2012 29 Mar

Review: Social House – Dubai

Posted By Q80 In Denver

Dubai is the weekend for Kuwaitis. I’ve been having those short weekend trips to Dubai more often lately and I’ve been quite enjoying it to be honest :P As a “Ritual” we had to go to Dubai mall whether for a movie or just walking around the mall and do a little shopping with friends. We woke up a little bit late and it was lunch time so we decided to have lunch at the much delayed review of “Social House” :P

To be quite honest, I’ve never been to Social House. I got mixed signals from people as some liked it and others didn’t which made the experience much more interesting. We got inside the restaurant and it was quite a surprise. The interior design was fabulous! It had that really inviting vibe to it. Farmers market veggie baskets, library racks of goodies and small trees here and there :)

We quickly got seated and handed the menu which came on a hanger. We took our time to order because the menu was huge. It was joint and separated by two completely different menus or areas (East & West) and each menu represents a side of earth (East: more Asian, Indian, Middle eastern) and (West: more European and American) Both menus had their own soups, salads, appetizers, main course and of course desserts.

I was a bit concerned to be honest. Having a huge menu with such a food diversity (Sushi, pastas, steaks, chicken tikka masala) could end up in a disaster but I had my fingers crossed hoping that I’m proved wrong. So to settle this, we decided to order different things to see if they managed to do them right.

We started out with some drinks. one had a coke and I ended up having a sparkling lemon and lime. And a long came our orders.

(Corn Soup)

Corn and potato soup. I don’t know how to describe it but let’s just say that I thank god for not being the one who ordered it :P I took a sip and it tasted awful. It’s like having someone crushing corn with their hands and the water that came out is served without any seasoning whatsoever. Seriously, what a dull soup.

(Prawn Popcorn with Shitake Mushrooms)

Deep fried popcorn prawns drizzled with spicy, creamy sauce and mixed with a variety of mushrooms. It’s basically your popcorn shrimps but more elevated with a twist. It wasn’t the best presentation but let me tell you, that dish was cleaned off in a few minutes! :P Getting that crunch from the prawns with its creamy, spicy sauce and mixing it up with the mixed mushrooms worked so well! Loved it! :)

(Indian Chicken Tikka)

Roasted Indian seasoned chicken breasts served with mint chutney. Alright, if you want to change something, either you make it better or leave it untouched (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it) changing that red colored, grilled tikka cooked in a (Tanoor) and replacing it with a roasted, lightly seasoned chicken won’t make it better. The chicken breasts tasted alright but they were big for an appetizer and I wasn’t crazy about them. They’re OK.

(Crab Cakes)

deep fried breaded crab cakes topped with avocado. Crab cakes are always tricky, ALWAYS! why? because most of the time, they tend to smell and taste fishy. This one was a mixed bag. The flavors are there but it had a fishy taste and the avocado didn’t help much to avoid that.

(Mie Goreng)

Fried Indonesian yellow noodles mixed with chicken and prawns. I’m a big fan of noodles but this was a joke. Bland, greasy and VERY dry noodles that was. What a shame.

(pappardelle al ragù toscano)

Pappardelle pasta with tomato sauce and minced meat and topped with shaved parmesan cheese. When you make a Ragù (meat based sauce) you cook it slowly and with a lot of seasonings to make it thick and tasty. Unfortunately, Social house’s ragù was watery and lacked some great seasonings.

All in all, Social house experience was a mixed bag. I so wanted to love the restaurant because of its beautiful atmosphere and food variety but it wasn’t meant to be since most of our choices were not executed up to the acceptable standards.

Mixed Thoughts

2012 23 Feb

Review: Rice Pudding Factory

Posted By Q80 In Denver

The era of frozen yogurt trend is reaching its end cycle and the rice pudding is taking over. This for sure depends on how people would react to it of course. A new concept has opened in Kuwait serving a variety of rice pudding flavors and toppings in the same sense of frozen yogurt procedure. It’s called Rice pudding factory.

The place is quite small as it was sharing the space with another small booth selling flowers and gifts. All the different colors and flavors of the rice pudding can be seen clearly from the glass.

They had 5 cold pudding flavors (Vanilla “White”, Cacao, Cookies and cream, Tiramisu, and Raspberry cheesecake) and 2 hot pudding flavors (Chocotulla, Caramel praline)

I tried them all except the vanilla which was sold out at that time. The best of them all in my opinion was the Tiramisu. I added coffee crumble and flake chocolate as my toppings.

The Tiramisu was decent but it didn’t have that oomph that makes you go back to it once more and its the same issue as the other ones.

I noticed one major issue after another with rice pudding factory … Most of the puddings lacked flavor. For example if I didn’t read the name tag beside the cookies and cream bowl, I wouldn’t know what that pudding supposed to taste like. Moreover, it lacked the sugar needed to enhance the flavor which in the end you would be depending all on your topping (Hopefully being a chocolate :P ) to seal the deal.

All in all, Rice pudding factory has brought a new concept in town which I admire and respect but I’m afraid that the lack of flavor and execution could be decisive to the whole project. And not in a good way.

Location: Al-Nuzha, Near Starbucks

Not Recommended

2012 09 Feb

Review: The Confectioners Shop

Posted By Q80 In Denver

A few weeks ago, while I was sitting in the living room with my family and as every few people start a conversation with each other Kuwaiti style (chena ga3deen eb mazad :P ) I overheard my sisters talking about a place that sells chocolate dipped strawberries. I asked them are you guys serious? Haven’t you tried these things before? It’s all over the place and so outdated. They both agreed that it’s not something new but unlike anywhere else, this place (The Confectioners Shop) perfect it the chocolate dipped strawberries formula.

I wasn’t convinced. My sister decided to bring some on our next gathering to prove her point. A week later, I saw the box laying over the kitchen’s counter waiting for me to try. Inside the box there were 9 pieces of gigantic looking strawberries (They’re quite big!) and each one is dipped and drizzled with something different.

One strawberry had a piece of brownie, one had a marshmallow, one had a cookie and so forth. I tried them all and I finally came up with a conclusion.

Those chocolate dipped strawberries were so goddamn delicious and this is coming from a “GUY”! :) How come!? I truly asked myself this question and figured out what distinguish these chocolate dipped strawberries from any other. The secret in the strawberries. You know when every time you pick a larger strawberry, the more sour it gets? it’s not the same case in this one. I took one strawberry, took off the chocolate shell and ate the strawberry alone and it was amazingly sweet and delicious. Moreover, the chocolate quality was pretty darn good too! :)

All in all, the confectioners shop found the secret of making the best, most delicious chocolate dipped strawberries in Kuwait. I’m a believer.

Location:-

Al Tilal Complex, Shuwaikh, Kuwait

97736445

Recommended

2012 06 Feb

Jack In The Box Introduce Bacon Milkshake?

Posted By Q80 In Denver

I know this might sound disgusting but hell, I want to try it! :P

Tired of going to the trouble of making your own bacon milkshakes at home? You’re in luck as long as you don’t live in the Northeast or Midwest. Eater reports that Jack in the Box, which has 2100 locations in 19 states, is adding a bacon milkshake to its menu for as part of its new “Marry Bacon” ad campaign.

The ad for the Jack in the Box bacon milkshake includes the important disclaimer that the beverage’s stay on the menu will be “as limited as limited can be,” and encourages would-be shake drinkers to act fast.

A Jack In The Box spokesperson told the Huffington Post, “The shake is not listed on our menus in the restaurants, so it’s more of a ‘secret item’ that people can order. Each restaurant is getting a very limited quantity, so we don’t know how long they will last.”

After looking into the nutritional information on the bacon milkshake, we can’t help but feeling relieved it won’t be around forever. According to the Jack in the Box website, which lists the bacon shake as a beverage rather than a dessert, a “regular” 16 oz bacon shake weighs in at 773 calories and 40 grams and fat. A 24 oz large, meanwhile, add a whopping 1081 calories and 54 grams of fat to your meal.

We couldn’t find any other examples of major chains serving bacon milkshakes in the past. But Denny’s has been serving a bacon sundae since April, so Jack in the Box isn’t the first chain to hop on the bacon dessert bandwagon.

So, are you up for it? :P

2012 12 Jan

Review: Arabesq – Dubai

Posted By Q80 In Denver

We were wandering around Dubai mall looking at some of the new places that just opened when one of our friends talked about an ice cream place that he had and enjoyed with his family a couple months ago. He suggested that we should try it out since we came across this Arabic “Booza” (Boo’6a) ice cream and dessert place which called Arabesq.

Arabesq had a guy beating the hell up out of the ice cream with a big wooden stick which was inside a big deep tub :P The next step is that he removes the “Booza” out of the tub, cut the quantity needed then he dips it into a big bowl full of shredded pistachio before serving it.

They had two flavors, Original Arabic mastic “Mesteka” and Chocolate. We all chose the original since the chocolate wasn’t that great.

The original had all the element needed for a successful Booza. It was perfectly elastic, sticky, high level melt resistant ice cream which should delay melting in the hotter climates but man it was missing one major thing. Flavor. It lacked flavor because its missing the essence of the perfume you are after which I believe is “Rose Water”

All in all, It could have been our luck that they (Arabesq) forgot to add a major component in their Ice cream (Which I believe it could be!) or they are love tasteless ice cream. I want to go back and have it again because it could have been perfect but in reality it wasn’t.

Location:

Dubai Mall, Basement

Mixed Thoughts