Category: Food & Drinks

After a million people recommended I try Burger Joint I decided to pass by Le Parker Meridien hotel and try it out. I got there around 11:10PM, 20 minutes before closing and stood in line (of course) waiting to order. The place was packed mostly with business men in suites who looked like they were staying at the lux hotel, some group of friends and a family or two. While waiting in line a table cleared up and Nat quickly took it over while I waited to order.

They had simple instructions up on the wall which were:

Step 1: Hamburger or Cheeseburger

Step 2: How d’ya want it cooked?
(rare, med-rare, medium, med-well, well)

Step 3: What d’ya want on it?
(Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, mayo, mustard)
With everything, call it “The works”

Be ready to order or else you go to the end of the line.

I decided to have a cheese burger, medium with just ketchup and mustard, plus fries, a beer and a diet coke. Total came out to $20 and I sat down and waited for my name to be called out. The hotel is very posh but Burger Joint is designed to look like some small dodgy burger place. It’s very small and I can imagine that must frustrate a lot of people who come in for a quick bite and not find anywhere to sit.

I got my burger and took my first bite, and then second and then third until there was no burger left. Honestly I wasn’t impressed. The burger was good of course, but it was missing an oomph. I know many people will shoot me down for this but I prefer Shake Shack over Burger Joint and as you know I prefer Five Guys over Shake Shack. Cute little place though.

Update: Comments now open, not sure why they were closed

I updated my post of Five Guys with pictures I took at another branch. You can check it [Here]

I ended up finding a Magnolia Bakery branch that didn’t have a long line outside and so decided to try it. I have no idea what all the fuss is about since everything I tried turned out to be average. I ordered some chocolate chip cookies, a chocolate cake and some cupcakes and they turned out to be extremely sweet and very average tasting. We’ve got better dessert in Kuwait.

This is my kind of site. [Link]

I passed by Gray’s Papaya to try out their hot dog. It was recommended by a friend as a great place for hot dogs. No offense to hot dog lovers but compared to burgers I don’t think it’s too difficult to get a good hot dog.

For $4.45 you get two hot dogs and a drink. I don’t like toppings on my hot dogs just ketchup and mustard which is the way I had my hot dogs. The hot dogs were good but I wouldn’t call them the best hot dogs ever since they tasted like regular hot dogs. It was a cool place though and great as a quick snack when passing by.

I was walking around shopping when suddenly I spotted a Five Guys restaurant. I was caught by surprise since someone had told me there was no Five Guys in New York before I got here. Without hesitation I quickly rushed in and ordered my burger.

The way it works at Five Guys is all the burgers come plain and you tell them what you want inside (all the toppings are for free). I ordered a cheese burger which comes with 2 meat patties and cheese, I added three toppings, ketchup, mustard and grilled onions plus a small coke. Since they cook everything fresh to order it takes a bit of time to prepare your food so you go sit down until they call out your number. My number was 47 and when they called my number out I picked it up and came back to my table.

The packaging is very basic. They use brown paper bags with no branding and aluminium foil to wrap the burger with. Only the cup had Five Guys written on it. I unwrapped the foil to find a messy burger that looked very unappealing. BUT, the burger tasted AMAZING so it didn’t matter if the interior of the place was uninteresting or the fact the burger looked messy and came wrapped in foil. It was just like a wow! People THIS was as pretty close to a 5 out of 5 I’ve ever been!

The Shake Shack burger was good but the Five Guys burger was incredible and there was no line! Nat was just starring at me wondering why I was getting orgasmic over a burger since I was just munching and going amazing I love this non stop. When I left the place I was like I’ve got to go back and I sooo am going to!

Update: Below are pictures I took of another Five Guys branch in New York

As I mentioned in my Shake Shack post there are lines everywhere and I posted a picture of the line outside Shake Shack and one outside Abercrombie & Fitch. The picture above is of the line outside Magnolia Bakery and we even had to wait in line to get into Marc Jacobs!

I passed by Madison Square Garden around 3:30PM for lunch to try out Shake Shack. When I got there it turned out there was a very long line so I stood in it and waited. 40 minutes later I got to the front of the line and it was my turn to order. I decided to go with one single Shack Burger for Nat, a double Shack Burger for me, two fries and two cokes. The bill came out around $21 and I sat down at a table and waited again until it was my turn to pick up my order.

I picked up my order around 10 minutes after that and it looked delicious. I love the way they serve the food in a carton box. I took a few pictures quickly and started eating. The burger was delicious. But was it worth the 40 minute wait? Don’t think so. I mean its a good burger but 40 minutes just to order?? According to the person in line behind me their lines are usually even longer! I guess everyone here is used to waiting in line so 40 minutes is probably nothing to them. I waited 30 minutes at the Apple Store just to pay for some items and I saw people waiting in line outside Abercrombie & Fitch to get in as well. Lines are part of everyday life here.

Now the Shake Shack seating area is also as impressive as their burgers. Since it’s in the park, the seating area reminded me a lot of the beer gardens in Munich except here you had beer AND burgers, they’ve got the Germans beat with that. In any case I can’t wait for Shake Shack to open up in Kuwait. I just hope there won’t be a line like at Pinkberry…

Here is a picture of the line outside Abercrombie & Fitch.

Found this cute little diner near my hotel on Smith Street that serves a really fully breakfast called The Lumberjack. Three humongous pancakes, ham, bacon, sausage and two eggs. Delicious!

A reader made me realize something funny. In today’s Arab Times (21 May 2010) on page 30 there is a Pork recipe! [Link]

Thanks Ravi

Lots of rumors and scans circulating, it’s all not true. [Link]

Update: The letter from the US Embassy which I stated in the comments below was probably a fake forward being sent around was actually sent by the US Army to everyone on base. You can read the letter [Here].

I am just wondering now if this letter was a reaction to the other letters that have been floating around by email or if the US Embassy got confirmation regarding this from another source.

OK be prepared for the best post yet on this blog…

I was talking to a friend of mine about Salmiya in the 80s and one thing led to another and I was telling him how strong a brand Tikka was back then. I was telling him about the “I like it spicy” guy (pictured above) and the Tikka commercials and how if you asked anyone who grew up in Kuwait back in the 80s they would remember the commercial and even sing you the jingle. It became a classic like the Pizza Italia and Hungry Bunny commercials.

Anyway I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool to find out who the “I like it spicy” guy was, what happened to him and how he looked like today? Well guess what… After a bit of research and digging around I found out who he was.

The actor who played the “I like it spicy” character was Galal Zaki. He wasn’t an actor, he worked in the ad agency that came up with the idea. Like Alfred Hitchcock, Galal liked to star in his own work and that’s how he ended up becoming the Tikka guy. the picture below is of Galal Zaki which I found on Google and is dated 2007. Although a lot older now you can still see some resemblance.

Today Galal Zaki is the CEO of Perception Communication in Egypt. He was also recently awarded the Rameh IAA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Update: Here is an old Tikka commercial. It’s not the famous one but its better than nothing…

[YouTube]

Update2: And here is the more popular one…

[YouTube]

I guess the gelatin issue isn’t really an issue.

Not sure if this can be counted as an activity or not but it is more entertaining than sitting at home doing nothing. A reader emailed me to tell me that his friend’s band perform live unplugged music every Friday and Saturday at Applebee’s. On Friday they play at the Gulf Road branch while on Saturday they play at the Fintas branch. They start at 8:30PM and play until midnight.

Thanks Osama

This is gross. 5 tons of deep fried falafel… [Link]

via blogbaladi