Category: Food

If you’re still in London then you should stop by Scalini before you get back to Kuwait. Scalini is supposedly Signor Sassi’s direct competitor here in London and it’s also supposed to be better. I tried both out and even though I preferred Scalini they’re both really very similar. Scalini have a great seating area with a skylight which I loved since it brought in a lot of natural daylight into the place.I also enjoyed the food at Scalini a bit more than at Signor Sassi. I had the fresh clams linguini at Scalini and the spaghetti lobster at Signor Sassi and between the two I preferred the fresh clams linguini just because I hadn’t had clams in years and thought the dish was delicious.

Price wise Scalini and Signor Sassi are very similar. The bill at Scalini for three people came out to just over 200 pounds but nearly half that was for the wine. So, it’s around KD15-20 per person without the wine but including two shared starters, three main dishes and three different desserts. Scalini is located walking distance from Harrods at 1-3 Walton St. You need to call and book in advance.

Princi is a beautiful bakery and restaurant located in the Soho area of London. A large section of the place is dedicated to the bakery which displays freshly baked goods and you buy what you want and eat it in a large cafeteria-like dining area where everyone sits down on the same long tables. On the other hand, they also have the pizzeria with its own private dining area and à la carte menu. Since we got there early we decided to sit in the dining area which usually has a long waiting list. We ordered the heritage tomato salad with buffalo mozzarella to start with, 3 different pizzas and the wild mushroom linguini. We then followed lunch with dessert from the bakery which included tiramisu and a pear and chocolate cake.

Everything was delicious even though the pizzas were a bit on the heavy side. My favorite item was the pear and chocolate cake which I thought would be a strange combo at first only to be surprised by how moist and yummy it was. Pizzas cost around 10 pounds each which like everything else in London is not cheap.

Princi is located on 135, Wardour Street. Get there really early if you don’t want to wait. [Link]

If you’re going to be in London this coming week then make sure you pass by Burger & Lobster. They have only 3 items on their menu, lobster, a burger and a lobster roll. Whichever item you choose it’s 20 pounds. You NEED to have the lobster roll, it’s crazy good. It’s so good I actually can’t decide if I loved the bread it came in more than the lobster or vice versa. Try to go early if you do, there usually is a line and it could take up to two hours to get a table. Here is a link to their website [Link]

Also make sure you try Bubbledogs, a place that serves only hotdogs and champagne.

The Shakshooka pop-up farmers market is taking place tonight from 6 to 7PM, this time on Arjan Beach in Bida’a. If you don’t know where the place is here it is on [Google Maps]

Note: Bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff

Photo above by @faisalthef

The second mezzanine floor at Salhiya Complex is getting a makeover. The floor which has the Maki Restaurant is getting the ceiling height raised and a lot of clothing stores were closed down and instead restaurants will be opening up in their place.

The Shakshooka pop-up farmers market is taking place tonight from 6 to 7PM, this time outside 10 OH 8 in Kuwait City. If you don’t know where the place is @auntmarieskuwait have a map which you can see [Here] and here it is also on [Google Maps]

Note: Bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff

Photo above by @faisalthef

The Shakshooka farmers market is taking place tonight from 6 to 7PM outside Thouq in Souk Mubarkia. If you don’t know where Thouq is @thepantrykw have a map which you can see [Here]

Note: Bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff

Photo above by @faisalthef

I’m going to start my review by saying I don’t have any pretty food pictures to go with this post. I didn’t have my camera with me because I wasn’t planning to write a review and even though I had my phone I couldn’t use it to take pictures during dinner. Since everyone is usually anti-socially glued to their phones during lunch or dinner, me and my friends have this thing we do where we pile our phones facedown on top of each other on one side of the table and no one is allowed to check their phone until the bill comes. If you touch your phone before the bill arrives then you get to pay the whole bill yourself. Not something you want to do, especially when you’re at a pricy restaurant like The Peacock.

I don’t want to talk about the food anyway which was delicious (as expected). Most of you already know Peacock from before they closed down and their menu is basically 99% the same as it was before. For those of you who’ve never been to Peacock then it’s basically one of the best Chinese restaurants in Kuwait and also probably one of the best restaurants in Kuwait overall. It’s definitely in my top 3.

Now the reason I changed my mind and decided to review the place was because of the service. Hands down I think Peacock have the best dining service in Kuwait. It’s just ridiculous the amount of waiters that appear out of no where to service you. No one is hovering and you don’t notice them but when you need a waiter they’re there before you even call them. A friend arrived late to dinner and when he sat down at the table I just watched as four different waiters surrounded him to take care of him as he was being seated. One had hot towels, the other filled his glass with sparkling water, a third poured jasmine tea and the fourth handed him the menu. It’s like being pampered at a spa.

Another great thing is how well the waiters know the menu. One of my friends is allergic to wheat so she asked a waiter about various dishes and he knew the exact ingredients. He was able to tell her if one dish contained corn starch or if another used wheat or not. They know their stuff. Also, all the items on the menu are numbered and the waiter knew what each number corresponded to which dish on the menu. And the menu his huge with like 80 or so dishes yet I somehow can barely memorize my phone number.

The only negative really is that with the reopening they’ve also increased the prices of their dishes. That was to be expected because of inflation and so the prawns dishes for example are around KD9 now. Other than that we had an amazing dinner and I’m so glad they haven’t changed much about the place.

The Peacock is located at the newly renovated Radisson Blu Hotel. If you’re interested in passing by you need to reserve by calling them on 25673000.

Interior shot taken from the Radisson Blu [Facebook Page]

Over the weekend I got to try AJ’s Food Truck and although I didn’t think much of the food I do love the idea of food trucks and I hope it catches on (and I’m guessing it will). With AJ’s Food Truck you have two options, you can either book them to come over with their truck and cater to you and your friends or you could follow them on Instagram and keep an eye out for when they park their truck somewhere so you could go and find them.

AJ’s Food Truck is a burger truck with a menu consisting of two kinds of burgers, a steak sandwich and a chicken burger. They also have sides like fries, onion rings and chicken tenders as well as drinks. But food trucks can of course be more than just burger trucks and I’d love to see a Chinese or Mexican food truck roaming around Kuwait.

If you want to find out more about AJ’s Food Truck you can check out their Instagram account @ajsfoodtruck

I found out last night that Katsuya by S+ARCK will be opening in the middle of October. Katsuya by S+ARCK is a Japanese restaurant that is designed by the famous product and interior designer, Philippe Starck. The franchise was brought to the region by Alshaya and their first location in Kuwait is located in Avenues Phase III near Gaucho Grill.

Picture above taken from the Philippe Starck website.

Update: Katsuya is now open [Link]

The Peacock which was unarguably the best Chinese restaurant in Kuwait is reopening its doors this coming Saturday. The Peacock was located in Radisson Blu Hotel which recently reopened after going through a complete overhaul. To reserve you need to call them on 25673000.

FYI: For Saturday they’re already fully booked and currently have just one more table left for 8

Sabaidee is a Thai place that has been open for some time now only I started passing by quite recently. They have three locations around Kuwait but the one nearest to me is in Salmiya behind Villa Fayrouz on Baghdad Street. I knew there was a Sabaidee in Salmiya I just didn’t expect it to be so close to my place and I was surprised when I found out it was located in a small street perpendicular to one I always drove on.

The restaurant is small but nicely decorated. It has large windows on one side which lets in a lot of light during the day although in the summer it can be a bit annoying since there are no blinds. From what I can tell, the restaurant just has just two employees (I think), one serves the guests while the other one works in the kitchen. Service can be a tad slow especially since the waitress is always in the kitchen but I’ve learned that if I needed anything I just go up to the kitchen door and ask for it, saves a lot of time that way.

The menu is pretty big with lots of dishes to choose from and they all have their pictures alongside their descriptions. My favorite two things to order are the Gai Satay which is grilled chicken marinated in peanut sauce and the Beef Pa Naeng which is a peanut sauce curry. The prices at Sabaidee are very reasonable with both dishes for example costing KD1.750 each.

If you haven’t tried Sabaidee yet you should, it’s a great casual place for lunch or dinner. Here is their location on [Google Maps] and here’s a link to their [Facebook Page]

A reader emailed me a couple of days back telling me about the Onam Festival which would taking place at the Caesars Dakshin Restaurant over a period of two days. I was told I needed to pass by during those two days and order the Onasadya. The Onasadya is a traditional vegetarian dish in Kerala, India and since today is Onam Day, a festival celebrated by the people of Kerala, Caesars Dakshin is serving the traditional dish today and tomorrow.

I’m going to start by saying I have no idea what I just had for lunch, but it was delicious and more importantly a lot of fun to experience.

The dish is served on a large banana leaf and consists of around 20 different sides. When they first served the leaf it kinda looked empty and I didn’t know what to really do but then different waiters started coming by and filling my plate up with various colorful curries. They also filled up my dish with rice, gravy and also gave me a milk and butter drink. All the other diners were using their hands to eat and traditionally that’s how you’re supposed to do it but I decided to use a spoon since I needed to use my camera and phone throughout the experience. I watched how other diners were eating and mixing the different curries and I just tried to emulate them. Once I was done and asked for the bill they served me two kinds of desserts in cups. They were both different kinds of rice pudding desserts and they were delicious. All this for just KD3, it’s crazy…

Throughout the whole meal I was taking photos and sending it to my friends since everything was so colorful, flavorful and so random and unexpected. It didn’t feel like I was in Kuwait and I love it when that happens.

As I mentioned, the Onam Festival is taking place today and tomorrow only. The restaurant is in Jleeb Al Shuyoukh but isn’t difficult to find since it’s located on a main road right on top of Xcite. This isn’t a hole in the wall place, it’s a proper and pretty large restaurant. Below are the details:

Date: September 16 and 17
Time: 12PM to 3PM and 7PM to 11PM
Price: KD3
Location: Caesars Dakshin Restaurant

Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Don’t miss this!

Joe’s Cafe is opening up at The Prestige in Avenues right next to Joseph on the mezzanine floor. I generally don’t care about cafe’s much but this place looks extremely cool.

After posting about the Jamaican restaurant last week a friend suggest we should try an Ethiopian restaurant so I found out about one located in Hawalli called Al-Habesha. The place is located behind Bin Khaldoun street and right next to a bunch of other Ethiopian shops.

We walked into the restaurant and were greeted by a friendly lady who told us we could sit anywhere we wanted. There were a few tables occupied by other diners and the place filled up even more when we were leaving later on. They had Ethiopian TV playing music on the television and the place was decorated with bright red, yellow and green stripes. They didn’t have a menu but my friend from previous experience abroad kinda knew what we should get. The waitress asked us if wanted rice or Injera (their flatbread) and we said we wanted flatbread. She then asked us if we wanted vegetarian, meat or chicken. We went for one vegetarian and one meat. For the meat she recommended the tibs which she said we would like so we went for it.

The food arrived awhile later and it looked really good. The food was served on a large tray which was covered completely with their flatbread. The food was then placed on top of the bread in various spots. At one end of the tray was the meat dish which came in a small bowl with hot coals underneath to keep it warm. The reason I wanted to try Ethiopian food was because the flatbread is basically the plate and you eat your way through it which is an interesting idea. I also liked the fact that the dish is meant to be shared. Looking around the restaurant it was groups of two sitting and sharing a dish and I loved that.

Our dish was fantastic and unexpectedly good. The taste of the various stews (called wats) kinda reminded me of Indian food while the meat although not very tender was full of flavor. When we were done with our dishes we ordered Ethiopian tea which is regular tea mixed with cinnamon and a bunch of other spices. Finally we asked for the bill which turned out to be just KD5.5 for the meat and vegetarian dish plus two bottles of water and two cups of tea. I really loved the experience and would recommend the place but again, this is a hole in the wall joint so don’t expect much in terms of appearance. Finding Al-Habesha is easy, if you’re on Bin Khaldoun street in Hawalli, keep McDonalds on your left and drive straight until you see Subway on your left. The restaurant is located on the street behind Subway and Zawya Complex.