Wednesday, November 7, 2012

oriental cuisine

oriental cuisine
location: bibi tower, sharq, ibn misdah street near dasman model school

soon after my arrival to kuwait, new friends took me to what they described as "the best thai in kuwait." admittedly, i was skeptical (i still hadn't learned that food is delicious in kuwait, but that very little of it is actually "kuwaiti"). friends mentioned they were looking forward to it since the night before; as a result, regardless of whether they were judges of good food, i started to look forward to it too.

oriental cuisine isn't in a very obvious place (i.e., it's not in a place where there are a collection of restaurants or is a popular hang-out spot), so much so that when we tried to go, we got lost. twice (if that's even possible). hahaha.

oriental cuisine is larger than some of the smaller places that are popping up in kuwait, but not sprawling. we had a large group and the staff was really accommodating and pushed tables together so that we could all sit with each other and (imo most importantly) share food.

oriental cuisine is known for its authentic thai food. their menu highlights more of the typical thai fare that i am used to seeing on thai restaurant menus (admittedly, i've been spoiled in wdc with the great (and creative) thai food i was able to enjoy there). you can some pretty good standard fare (pad thai, fried rices, etc.) as well as some things that i hadn't had until i'd come to kuwait (i.e., morning glory. apparently it's bigger among the chinese community? new to me, but delicious). our party ordered a variety of different dishes; i was happy to taste the dishes we ordered (of course, i made sure to ask for my own order of papaya salad - that's what i use to determine whether i like a thai restaurant or not. you know, the bar i use. oriental cuisine's was pretty stinkin' good).

some days, all i want is a good papaya salad and some garlic fried rice. that's when i think about oriental cuisine. i think if it were closer to the residence (the residence!), i would frequent it more often; sadly, i do not as kuwaiti traffic is the last thing i want to deal with at night and i'm outside of their delivery radius (sadly). but maybe it's a good thing as i would be twice my size if it were closer. haha. but don't fret, oriental cuisine. despite my desire to visit a variety of restaurants, you are definitely one that i will frequent. 

Saturday, November 3, 2012

elevation burger

elevation burger
location: the avenues, al-hamra tower

on with the Q8 burger challenge!

while i'm doing my best to seet out "locally" owned restaurants and restaurants, i can't tune out recommendations that others have. that's what took me to elevation burger for the first time. i'd heard people talk about this virginia chain for quite some time, but never got out to it when in WDC (i'm an in 'n out type of girl). but people were telling me that elevation burger had the best burgers in town, so off i went.

ok, so their burgers are pretty delicious. nothing fancy, but a really solid simple burger. the ingredients are of good quality, the size of their fare is just right (not overly large, not ridiculously small), and the burgers are not too expensive. they have a pretty simple menu (a variation of burgers is pretty much it) which makes it easier to focus on the quality of their burgers. they also have vegetarian options; i have not yet tried it, but from meat-eating friends who have, they approve.

elevation burger serves really skinny fries. i'm a fries addict, so there are few fries that i don't like. that said, i'm not a huge fan of skinny fries (i like more meatier fries, if i can say that i have a preference). nevertheless, i have been known to polish off my elevation burger fries and slyly reach over and nosh on friends' leftovers. they're left over, right? someone has got to enjoy the deliciousness and it might as well be me, right? right.

whenever i go to elevation burger, i also notice that they have a gaggle of people in the small area behind the counter - making burgers, taking orders, cleaning, etc. sometimes, it's a little daunting because it's as though their staff overflows. but hey, as long as my burger is delicious and the place is clean, who am i to say what their administration behind the scenes looks like!

so, yeah. a solid simple burger. which i have returned to (already) quite a few times. and plan to, again. frequentlly. nomnomnomnom ...