2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
The Colombia coffeehouse chain Juan Valdez Cafe is opening up their first branch in Kuwait at Symphony Mall in around a months time. Juan Valdez Cafe sells 100% Colombian coffee which is reputed to be the richest coffee in the world according to Wikipedia.
Here is a list of the prices for Ramadan buffets at various restaurants. I will add more restaurants to the list as I think of them. If you know any I’ve missed let me know.
Abdel Wahab
Buffet Price: KD8.750
Telephone: 1821000
Al Noukhaza Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD13.950
Telephone: 24757775 or 1823888
Applebee’s
Buffet Set Menu Price: KD6.950
Telephone: 22407536
Assaha Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD9
Telephone: 22533377
Cafe Blanc – The Avenues
Buffet Price: KD7.5
Telephone: 22597568
Courtyard by Marriott
Buffet Price: KD9
Telephone: 22997000
Crowne Plaza – Al Ahmadi Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12.5
Telephone: 24757775
Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Garden Cafe
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 22269666
Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Ghabka
Buffet Price: KD12.5
Telephone: 22269666
JW Marriott
Buffet Price: KD12
Telephone: 22455550
Movenpick – Free Zone – Bays Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD10.900
Telephone: 24610033
Movenpick – Al Bida’a – Breeze Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 22253100
Missoni Hotel
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 25770000
Naranj
Buffet Price: KD12
Telephone: 22268666
Paul
Set Menu Price: KD7.250
Telephone: 22597044
Qasr Al-Saraya
Buffet Price: KD7.5
Telephone: 25711101
Ruby Tuesday
Set Menu Price: KD5
Telephone: 22444454
Sakura
All You Can Eat Price: KD12.950 (1st 10 Days of Ramadan)
Buffet Price: KD13.950 (11th day onwards)
Telephone: 24757775 or 1823888
Sheraton
Buffet Price: KD17.250
Telephone: 22422055
Villa Fairouz – The Avenues
Buffet Price: KD11.5
Telephone: 22597200
Zafran
Buffet Price: KD7.5 (KD4 for kids)
Telephone: 25750647
Zahr El Laymoun – 360 Mall
Buffet Price: KD7.5
Telephone: 25309511
Update: Added more restaurants to the list
Anyone know where I can find seedless watermelons in Kuwait? Dean & Deluca used to carry them like three years ago.
Photo by gwenweber
Oliversan is a new Asian cuisine restaurant that has opened up in Burj Jassim Tower in Kuwait City. The concept belongs to the same owners as Maki and right now they’re in their soft launch phase opening in the evening from 7 t 11PM.
They serve mostly Chinese and Thai food and they’re located on the mezzanine floor. I haven’t tried them out yet since I just found out about the place and they were still closed when I was there.
Yum Galore – Pasta Ravioli from Yusif on Vimeo.
Yum Galore is the blog of Sarah, a Kuwaiti chef in training who’s currently living in London. Recently she started posting cooking videos and I just checked them out and I really like them. They’re more artsy than your regular cooking videos with gorgeous colorful shots and great framing. If you like the one above then you can check out the rest of her videos on her blog [Here]
Last week I posted about the cheapest sashimi in Kuwait and a reader mentioned Sakura’s open buffet might be considered cheaper since it’s basically all you can eat sashimi (and everything else) for a set price. Although I disagree with that fact it did remind me of a Japanese buffet a friend had told me about. Fusion (the one next to the Kuwait Towers) have an all you can eat Japanese buffet for KD7.950. Compared to Sakura’s KD12,900 it’s a pretty good deal.
I passed by last night with some friends to check it out and honestly, it’s clearly not award winning food but there was a lot of variety and you can’t go wrong with sashimi. I ended up eating a ton of salmon sashimi, some spicy grilled chicken on skewers and a shrimp with veggies dish so I managed to keep it mostly healthy stuff although the eat all you can eat shrimp tempura they kept freshly frying for us wasn’t really helping my cause. They also have eat all you can eat teppanyaki and a whole variety of regular and unhealthy/mayo/cripsy sushis as well.
Again, don’t expect to have the best Japanese food in Kuwait but for the price it’s really hard to beat. I’m not sure if they have the buffet for lunch or just dinner but here is their number 22418901 if you want to find out (I’m too lazy to call and ask).
According to a reader, the Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons will be opening in Avenues Phase II this coming August.
The cheapest salmon sashimi I am aware of is at Satchi, 5 good sized pieces are for KD1.850. Is there any other place in Kuwait that serves salmon sashimi at a cheaper price?
Update: I stopped going to Satchi since the last few times I went there I noticed the sashimi portions were half the size compared to my photo and they were a very light pink orangish color and didn’t taste as good anymore.
The British noodle bar chain WOK&GO have now opened up at Al Hamra Tower.
Over the weekend while in Lebanon I oddly found out about a farmers market located here in Kuwait called Shakshooka. I hadn’t heard of it before and the fact that someone living in Lebanon knew about it while I didn’t was a bit weird. I was planning to visit the next Shakshooka so I could write about it but turns out Danderma beat me to the punch since she posted a full write up on it on her blog earlier today. So check out her post [Here]
Photo above by @faisalthef
The Italian restaurant Vinny’s is opening a new location in Arraya Tower opposite Burger Boutique. Their current and only branch is located at 52 Degrees.
Update: Turns out Vinny’s closed in 52 Degrees because they are relocating to this new location.
If you’re ever in Lebanon you need to pass by a small restaurant called Onno. It’s located in an area I love called Burj Hammoud which is the “Little Armenia” of Lebanon. The area is a must visit destination in any case and this tiny restaurant should be even more reason for you to go there. I found out about the restaurant from an Anthony Bourdain episode and since I had a friend visiting Lebanon we decided to pass by and try it together. The small family run restaurant serves delicious Armenian dishes at very reasonable prices with my favorite dishes being the “kebe adas” and the “basterma with quail eggs”. You can watch the Anthony Bourdain episode on Lebanon below which features the restaurant at the start and here is a link to their [Facebook Page]
[YouTube]
ATARI is an Asian influenced tapas restaurant that just opened up a couple of days ago across from Al-Seef Palace next to Slider Station. They’re still in their soft launch phase so they’re only open from 5pm to 11pm daily except for Mondays. For more info and some pictures including their menu, visit their Instagram account [Here]
Update: I was just told they’re not officially open yet but they’re taking reservations
Rio is a new Brazilian steakhouse that has been open for around a month and last night I decided to pass by and try it out. Unlike regular restaurants, the way the Rio menu works is slightly different since there is just one fixed price of KD15.5. For that price you get to choose one starter from a list of about eight, you get to choose an unlimited amount of side orders and then it’s all you can eat beef, fish and chicken. It’s similar to a buffet except you never have to get out of your seat.
Rio is located on the ground floor of Jawhara Tower in Kuwait City. It’s the same building that has Ubon and a few other restaurant. But from the restaurants that are currently located there, Rio has to be the biggest, probably double the size of the others. I was actually pretty surprised at how spacious Rio was compared to the other restaurants next door. The interior was also very trendy and nicely lit with large windows on two sides creating a very open and spacious look. You could easily forget the fact that you’re not in Kuwait once you’re inside. Once we sat down the waitress proceeded to explain to us how the menu works and then provided us with two coasters, one side had a red circle the other side a green circle. You put the coasters on the table with the green side up when you want your plate refilled and the red side up when you want to stop.
I was with my brother so we got to order two starters, the Carpaccio and the rocket salad. Between the two dishes I surprisingly favored the rocket salad but that’s probably because the balsamic dressing was so ridiculously good. One thing I found a bit annoying was the fact the starters came out so quickly after we ordered and then before we were completely done with the dishes they wanted to clear the plates so they could bring in the main course. I felt a bit rushed but that’s probably due to the lack of experience since they just opened. We ordered a whole bunch of sides to go with our main course, I ordered healthy sides like mushrooms, broccoli and carrots while my brother ordered potato wedges, onion rings and fried banana. We also had 6 or 8 sauces to choose from and we decided to order all of them so we could try them out.
They serve around 14 different kinds of meats and I would say 12 of them are served on skewers that they bring to your table and slice onto your plate. One after the other a waiter would come with a different skewer for us to try like various kinds of steaks, grilled shrimps, grilled chicken and sausages and even grilled pineapple. As they would fill our plate and walk away another skewer would come which meant we didn’t have enough time to start eating. Then I remembered the colored coasters the waitress told us about so we flipped ours to “red” and the food stopped coming. Since there are so many different kinds of skewers there are bound to be some you won’t favor and in my case I didn’t favor a few but the ones I did end up liking, I liked a lot (the sliced chicken and the chicken sausage being my favorites).
I do have a few gripes about the place and it mostly has to do with the service. The whole experience just felt very rushed. Right as soon as we sat down and the waitress explained to us the concept she wanted to take our order right then on the spot even though we didn’t have time to take a look at the menu. Then as I mentioned, the starters came out very quickly after the order was taken and before the starters were completely finished the plates were being cleared for the main course. Then the way you get bombarded with one grill after the other is also a bit overwhelming. Another issue I had is when we had gone through maybe 8 or 10 grills they started coming back with grills that we had already tried. When I asked the waiter if we were done trying all the grills he said yes. Since we were pretty full we decided to ask for the bill. When the bill arrived a waiter came with chicken sausages which we hadn’t been served before. So we each took one. Then I paid the bill and another skewer came this time with beef sausages, again we hadn’t tried those before. So I asked the waiter why he would tell us we were done trying out all the grills when we hadn’t and I don’t think he understood us. I think it must have been just a language issue but it’s kinda awkward to ask for the bill and pay for it while food is still arriving. I also have an issue with the price. At KD15.5 I would have appreciated if soft drinks were included or at the very least have free refills. If you want dessert that is also an additional cost. I think dessert should be included in the price since when you go to a buffet or order a set menu, generally all the food is included.
Rio is an interesting concept and a great looking place in a good location with a ton of parking spaces all around. It’s also probably the closest thing you’re going to get to an all you can eat steak buffet in Kuwait. As a matter of fact, this is probably the closest thing you’re also going to get to a healthy buffet since the menu is mostly made up of grilled protein. My issues mostly revolve around the service but they should easily be fixable by just slowing things down a notch. If you’re interested in trying Rio here is a [Map] to the location and their phone number is 22260788.
Update: I forgot to add they’re currently in a soft launch stage and so are only open from 7PM to 11PM
