I love food, there is no question about that, and I thought about all the most memorable places to eat in the region that I would want to eat again. So this list came together as I was getting hungry at night, and I think I want to visit them sooner rather then later. This is why I have a problem dieting, I love food too much to stop eating.

UAE

• Zuma – It’s in Dubai and its going to open in 2012 in Beirut, and I’m a big fan of their amazing food
• Hakkassan – Just opened in Emirates Towers
• Caramel – DIFC really tasty and great selection
• ToroToro – South American Steak Dining
• Le Petite Maison – Always good food
• Meat Co – Always a good place to eat
• Cippriani – Abu Dhabi – Amazing food, seriously delicious
• The IVY – Just like London

Kuwait

• OFK – Can’t get enough of their food!
• Slider Station – Those sliders hit the spot
• Prime & Toast – Large Menu & its Open 24 hours
• Q Cafe – Really Tasty Food
• UpperCrust Pizza – Damn good thin pizza

Beirut

• Zinc – Very good steak & always a buzzing place
• Le Stay – Trendy French Cuisine
• Momo’s – Fusion Morrocan Cuisine, love the place
• Muneer – The best Lebanese restaurant, really damn good food

Last year in Kuwait it was the year of the yogurt, since the arrival of Pinkberry everyone went nuts about Frozen Yogurt, it became the trend. Over the last year there is one place that stood out for me more then the rest Pick Yo, and concentrated on quality and health, and didn’t sacrifice an ounce of taste. In Kuwait we are a very picky people, if the food is good the service has to be good too or we won’t like it either but in this case their service is fantastic.

They have two locations, one in the city and the other in Kaifan, and the main reason I keep entering Kaifan is because of them. They really do concentrate on health and taste, I love the taste of the original frozen yogurt and the small cup is only 97 Calories and the guy behind it is trying to reduce it. Something so small yet has so little amount of calories, and so damn tasty. You can also get a large selection of toppings, they are endless, but I tend to like it as is, just the original taste.

You can call and place your order with all your toppings and tell them the change you have, when you drive up to Kaifan Co-op they have it read and with the change, they even tell you how long it will take so you can plan it. But the best part is the party pack, you place your order and they arrange it into a nice plastic bucket with dry ice in the middle keeping it nice and cold even in the summer. Quality Frozen Yogurt, a very healthy choice, and the party pack fits the bill.

Link: PickYo

At last I managed to make it to the new pizza place in The Village in Fintas, and I think this was the official opening of Upper Crust Pizza. As I expected when I got there the whole place was packe, a small complex of restaurants causing huge traffic in the area. The wait wasn’t that long at all, about 10 mins and we got a table outdoors and the weather was amazing. For those who don’t know Upper Crust Pizza was originally from Boston, and for the first time out of town it has opened in Kuwait. We tend to have a tendencies to have restaurants open in Kuwait before the rest of the region and sometimes before even Europe, and this is one of them.

The menu has two sides to it, one is the usual sets of pizza from Upper Crust and the left is a larget assortment of ingredients for you to choose from. We choose the Buffalo Pizza, Spinach Leaf, Veggie Pizza, Bubs BBQ Chicken, and a Calzone. The pizza arrived, all 14inches of it, one after the other so we had enough time to eat each pizza as it arrived and the Calzone was ridiculously good.

The staff was friendly and fast, the food kept coming one after the other. So many people were there ordering that by 3:30 pm they were out of Meat Lasange. Every time a pizza came out before ours did I was getting hungrier and hungerier so the wait for the food was killing me. They ordered a salad which I didn’t even bother trying, I was here for pizza and pizza is what I got.

For the first time visiting the place it really was as good as I hoped, even better. The thin crust pizza which didn’t make you regret eating it after your done. The staff were friendly, the atmosphere was buzzing, and the food was good. If you haven’t been there and you like pizzas then you are missing out because you will love it. Would I go back again, I did the next night and loved it.

Rating:

Recently I had a chance to try Kabab Ji again, its been a long time since I had their sandwiches and I’m glad I did. I heard a while back that the management changed and they are getting high quality meat and things are more organized so I thought to try it out again. My usual option is Villa Fayrooz but honestly over the past year they have screwed up order and the food has dropped drastically in quality. Mais Alghanim is good but the delivery at times takes too long so the food is cold so I thought to try out Kababji again.

We had about six kabaab sandwiches and each two were a different kind, I can’t remember the names except for one which is antabli. I was surprised, the quality of the sandwiches were great and humus was pretty good too. Out of the six I finish four and was stuffed, didn’t give my friend a chance to have three, I was too hungry and too quick for him. After that I think I have ordered Kababji at least four times this month and each time it has been good. I hope that Kababji manages to maintain the level of quality they have brought it back to, back in the day I used to eat their sandwich three times a week but I don’t mind having it once every two weeks or every week, the sandwiches just a have a little too much bread for my liking but other then that the sandwiches are great.

Finding a really good Shawarma place is surprisingly difficult, when you find a place they don’t always get it right and sometimes they only have one sandwich which is good and the other isn’t. With Shawarmaty they have both beef and chicken shawarma which are AMAZING, didn’t take long to find the place since I got both directions and an address, the only problem is that its in Jabriya and there is a lot of traffic.

I ordered three chicken and three beef shawarmas in a saj warpping, they offer the sandwich in saj and bread wrapping, I prefer the saj since its lighter and crispier. The sandwiches were done in about 20 minutes and they are pretty big, about 30 cm long so I cut them in half to get them down to a more manageable size.

As soon as I got home I unpacked the sandwiches and proceeded to, I thought I would have about three or four total of the 12 pieces that were there. By the time I was done I almost had 10 pieces of shawarma, and they were so damn tasty. So many sandwiches and an amazing sauce. The saj was perfect with them, and they honestly felt light, I just kept on eating, even thinking about it right now I’m craving them. It was the best feeling to sit on the couch full and remaining stationary watching TV shows for an hour after I was done. The best way is to call ahead and order so when you get there your order is ready.

Phone: 25331512

As part of our corporate social responsibility and in a means to give back to the community and support a good cause, the management and staff at Solo Pizza Napulitana will support Bayt Abdullah’s Childrens’ Hospice in the holy month of Ramadan … Join us and help support this great cause!

For every Pizza item and Nutella Dario Sweet that you’ll enjoy with us, half a Kuwaiti Dinar will be donated towards the cause.

Solo Pizza is supporting Bayt Abdullah by donating a part of their revenue during the month of Ramadan which I think is fantastic of them. They are open between 10pm and 1am every night in Ramadan except Friday. I did enjoy their pizza I just hope they have a few more choices later in the future, I do love the mushroom pizza but it would be great to have a quotro formaggio in the near future, if you haven’t been to them yet then you should go soon.

For all things to do with Eb6ainiya is the place to check out, they take the time to really check out every new food place be it in Kuwait or any other location. And they also like to cook too, and this time they are having a recipe competition for Ramadan, check out the details at the link below to submit your recipe.

eB6ainiya blog is proudly presents: Ramadan’s recipe contest. Do you have a special recipe that is a hit between your friends and family and suitable for Ramadan? We are looking for all types of recipes, from main course to desserts. All you need is a WINNING recipe worth competing in our contest.

Link: eb6ainiya

One of the most satisfying dishes that anyone can have after a long day. Mawash tastes very good and I love Mawash with Shrimp, it really tastes so good and so warm. This dish isn’t easy to get right but once the recipe is perfect it tastes so good and especially the small shrimp.

I love these jumbo fried shrimp, I can eat them like popcorn, and especially with that sauce. The thousand island sauce or simply Ketchup and Mayo, and I add a bit of hot sauce to make it a bit spicy. I had a very nice nap after this meal.

After a long week this is one of the rewards I look forward to at home. Muchboos Deyaay is one of my favorite dishes and I try to have it at least once a week, and every time after coming back from a trip it is a must to be the first meal as soon as I get back home. Nothing fills me for the rest of the day as much as this, and losing weight doesn’t seem to be on the horizon at this point in time.

Food is something that I look forward to during the day and sweets don’t come into mind. Recently I had the chance to have the Strawberry Cheesecake from Chocolate Bar and it was heaven. I am not a man for sweets but I couldn’t believe how good this tasted. Taking a bite into it feels like a bundle of joy, and I just want to keep taking more and more bites into this cake. I haven’t had that much cake in the longest time and I keep thinking about that cake, probably the best Strawberry Cheesecake I have had in a long time.