Tag: gia

Gia have finally opened up their new location in Kuwait City after countless construction related delays. Their new location has a slightly revised menu to better cater to the employees in the area including different ready made sandwiches and munchies to go like muffins and manaeesh.

The new location has indoor seating as well as outdoor seating and they’re open daily except for Friday’s from 8AM to 4PM. Here is their new location on [Google Maps]

Gia are opening a new location in Kuwait City on the corner of the Souq Al Kuwait building opposite the Kuwait Stock Exchange. It’s a pretty good location since the area is surrounded by lots of financial offices. The new location will have some pre-packed takeout items for easy pickup as well as delivery within the area. If everything goes according to plan the new location is expected to open sometime in October.

Winner: GIA
I remember when I moved back to Kuwait after university. People were getting rather health crazy, doing Atkin’s diet and going paleo, freaking out about salt and trans fats and the like.

But in Kuwait, Burger King had unveiled the “Mozza Double Whopper”; two patties of beef with a patty of mozzarella cheese in between. My friends at the gahwa were ordering shish taouk because they wanted to eat grilled chicken instead of fried, but it would come smothered in garlic may and wrapped in buri (friend bread).

Things have changed since. People are jumping on boxes and waving ropes and swinging cannonballs with handles. Maybe GIA is the response to Kuwait’s recent health craze. A healthy place that doesn’t takes like cardboard dog food. It’s the perfect place for a quick healthy substantial lunch or the inevitable compromise your obnoxiously indecisive friends will agree on for dinner. It probably singlehandedly revitalised Al Khalid square. Not that success in Kuwait is a measure of quality, but they had to expand within the first year they opened. We usually over-order for the next day when we get it. Great dining, take-away, or delivery.

Runner up: Street
Street opened up to much fanfare. They have a limited number of seats and limited items on the menu. Rather than having an encyclopedia of mediocrity, they’ve focused and refined their menu. That shows that the chef, Faisal Al Nashmi has confidence in his menu. Respect. There’s nothing I hate more than a place with something for one. The surrounding chaos of garbage and parked cars disappears beneath you as you walk up the staircase to be confronted by a small, glass-enclosed, art space. Go there. Get some buns before they become the next big thing in Kuwait to be ruined by the scale economics!

Winner: GIA
GIA is one of those places you hope people would copy instead of opening another burger place. Although I completely hate the fact they reheat their food in the microwave, if you stick to their salads or their sandwiches which they freshly make then you can’t go wrong. What they’ve been able to accomplish over the past year is just extraordinary, not only have they made healthy food a fad, but they’ve single handedly transformed the dead complex they’re located in, to a trendy place where markets are being held. The fact I know what quinoa is and the reason I started liking quinoa was because of GIA and I think it’s the same for a lot of people.

Runner up: Healthy Feast
The way I describe Healthy Feast to friends is the kind of food GIA should have started making after they expanded. After having the same quinoa salads over and over I just can’t have it anymore without wanting to puke. So Healthy Feast was a breath of fresh air, great healthy food that is freshly prepared and doesn’t involve quinoa (unless you want it to). I’m now usually there at least once a week.

Healthy Feast is a new restaurant that soft launched last week. As you can tell from the name, it’s a healthy restaurant and they pride themselves in having fresh, locally grown, organic and gluten free dishes. Even their menu starts off with the following introduction:

We support local, organic and sustainable practices wherever possible. Our menu is always changing according to what is available and seasonal. This is today’s menu:

So right off the bat I was pretty excited to try out their dishes.

The restaurant is located in Bneid Al Gar and although the exterior doesn’t look like much the interior is very cute and bright with lots of natural daylight coming in. The walls were rough and painted white with natural wood being used everywhere. I would have taken a photo but a couple of tables were already occupied so I couldn’t. Once I sat down I was given the menu and after going through it I decided to go with the following:

Raw zucchini with almond thai dressing KD1.950
Pumpkin & avocado maki roll, with beet brown rice KD2.500
Root vegetables in curried lemongrass coconut milk KD3.500
Green Wellness juice: spinach, cucumber, apple, celery and lemon KD1.850

While waiting for my dishes I was also served a complimentary bowl of cheesy kale chips which usually costs KD1.500.

The first dish to arrive was my raw zucchini which looked like a small bowl of spaghetti. This dish completely caught me by surprise since it was so full of flavor. It tasted like an intricate starter I would have at a Japanese restaurant and I loved it (I later found out the chef was Japanese). The second dish I was served were the maki rolls. They were also pretty good although I was worried they would fill me up before my main dish arrived. I really wish they had chopsticks though since my first two dishes could have used them. When I asked the waitress for chopsticks she went into the kitchen and came back and told me the Japanese chef said I should use my fingers. I thought that was a hilarious soup nazi moment and proceeded to eat the rolls with my fingers, I had no problem with that. Once I was done with the rolls I was served the curry bowl. For the curry bowl I had three choices for the base, cauliflower rice, brown rice or quinoa. I went with quinoa although I haven’t been having quinoa for awhile now since I’m so over it. But, the curry was so flavorful and delicious I don’t think it would have mattered if I had gone with quinoa or any of the other rice options.

It’s a new restaurant, I ordered three completely new dishes I hadn’t tried before and I ended up loving all three. The chances of that happening are pretty rare which is why I fell in love with the place. It kind feels like an evolution to Gia or what Gia should have become. I did have two minor issues though. The first was with my juice, it was served in a beaker but it was filled less than half way which made it look like either someone had already drank from it or they had run out of juice while filling it up. The second thing is the lack of chopsticks. Again it’s not a big issue but two out of the three dishes I had were Japanese like and my guess is there are more dishes like that on the menu so why not have chopsticks as well?

In any case as I said I loved the place and I’m actually going back for lunch today. Healthy Feast is located in Bneid Al Gar and right now they’re open daily except for Sundays from 2PM to 7PM. Here is a link to their instagram account @healthy_feast and here is their location on [Google Maps]

Gia, one of my favorite cafes launched a breakfast menu sometime back and I finally had the chance to try it this past weekend.

The Gia breakfast menu is divided into four main parts, “A Healthy Start” which includes granola, fruit and oatmeal bowls, “Eggscuze You” which includes three kinds of egg dishes, “Sandwiches” which also includes three dishes and finally the “What Diet?” section which includes french toast and waffles. I ended up going for the Poached Eggs on Avocados with a side of sausages while my friend went for two eggs any style with a side of bacon.

My Poached Eggs on Avocados turned out to be pretty good, the eggs were perfectly cooked and were really runny just like I had asked for. Flavor wise it might have lacked a bit but healthy food generally does. My friends eggs were fine as well since you can’t really go wrong with scrambled eggs plus I think he ordered the most boring dish on the menu.

Now the sides on the other hand were both so not worth it. The bacon was just 4 small strips, not crispy and weren’t even warm. The sausages were also 4 small pieces and weren’t that great either. Each of those sides cost KD1 which I think is overpriced considering my favorite breakfast place Cocoa Room gives you so much more for the same price and also taste so much better. I’d definitely not order any sides the next time I’m there.

Ignoring the underwhelming sides, breakfast was enjoyable and Gia is now going to be one of my weekend breakfast destinations. If you’re interested their instagram account is @giakwt and they serve breakfast from 9AM to 11AM. Here is a link to their [Menu]

Early on in the month graffiti artists Monstariam and Bufifty spray painted a gigantic spaceman mural outside Al Khaled Complex in Salmiya. It’s the same complex where Gia and Lorenzo are located and it right away became my favorite Monstariam graffiti work yet. Now TJC Films has uploaded a video of the making of so if you’re curious to see how the spaceman came to be check it out above. [YouTube]

After being closed since the start of Ramadan, Gia has reopened again after expanding into the shop next door. Sadly their menu hasn’t expanded that much and they’re still serving the same salads which I think I’m over already. The new place looks great though with more seating inside and a few tables outside.

If you’re looking for a healthy cafe it’s hard to beat this place. [Link]

Gia, my favorite little cafe in Salmiya with all the quinoa salads is going to be expanding by taking over the space next door. They’re going to close down over Ramadan and use that time for the renovation. Currently the place is always packed in the evenings so the expansion should reduce the chance of not finding a place to sit. Check them on out on instagram @giakwt

The largest Marks & Spencer store outside the UK opened up in Kuwait right next to Missoni Hotel recently so I passed by yesterday to check it out because I had heard they had a large food hall along with a cafe. Whenever I’m in London I usually pass by M&S to pick up a quick bite to eat like a sandwich or a quinoa salad and I was hoping they’d have the same items here.

The new store is huge, it’s four floors with the food hall being located on the last one. The new food hall is divided into 3 sections, the first one is similar to the food sections at the other Marks & Spencer’s and contains non perishable goods like pasta and canned food along with frozen food. The other two sections are new, the first one is a small bakery that sells bread, pastries, muffins etc.. and finally the final section is a cafe.

The cafe is similar in style to IKEA’s except with less hot food. Their small menu mostly consists of soups, salads, baked potato, a pizza, quiche and some desserts. The seating area seems quiet and cozy so it might be a good place to study or read a book.

Disappointingly they didn’t have a fridge with healthy food for me to pass by and pick up when I’m hungry. I can imagine it wouldn’t be very feasible especially since they don’t have high foot traffic when say compared to the Marks & Spencer on Bond Street Station but still, one always hopes. With the success of Gia I’m hoping more people realize that there is a market for healthy food in Kuwait.