Poêle is a new cafe and bakery that opened up recently in KIPCO tower. I passed by last week for lunch and its now officially become my new favorite spot (for now). When you first walk in to Poêle you’re greeted by a beautiful display of baked goods, salads and deserts. The interior is subtly stylish with lots of white and beautiful large artwork by the extremely talented Ghadah Alkandari. Theres a huge communal table right in the middle surrounded by smaller white marble top tables all around. We sat near the window because I wanted as much natural light possible in case I was going to take pictures but really, because of the large windows, the whole place is beautifully lit.
Their menu mainly consists of salads with a secondary menu for daily specials. There were four specials to choose from on the day I passed by and I ended up going with roasted seabass while my friend went with their chicken special that was stuffed with turkey. I also ordered their quinoa and butternut squash salad while my friend ordered their chargrilled broccoli. The presentation of all the dishes was really impressive and made my life so much easier when it came to taking pictures. Everything we had was delicious and I wouldn’t mind ordering the exact same thing again the next time I’m there. After we were done we headed to their food display near the entrance and chose our desserts. I ended up going with the chocolate and praline tart which was rich, savory and didn’t leave me feeling too guilty afterwards. The presentation of the desserts were also visually pleasing and comparable more to a high end restaurant and not a small cafe.
One more thing I wanted to highlight before I ended this post was the staff, from the host to the waiters everyone was very professional and knowledgable. Price wise its on the high scale but because of the whole experience from start to finish it doesn’t feel over priced. My quinoa and butternut squash was KD2.650, my sea bass was KD6.700 and the chocolate and praline tart was KD2.750. There really wasn’t anything I could knock about the place and since its down the street from my office I’ll probably be passing by very frequently from now on. Poêle is located on M2 in KIPCO tower and you can check out their instagram from more pictures and information [Here]
25 replies on “Poêle – Artisan Café & Bakery”
Is it your photography or the portions are too small?
if you’re talking about the salad that’s their small portion, they have a larger portion on the menu if you want as well.
Kuwait should be a food hotspot some day, I think all these new modern/chic restaurants and cafés opening up are really good cause they are pushing people out of the government sector to entrepreneurship which makes people more productive. These new places also pull people away from the fast food crap to more healthy and nutritious alternatives, I remember 10years ago most of our restaurants were fast food we have much better alternatives. The place looks really good, hope to bring friends there soon.
The next challenge is to provide “healthy and nutritious” full course meal for less than 3 KD.
That will be extremely hard considering the high cost of food here, the expensive rents, the fact that people here are willing to pay shit loads of money on anything without searching up cheaper alternatives and ofcourse the fact that entrepreneurs expect 100% profit which ofcourse I’d stupid since you should only have like 50-75% profit to be satisfied.
You can make a 100 fils falafel sandwich, no? Why some shredded vegetables should cost 2.5 KD?
I am sure it can be done. Healthy food should not be expensive.
If people are willing to pay you 5 k.d for a sandwich that costs you barely a K.D to make would you really turn them down? If so then you just threw away one of the fundamental laws in business which is profit maximisation. Now as for your falafel shop example, please direct me to a falafel shop (that sells its falafel sandwiches for 100 fils) in a swanky part of kuwait city like where this and many other expensive restaurants are, because i know rent on its own in the area is more than the falafel shop can make, let alone the amount of money you have to pay to actually have that area which costs a bloody fortune. I completely understand that food and so many other things here are over priced but when their costs are so high and people are willing to pay…. can you really blame them?
Well, I am one person who is not willing to pay 5 KD for a sandwich or a salad.
100 fils falafel shops, and other cheap food restaurants make profit on high volume. Now, if only you can make a high volume healthy food restaurant.
And I disagree with you about the cost of food. Food in Kuwait is very cheap. You just have to avoid bullshit labeled foods like “organic” and “natural”.
So you want healthy food that isn’t organic or natural?
“Organic” and “Natural” are not synonyms with “Healthy”.
Organic is a farming practice, and does not change the nutritional value of what is grown, it only makes it many times more expensive.
Natural, well, anything you buy from your local “chabra” *is* natural.
You don’t need to pay extra for those labels, they will not make your food more healthy.
Yeah which is why you don’t make any sense when you say you want healthy but not natural or organic. Processed food isn’t generally considered healthy.
I did not mention processed food.
What I am saying is foods with the *labels* “Organic” and “Natural” unnecessarily drive the price of the item up.
You can buy all the ingredients you need from your local coop or chabra for tenth of the price, and can still make a healthy meal because:
1. By default, any raw food materials *are* natural (vegetables, fruits, meat, etc…). a label stating “Natural” is just a way to increase price.
2. How the food is grown does not affect the nutritional value of the final item. A label stating “Organic” is just another way to increase price.
Many people have been duped into believing that healthy food means expensive food. The labels “Organic” and “Natural” are feeding into this concern of for health and make people spend unnecessarily.
Ofcourse lets just give people some artificial and hormone filled crap and put a large HEATHLY label on it and enjoy a horrible reputation, a lawsuit and possibly ending up in prison with your restaurant shut.
Are you saying that anything that is NOT labeled organic of natural is poison?
Not poison but not HEALTHY.
falafel sharaf in the heart of kuwait city 2 min walk from all hamra buliding sells his falafel sandwich for 100 fils and it taste good
*al
Where is his place exactly?
been checking the review about this place and noticed you asked a question…Raaa its been nearly 2 yrs
anyways Sharaf is the place for a falafel sandwich and yea its 100 fils. its even in tripadvisor 10 best restaurant to eat loool respect.
here is their address
https://goo.gl/maps/UjsiD9gEAr12
I think it’s already advertised in some travel guides as “indulge in shopping and food in this small gulf state”
which ones?
looks good but i’d feel guilty paying 6.700kd for that tiny sea bass and 3 kd for the tart gosh it looks microscopic.
this business is all about generosity specially in this region
Main ingredients are expensive, rents are high, workers salaries increasing..
Most restaurants are selling expensive food, but many of them with low quality..
It depends on the customer if he can recognize justifiable prices or not.. at the end it is demand and supply
How do you pronounce it?
Po-el I guess? That’s how I pronounce it at least.