on Bond Street Station but still, one always hopes. With the success of Gia I’m hoping more people realize that there is a market for healthy food in Kuwait.

q8geek instagrammed the photo above of Hard Rock Cafe from outside. Looks like they’ve shut down since they’ve removed all the branding on the outside.

Update: According to the comments, it seems Hard Rock Cafe will be moving to the Avenues and Alshaya will be taking over the old location for one of their brands.

Pizzeria Amami used to be located in Salmiya near AUK and behind Smash Burger, but last week they moved to a new location in Symphony Mall. I hadn’t tried the place until earlier today when I passed by for lunch with a friend of mine.

The place was empty and quiet so we picked a table near the window overlooking the Gulf Road. Once we sat down an Italian waitress came up to us with the menus. From what I could tell everybody working there was Italian which was a great first impression. The menu on the other hand was fairly disappointing being just A4 sheets of paper printed and then enclosed in transparent plastic. Mine was all bent and it just looked very cheap. The waitress recommended us the Parmigiana di Melanzane to start with which was fried eggplant with cheese and tomato sauce. I also ended up ordering the closest thing to a simple mushroom pizza I could find on the menu which was a pizza called Capricciosa containing, tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, olives and artichoke (I asked them not to include the artichoke). The waitress asked me if I wanted fresh mozzarella with my pizza and I figured the alternative was frozen mozzarella or something so I said yes. Once the bill arrived later I realized by fresh mozzarella she meant extra cheese on my pizza. Not cool but it must have been a lost in translation moment.

The first thing that arrived was the Parmigiana di Melanzane starter. Although the presentation wasn’t appealing the dish did taste better than it looked. But, I’d still order something else next time since it tasted more like a pizza topping than a standalone starter. Our main dishes arrived once we were done, my pizza was pretty big and looked delicious. I was hesitant to ask the waitress for ketchup since I know it’s usually frowned upon at Italian pizzerias but turns out they didn’t have any issues with ketchup and I was able to get a bottle. The pizza was good although I found it pretty heavy the rest of the day. I left there feeling like I had eaten something very unhealthy but I think that had to do with the fact my pizza had all the extra cheese on it which I hadn’t asked for (I should have said no to fresh mozzarella).

My biggest issue with the place was with their prices. My pizza cost KD5.5 while my friends Penne Al Formaggio (cheese pasta) cost KD6. With two mains, the starter, three soft drinks and 750fils for the extra cheese, the bill came out to KD19.250. The pizza barely makes it into my top 5 favorite pizzas in Kuwait ranking, maybe at #5 so combine that with the restaurants atmosphere and interior which was bland and the total experience just wasn’t worth it for me. If you’re interested in trying out the place they’re located on the Mezzanine floor of Symphony Mall in Salmiya [Map]. They’re open daily from noon till 11PM except for Fridays when they open a bit later at 2PM. Their phone number is 25770733 but the waitress told me it will only be active from next week.