naranj

when people think "middle eastern" food, people generally consider hummous, tabouleh, etc. because my palate is unsophisticated, i don't know of all the differences among cuisines within the region. nevertheless, i'm happy to make efforts to learn of their similarities and differences.

as an intro to regional food, z took me to one of her favorite places - naranj. she tells me its syrian; frankly, i'm still new to the differences so i took her word for it (haha). the restaurant is located near my apartment, but i don't remember where (though i have full faith i'll be able to find it again if need be. i think). our server only spoke arabic, so 01) thank goodness z was there, 02) i MUST work on my language skills!

we started our meal with typical appetizers - hummous with warm pita bread, salad (tabouleh), mint limeade (for reals, one of the best things in the world) all over good conversation. being new in kuwait, it's nice to hear others' experiences, mostly for my own understanding from which i may draw my own conclusions.

our meal continued with meatballs in a cherry sauce (delicious, and not as sweet as i thought it would be. remember my aversion to sweet/syrupy things? still here) and grilled chicken marinated with tomatoes (and yes, i did eat the tomatoes that, i think, were supposed to serve as garnish). i may have surprised z with my mass consumption of food, but that's ok because she had to find out sometime, right? haha~

just when i thought our meal was over, our server brought over a large plate of arabic desserts. these were complimentary, a part of every meal. i eyed the sweets (sort of torn between my curiosity and my full full belly), then proceeded to put one of each kind of dessert on my plate and taste. all of them. i win! until i find otherwise (and even if/when i do), naranj is where i will take guests who visit me while here. nom nom nom ...