Category: Food & Drinks

I was being sarcastic earlier today with my worlds largest hummus post in which I also jokingly stated that the next record would be the world’s largest tabbouleh. Well a couple of hours ago they actually went ahead and broke the record for the world’s largest tabbouleh weighing a massive 3.5 ton and kicking Israel’s ass once again who only managed to put together a 2.6 ton tabbouleh. Is the largest shawerma next? We can only hope. [Link]

If breaking the record with the world’s largest kebbe dish wasn’t enough Lebanon has just broken the record for the largest hummus. Take that Israel! Coming soon, world’s largest tabbouleh… [Link]

Note: I am being sarcastic

Update: No fucking way!! I just read this in the news..

Only one day after breaking a Guiness book record with a huge Hummus plate that weighed more than two tons, Lebanon broke today a third Guinness record for food this year, this time with a 3557 Kgs plate of Tabbouleh.

That’s freaky how my sarcastic comment turned into a reality.

Also another news source stated the following:

The newly acquired title surpasses Israel’s 2.6 ton by 3557 kilograms.

So take that Israelx2!

My favorite dessert at the moment is the cinnamon sticks from Auntie Anne’s. I had it for the first time last week and since then I’ve had it nearly every day. If you haven’t tried it you should. 6 pieces for 900fils.

You can now order Choowy Goowy cookies through BBM. Just scan the barcode above or add them the old fashioned way via PIN 2119FB77. According to the owner, if you currently order 3 cookie jars through BBM you get a 4th one for free.

The new episode of The Chef’s Table is out. The burgers in the video look really good and the fact that I am really hungry at the moment isn’t helping. According to the info attached to the video, Eighty6 Bistro is now open in the Avenues. Lunch is served from 1pm – 4pm, and dinner from 8pm to 11pm. [YouTube]

Until Shake Shack opens up in Kuwait next year, here is a link where you can replicate your own Shake Shack burgers at home. I am going to try and make the Shake Shack special sauce this weekend. [Link]

Note: At the bottom of the article there is a link to the detailed recipe.

There are a ton of dessert websites popping up in Kuwait every week but this is the first one in a long time that has caught my attention. Buzberry just posted about Sweet’n Cup, a new dessert start up in Kuwait. They only sell one item and thats a chocolate cup cake covered in chocolate sauce and maltesers. Maltesers by the way are my favorite chocolate so thats why I am probably very attracted to this. I haven’t ordered from them yet since I just found out about them but once I do I will post my feedback here. If you’re interested visit their website sweetncup.com

According to a news article dated June of this year, the Arby’s and Wendy’s franchises for the Middle East and North Africa were taken by a Saudi conglomerate. This sadly means the first branches which are scheduled to open early 2010 won’t be in Kuwait but will be in Saudi.

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, Inc. (NYSE: WEN) today announced an agreement with Saudi Arabia-based Al Jammaz Group to build 135 dual-branded Wendy’s® and Arby’s® restaurants in nine countries in the Middle East and North Africa over the next decade.

Here is the link to the article. [Link]

Thanks ElHaddad

Sultan is now carrying Pepsi cans with the new logo and design. They are imported not the locally produced ones and they’re also caffeine free but they look very cool. I know a lot of people hate the new designs but I think its a nice direction away from all the clutter and junk that’s currently around.

I started barbecuing during Ramadan but since the weather has improved a lot more people will start barbecuing now. Actually by visiting Sultan Center you can tell its BBQ season since the Sharq branch for example is now highlighting BBQ equipment when you first come in. So here are some tips by me if you want to start barbecuing:

The Grill
One of the best grill brands you can get in Kuwait is Weber. Sultan Center, Ace Hardware and Sears carry Weber brand grills. From the three Sears is the cheapest while Sultan is the most expensive. Problem with Sears though is they don’t have a large variety of grills nor accessories. Ace Hardware on the other hand is just slightly more expensive than Sears but have the largest variety of grills in Kuwait with a ton of accessories. I picked up the 18 1/2 inch Weber grill pictured above for KD34 from Ace. It was KD36 at Sultan and KD33 at Sears. There are cheaper Weber grills and a lot more expensive and bigger ones but if you don’t want to spend you can find some no brand grills for under KD5.

The Coals
Two best places to buy coals are Sultan and Ace Hardware. Again I found Ace Hardware cheaper and they alsonhad a larger variety of coals some of which you can see in the picture above.

Fuel gels, starter cubes or lighter fluid?
Personally I hate waiting for the coals to get ready so I use a combination of starter cubes and fuel gel to light up my coals. Gel is better than lighter fluid since it doesn’t leave any smell or flavor behind. Both Sultan and Ace sell fuel gels, both cost KD2.200 but the one at Ace is a better brand plus if you’re picking up your grill and coal from there you might as well pick up the gel. For cubes Sultan has them while Ace doesn’t. Another tip, have a blow dryer handy since it helps speed up the process considerably. I got a cheap one for KD4 from Carrefour and combined with the fuel gel and cubes I could have a grill ready in 10 minutes.

Accessories
Both Ace and Sultan have a large variety of accessories. If you want a chimney starter to help speed up the coal burning process then you need to get it from Sultan Center where they have two models to choose from. For gloves, BBQ tools, cleaning brushes etc.. I’ve mixed and matched from both Ace and Sultan, it’s really personal preference and both have cheap and expensive options to choose from.

Burgers and more
I’ve been making some great burgers with fresh Sultan Center meat patties. Just go up to the meat fridge and tell the employee you want burgers. They will ask you what kind and what weight, I usually go for the 95% lean and a 200 grams patty for me while a 100 grams one for Nat. I don’t make them add any spices although you can ask them to, I prefer adding my own spices at home. For chicken taouk I get it marinated and ready on skewers from Dean & Deluca. 1KG is for KD2.500 compared to Sultan’s KD3.900. It’s really good and the only thing I do to it is swap the green peppers for fresh mushrooms before I grill them. Finally for kebabs I get them from the butcher which is located between La Baguette and Dodo on Baghdad Street in Salmiya. He makes two kinds, one with onions the other with garlic, I prefer the onions version. 1KG is for around KD2.500 and he prepares it for you while you wait. I can’t recommend any other items to BBQ since I haven’t tried anything else. Actually I did try to BBQ a steak but didn’t like the result because I think I chose the wrong type of meat. If you can recommend me something that would be great, just leave it as a comment below.

And that concludes my BBQ post. The prices I mentioned above are 99% accurate, my memory isn’t that great and I round up numbers so if they don’t turn out to be exactly the same don’t shoot me. If you have any tips, suggestions or questions just leave them below.

Just a recap for those of you who don’t know my “Healthier Lifestyle” series of posts. I used to have junk food every single day but then I found out I had acid reflux as a result. I then decided to permanently stop having fried or junk food and since then I’ve dropped around 5KG in weight and most importantly, I feel and am healthier. I don’t miss fried or junk food and have actually found great alternatives instead and this is why I decided to create these healthier lifestyle series of posts so I could share these alternatives with everyone.

In this post I will be talking about Napket which is located on the first floor of Avenues Phase II. They’ve got a pasta and salad station plus a ready made sandwiches section. I haven’t tried their salads or pastas just their sandwiches and my favorite is called “The NY Thing”. The sandwich contains bacon, chicken, turkey, eggs, tomato and lettuce. Since it’s ready made its perfect to have during my lunch break because it doesn’t take time to prepare. The bread used for the sandwich is really delicious. I don’t know what it is exactly but it’s got a slightly sweet flavor to it.

The sandwich isn’t cheap though, at KD3.750 its on the expensive side but the service is great and the location and restaurant atmosphere is amazing so it kinda makes up for it. The sandwich is also filling so you don’t need a side order with it. I highly recommend it.

Other options:
Nando’s
Macaroni Grill
Salad Creations

I previously posted the first episode of The Chef’s Table but it seems since then two more episodes have come out. The one above is episode 3 and it looks like it was shot at eight6 Bistro in the Avenues. I guess the restaurant has opened already although I didn’t notice it this past weekend. [YouTube]

Note: The chef in the video is Ahmed Al Bader, the owner of Burger Hub and Prime & Toast.

Update: Don’t know how I missed this but the YouTube video description says eight6 Bistro is opening on Thursday, October 1st in Phase Two of Avenues.

I passed by for lunch at IKEA today and noticed they had some kind of shrimp festival going on. They had 6 different kinds of shrimps, sweet & sour, chopsuey, grilled, stir fried with noodles, fried and Thai curry shrimps. I had the Thai curry and it was ok but will probably go back and try something else next time. Each dish costs KD2.250.

Today is the final day of the giveaways. This giveaway campaign was not planned and I actually thought about it right after the post where I gave two tickets away to the IMAX film. I saw the response from just two tickets and thought to myself what about if I could give people cooler stuff and so I quickly scrambled emailing and calling people to see if they would be interested to participate. Choowy Goowy responded right away saying they would and that’s how I managed to get “Giveaway Day 2” out the door the next day.

Since that original post the response has been unbelievable and the campaign completely exceeded my expectations. The response from companies wanting to participate was also incredible and I ended up doubling the length of the campaign because of it. I actually still have enough giveaway offers to make this campaign last a month but two weeks is the limit I set and I decided to stick it.

The final giveaway is going to be from Choowy Goowy and its the just recently released Sony PS3 Slim. Someone had left a comment in the original Choowy Goowy giveaway post asking if we were going to give away a PS3 next, well here it is!

In case you didn’t know already, Choowy Goowy are one of my favorite dessert places in Kuwait. They’ve got incredible cookies, amazing brownies and they also make delicious cheesecakes. They are located at The Avenues but they also deliver right to your door. For more information on Choowy Goowy visit their website [Here] or call them on 22626559, 22620011 or 22597949 (Avenues) to make an order. Their email is [email protected] in case you have any comments.

All you need to do to win this giveaway is to leave a comment below and later on in the evening I will use random.org to select a winner.

Rules: You need to put your proper email in the email field while commenting since the winner will be contacted by email. You also need to respond to my “You Won” email within 24 hours or I will have to make another draw and choose another winner. You can only comment once, anyone caught commenting more than once will get disqualified.

Update: The giveaway is actually a Sony PS3 Slim 120GB (NTSC) with 2 gamepads and 2 games of your choice.

Update2: The post was closed for commenting at around 9PM.
The winner is…

[YouTube]

Comment #385, you’ve got mail!
This was the last giveaway so thank you everyone for participating.

Alshaya sent me an email telling me that Pinkberry will be opening at the Avenues on Wednesday the 30th at 6:30PM and that from 6:30 till 8PM all customers will be able to get free toppings with their frozen yogurt.

Update: Here is a nice piece in Time magazine about Pinkberry. [Link]