Category: Food

Qout Market is an outdoor market that takes place on the first Saturday of every month until April. The next market will be tomorrow (January 4th) and feature stands selling crafts, street food, fresh flowers, jarred items, artisanal products, baked goods, local produce and much more. It’s located on the rooftop of Arraya parking lot and open from 10AM to 7PM. [Map]

Keep your eye out for Pasticceria Di Pietro’s cannoli stand since they will be there as well. For more information on Qout Market here is a link to their [Facebook Page]

Shakshooka market is taking place today (Thursday) in Baider, exit 267 from 3PM to 5PM. If you’re at the chalet area or farms then pass by but don’t forget to bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff.

Photo above by @faisalthef

The other day I posted about the homemade Cannolis from Pasticceria Di Pietro and I finally got to try them tonight. They’re crazy good, like really really good. I tried all the flavors and my favorites were the Cannoli Sicilian and the Caramel Divino and my least favorite was the Pumpkin Pie. The presentation from the box to the Cannolis themselves were picture perfect. No way on earth would I have been able to guess this was a home businesses if I hadn’t already known. Even the food shots on the website are beautiful taken and wouldn’t look out of place on the food network.

If you want to order some yourself, here is a link to their [Website]

The Shakshooka market is not taking place tonight but instead will be taking place this coming Saturday from 1PM to 4PM at Bayt Lothan. Alongside their regular farmers market they’re going to be holding their first ever cookout as well.

Don’t forget to bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff. Also bring picnic blankets this time as well.

Date: Saturday, December 28th 2013
Time: 1PM to 4PM
Location: Bayt Lothan [Map]

Photo above by @faisalthef

I’m not a big fan of local home businesses, but that probably has to do more with the fact that most just sell different implementations of cupcakes and don’t really bring anything new to the local food scene. Pasticceria Di Pietro on the other hand is something new and going by the photos alone looks very appetizing.

According to the website, Pasticceria Di Pietro is the first family business Sicilian pastry shop in Kuwait owned by married couple, Mays and Luciano Di Pietro. They sell Sicilian Cannoli’s which are hand-rolled, crispy golden pastry shells filled with different cream stuffings.

I haven’t tried them out yet since they just started taking orders yesterday but their prices start from KD1 for the small sized cannoli up to KD1.750 for the larger ones with chocolate shells. If you’re interested, you can order directly from their website [Here]

Thanks Mohi

Shakshooka, the nomadic farmers market is taking place tonight from 6PM to 8PM on the rooftop parking of 360 Mall. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Don’t forget to bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff.

Photo above by @faisalthef

Best Electronics currently have a special promotion on Hurom juicers. They were previously selling them for KD99 but they’ve now dropped the price down to KD74 which is cheaper than Amazon. Slow juicers supposedly retain more nutrients during the juicing process when compared with conventional juicers. I personally love my “conventional” juicer and wouldn’t trade it in for any other juicer, but if you’re a fan of slow juicing then this should be of interest to you. [Link]

Note: You need to add to cart and check out to see discounted price.

Caliburger, the burger chain from South California will be opening five locations in the Middle East next year, the first in Bahrain in February followed by Kuwait in April and then Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Erbil (Iraq). From all the locations Erbil is probably the best idea while Kuwait is the worst. Unless it’s a huge name like In-N-Out or Wendy’s, we have too many burger franchises here as it is already. [Source]

Shakshooka, the nomadic farmers market is taking place tonight from 6PM to 8PM at Al Kout Mall in Fahaheel near the fountain. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Don’t forget to bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff.

Photo above by @faisalthef

Yesterday I was invited to pass by and try the newly opened Margherita pizzeria at the Arabella project. It’s a Lebanese franchise that I had already tried a few years back in Lebanon for the first time so it wasn’t really new to me. I ended up going with two of my friends who love my food reviews (not really) and whom I love taking with me when I’m going to review food (also not really). Even though they’re very difficult to please we all ended up leaving the place with the same impression, that we would definitely go back again.

Arabella is a fairly new project, it’s been open for a few months now but the majority of the restaurants there are not open yet. Currently the biggest two are Red Lobster and Olive Garden but there are a whole bunch of Alshaya restaurants opening there soon including Texas Roadhouse and The Cheesecake Factory. Margherita is located on the ground floor of the project and has a beautiful wooden façade that wouldn’t look out of place on a street somewhere in Europe. Once you walk into the restaurant you have the pizza kitchen on the right hand side and the dinning area on the left. We ended up sitting next to the window overlooking the inside of the still quiet and vacant Arabella project.

Since we were three people we ended up ordering a whole bunch of things inclduing:

Minestrone soup
Burrata cheese with cherry tomatoes
Grilled calamari with a side salad
Prosciutto E Funghi pizza (Tomato sauce, mozzarella, turkey ham, mushrooms and basil)
Diavola pizza (Tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy beef pepperoni and basil)
Homemade oven baked beef lasagna
Grilled beef “Tagliata” with sautéed spinach and mashed potatoes
Classic Italian Tiramisu
Lemon crème brûlée
Hazelnut chocolate fondant with ice cream

I think from everything we had the only thing we didn’t like was the Lemon crème brûlée. I really enjoyed my minestrone soup especially since it was freezing cold outside, the grilled calamari was a great healthy starter and the burrata cheese was delicious although I don’t think I’d be willing to pay KD8 for it (or any starter for that matter). The pizzas followed quickly right after. While we were on our way to Margherita I was telling my friends that the only issue I had with the pizzas in their Lebanese branches was the fact their sauce was a bit too strongly flavored. Thankfully that wasn’t the case here and I made sure I told the chef that I preferred his tomato sauce at Margherita Kuwait more than the one at Margherita in Lebanon.

We also shared a lasagna which although it was good I’d probably always choose a pizza over it. Finally our last main course arrived which was the grilled beef “Tagliata”. We had asked for it medium rare but our steak arrived partially medium rare and partially just medium which wasn’t an issue as soon as we started eating it since the beef was really really tender. The desserts turned out to be the biggest surprise of our lunch. If you put aside the Lemon crème brûlée which neither of us liked, the tiramisu and the chocolate fondant were ridiculously good. My favorite was the chocolate fondant which I was having alone mostly since my friends were attacking the tiramisu which according to one of them is the best tiramisu he’s had in Kuwait. To quote him, “this isn’t a classic Italian tiramisu, this is better than classic”.

For those of you who used to frequent Al-Forno in the Avenues when they first opened and up until three years ago will recognize the chef, Marcello Piazza. I used to see him the whole time while I was dinning there so I recognized him when I spotted him in the restaurant. Turns out he left Al-Forno three years back and moved to England, but now is back in Kuwait and working at Margherita.

Anyway, the food was great and when I go back next time I’d probably just have the soup (if it’s cold outside), one of the pizzas and the chocolate fondant. To give you a general idea about the price, the pizza’s were around KD5, the lasagna KD4, and the steak KD9. I’d definitely recommend the place. Here is a link to their [Website]

Update: I went back to Margherita on a Saturday for lunch and the place was packed and the service was horrible. Although the food was good the experience made me really dislike the place and if I was to ever go back it would not be on a weekend.

If you’re a tea drinker then you should check out this kettle before they get sold out. I first spotted it maybe around a month back at Xcite but I didn’t get it and I’m glad I didn’t because they’re currently heavily discounted and are being sold for a lot cheaper than Amazon.

The reason I was checking out kettles in the first place is because I was looking for one which would allow me to select a specific heating temperature instead of just boiling it to 100° like my regular kettle did. For some teas like green tea, pouring boiling 100° water on the leaves can scald them leaving a bitter taste. That’s why for green tea for example, it’s recommended to heat up the water up to just 80°. This Breville BKE820 Smart Kettle allows me to do just that. There are a five preset temperatures ranging from 80° to 100° and I select the one I want and click on start. Very easy and very cool to use. By cool I mean lots of nice flashing lights and beeping sounds.

Now the reason I’m posting about this is for some reason Xcite have dropped the price of the kettle from KD47 down to KD28. It’s a ridiculously good value considering my other two alternatives were a Cuisinart and KitchenAid kettle, both of which cost over KD60 at Williams-Sonoma. Last time I found a good deal like this was for my Breville juicer. They don’t have the kettle listed online and I’ve only seen it at their AlRai branch off the 4th Ring Road, so that’s where you need to go to get one.

Shakshooka, the nomadic farmers market is taking place tonight from 6PM to 8PM at the new SIRBB Circuit in Shuwaikh. Due to more venders participating this week the market will be open for 2 hours instead of the usual 1. Also as an added bonus the GulfRun karting practice sessions will be taking place at the same time (more info here). Here is the location for the circuit on [Google Maps]

Don’t forget to bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff.

Photo above by @faisalthef

Qout Market is an outdoor market that started last month and will be taking place again this coming Saturday, December 7th. The market takes place on the first Saturday of every month and this month it’s going to be located on the roof of the Arraya Center parking lot in Kuwait City. [Map]

The market will be bigger this month and have a petting zoo, a stage, stands selling crafts, street food, fresh flowers, jarred items, artisanal products, a kids and crafts lane, baked goods and local produce. It will be open all day long from 10AM to 7PM.

For more information here is a link to their [Facebook Page]

Slider Station, the locally created sliders and American tapas bar is opening up in Dubai next year at a new development 5 minutes away from Dubai Mall. They’re already open in Oman so this will be their second international location albeit the most competitive. The rendering above is a first draft look on how the place might end up looking like.

I’m interested to see how a local favorite will perform in a market like Dubai. I think it should do really well but with food you never know. There’s a Lebanese burger chain for example that recently opened up in London and even though they’re not that great in Lebanon, they’re doing really well in London.

Shakshooka, the nomadic farmers market is taking place tonight from 6PM to 7PM at Becarre Lifestyle rooftop garden in old Salmiya. It’s basically the same roof where the Cinemagic rooftop movies are played every week. Take the elevator that’s located behind the stairs between BHS and Mothercare. Here it is on [Google Maps]

Don’t forget to bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff.

Photo above by @faisalthef