Tag: food

Boulevard is a project that seems like it’s been under construction for an eternity. The first time I posted about the project it was back in 2010 and the project was already well under way by then. Boulevard is located in Salmiya right off the 5th Ring Road and opposite Souk Salmiya. It’s a large project that contains a bunch of things including a mall, a restaurant complex, parks and even a cricket field. I passed by it last April and was impressed with the size of the whole thing but the project still didn’t have any water back then so there was no greenery or lakes. But, a reader just emailed me recent photos of the place and looks pretty nice. According to the reader, Boulevard is expected to open in 3 months time but no official date has been set yet. Check out all the photos below.

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]

Singarea, the Asian supermarket which was located in Dajeej has now moved to a newer and larger location in Shuwaikh. I ran into the owner by chance while I was there yesterday and he gave me a little tour of the place. They were still moving in with workers putting up a sign outside and shop staff busy stacking the shelves inside.

According to the owner they moved to Shuwaikh because the traffic and parking situation in Dajeej was unbearable. They were originally supposed to move to this location last year but due to licensing issues they weren’t able to until now. Their new location is larger and they will soon be setting up a fresh fish section (with fish imported from Japan) as well as their own in house bakery.

For those of you who’ve never been to Singarea before, they sell a lot of Asian products that aren’t available anywhere else. A lot of sushi and Asian restaurants buy their supplies from them. There also used to be a very cute Korean restaurant over the old supermarket but that closed down a few years ago. According to the owner there are sadly no plans to reopen the restaurant at the moment.

If you’re interested in passing by the new Singarea location, search for “Singarea Asian Supermarket” on Google Maps or just use this [Link]. Their phone number is 24912564.

Out of curiosity do you guys leave tips at restaurants? Someone on reddit was asking for info on Kuwait because he was planning to move here and a person replied with a few pointers with one being that tipping isn’t something we do in Kuwait. I hope thats not true.

I tend to tip anywhere between 10-20% depending on the quality of service. It’s obviously not mandatory but the salaries of waiters in Kuwait (and anywhere else for that matter) isn’t very high so most live off the tips. The tips are also generally shared amongst the staff so that way the chefs in the kitchen also get a cut from the tip pool. So if you aren’t tipping you really should be.

Areej International Est. is a small business that has been around since 1994 supplying gourmet products to restaurants, hotels and hypermarkets. Last week they decided to launch a website so they could sell their items directly to consumers. I checked it out and I don’t think I’ve run into their products/brands anywhere in Kuwait before which is a good thing since it makes their website more useful.

If you’re interested, check out their website [Here]

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I figured I would put together a list of places that are offering turkey dinners tomorrow night. If there is a place you know I haven’t listed, let me know so I can add it below.

Dine In
Hilton Resort
Little Ruby’s
Radisson Blu

Takeaway
Baking Tray
Dean & Deluca
Jeans Grill
Munch
Radisson Blu
Sultan Center

The rumors are true, the popular Thai food restaurant Pataya Beach is for sale. Turns out the shop owner no longer wants to rent out the space to Pataya and instead is looking to sell the spot. So Pataya Beach will remain open until the location is sold. There is no closing date, if the shop gets sold tomorrow then Pataya closes tomorrow, if the shop gets sold in two months then thats when they will close down. I asked them if they would be moving to another location once the shop gets sold but it seems that they don’t want to and instead will leave Kuwait once the shop gets sold and they close down.

A lot of people consider Pataya the best Thai food restaurant in Kuwait (I personally don’t) and so it would be sad if they closed down. I asked them if they would be interested in selling the business, to have someone take over the brand if they wanted to leave and they seemed open to the idea. In any case, if you’ve never tried Pataya Beach then you probably should before they close down for good. They’re located on the mezzanine floor of Al-Dawliyah Complex (behind the old Kuwait Airways building). Here is a link to their building on [Google Maps]

A new restaurant opened up in Salmiya called Bon Voyage that serves airplane food. I personally think this is like the worst idea since plane food generally sucks but if you’re into plane food then I guess you’re in luck. [Link]

The first time I heard about Sista Brown was when my best friend (who’s super ridiculously talented btw) posted about them a few months back when they had an event in Lebanon. I didn’t really have any idea what it was but the name was odd so it stuck with me. Fast forward a few months and I find out Sista Brown was having a pop-up shop here in Kuwait. It didn’t sound very exciting, their flyer graphic was ugly (even blurry) and there was no mention of what the pop-up shop was about. I didn’t even consider going until another friend of mine got in touch with me yesterday and asked me to pass by so I could possibly post about it on the blog. So I did.

Sista Brown turned out to be more of a market than a pop-up shop. I originally got the impression Sista Brown was one shop but it’s actually around 20 different designers and start up fashion brands mostly from Lebanon but also from other parts of the world all brought together under the Sista Brown umbrella. The market is being held at Shuwaikh Market and is only going to be there until tomorrow (Nov 12). The most interesting aspect to me was the Armenian food by the Lebanese Armenian bistro called Batchig. If you’re interested in trying out Armenian food, Sista Brown brought Batchig from Lebanon for this event and they’re there after 7PM serving food. That alone is actually worth going for.

So if you’re interested in passing by, the market is open from 4PM till midnight and the food from 7PM. Here is Shuwaikh Market on [Google Maps]

Update: Just found out there is Iraqi food from 4PM to 6:30PM today as well and then 7PM back to Armenian food.

SnappCard the digital loyalty card app officially launched in Kuwait today. I had no idea what it was or even heard about it until a friend of mine told me of it awhile ago. SnappCard is basically an app that aims to replace those paper card loyalty cards from your favorite restaurants. The two cards I tend to use the most are my Elevation Burger and Slice cards, and I keep either losing them or forgetting to carry them with me. SnappCard is supposed to solve that by having all your points scored digitally in the app itself, it is also supposed to work with multiple restaurants and in different countries. They’re mainly focused in Bahrain and UAE right now but they launched in Kuwait today. Right now they oddly chose only to work with one restaurant here, the newly opened Rock House Sliders, but they will be adding more places soon (Elevation and Slice pretty please). The app works with iOS, Android and Blackberry, for more info check out their website [Here]

Although many people think Peacock is the most overrated Chinese restaurant, I personally love the place mostly because of their bottomless bowl of cashews and their incredible waiting staff. This weekend while lunching there I found out that they started a new takeaway service. It runs from 1PM to 3PM and then again from 7:30PM to 11PM so they’re covering the most common lunch and dinner times. They don’t have delivery which sucks, but if you have a house driver then that pretty much work the same way for you I guess. To order you need to call them on 25673000.

The Aquarium Lounge is the ideal touristic platform for exploring sensational dining while enjoying top-notch panorama: a truly one of a kind experience. The dining outlets carefully handpicked exclusively present unparalleled offerings at Aquarium Lounge that features only the finest restaurants.

Because we need another restaurant complex, Aquarium Lounge is another one that’s being constructed in Mahboula. It will be trying to set itself apart from all the other food complexes by having restaurants overlook a huge aquarium. No word on completion date but the project has already started. For more information click on the different sub-categories of “Projects” on the developers website [Here]

Thanks lovelykuwait

Shakshooka, the nomadic farmers market is making a come back this year. If you are a passionate person who likes making things from scratch, are crafty and a foodie then they’re looking for someone like you.

To be part of the Shashooka market contact Mimi on [email protected]

The British crêpes chain CrepeAffaire is opening their first location outside Europe here in Kuwait. They’re opening up in Bida’a right behind Elevation Burger. According to their website they’re opening this month. Maybe we’ll finally get some decent crêpes in Kuwait.

A friend of mine told me about this instagram account that sells fresh home made pasta. I found that different from the usual baked goods people are selling so I thought I’d share it here. They have three kinds of pasta, lemon, pumpkin, and tomato and garlic. Costs KD3.5 for 200 grams and you need to order it at least 48 hours in advance since it’s made to order. The account is @mariarustica

Update: A reader informed me of a professional Italian pastry chef that sells 300 grams of fresh pasta for KD3.5. You can check that account as well by clicking the following link [@italiafoodk8]