Out and about: Hop, Hop , Hopping

Even though it hasn't been long since the other sister has visited Jeddah but the number of new delicatessen have surely increased here that I wanted her to try. Especially the ones that I knew haven't opened up in Khobar and might take some time to pop up in the food scene there. But taking her to all these places meant we had to have abundance of days and money and that hasn't happened for a long time now :(

So it was time for "RESTAURANT HOPpING". Like most Jeddawian had gone berserk over the opening of Le Mall plaza with its 6 renowned restaurant, I was one of them too. But sadly after trying them all, I was from the group who couldn't really understand the whole hype about them. I liked few more than the others but definitely none of these places are on my "ooh I am craving...." list. So I came up with a small list of food items that I enjoyed the most on my visits to these restaurants.

Our restaurant hopping began on Tuesday around 4.00pm. Perfect day and time to avoid any crowd and queuing up. We went to Texas Roadhouse where I love the  complementary freshly baked warm sweet buns which are served when we are seated. We ordered rattle snake bite for our starter. The mix of melted cheese with the jalapeño kick do wonders in your mouth. It was  followed by delicious half portion of ribs. Many times I have heard people using the phrase "the meat just falls off the bone", I know what they mean now :). For the kids we had ordered crispy chicken basket. Even though my nephew said it tasted good, I know it would never be asked by me again. Side note: their service is impeccable.

After paying our bill we hopped to Shake Shack for some shake time. I had enjoyed a black and white shake with my colleagues when I was checking the place the 1st time. I tried there burger meal too but didn't  really enjoyed the burger but I knew I had to bring my sister to enjoy this creamy yummy velvety shake. And so we did!!!

Finally it was the last course turn. And we know which place had to be tried for it so we head over to "The cheese cake factory". They have quite a variety of cheesecakes let me tell you. Its always overwhelming for me when I have a long list to choose from. But we had a dear friend with us whose love of chocolate helped us to make the decision quicker and we welcomed chocolate raspberry cheese cake to our table.  The cheesecake was rich, creamy and tangy. Loved it.

There were more restaurants to hop on to but our tummies were full and wallets empty. But I loved this idea of restaurant hopping. It gave us a chance of trying out different places and food in a short amount of time. We would love to get suggestions from you guys, tell us your favorite items from different restaurants, and next time we go restaurant hopping we would love to try them.

 Enjoy.

Eating Out: CooKShop, Jeddah

Ok people, its been a long time since a restaurant review has been done in the blog. You might be seeing a couple of them making their way in this month or so. As the sisters are together we are hoping around some of the new places popping up on Jeddah's long list of amazing eateries.

So, the first place we went is the CookShop. CookShop is originally a Turkish restaurant. But don't get fooled by that cause its menu has a wide variety of food from Istanbul kebab to grilled salmon on Asian noodles (which we highly recommend). The restaurant is located at the end of Tahlia street, Astra Center. It is situated at the back nestled among many other eateries. On entering we were greeted by what looked like the owner of the restaurant. On our first visit I thought that was a mere coincidence but, it happened every time we went there. It gave us the feeling of how committed they were to the restaurant. The restaurant itself is decorated in a very modern yet homey style. We loved how they paired the hard wood dinning tables with mismatched upholstered chairs. The little nick nacks on the shelves, the mirrors, the glass floors added to the simple beauty of the place.

They have a wide variety of food selection. Salads, soups, appetizer, mains, desserts and drinks. We loved the way they had their menu. Their menu had little trivia info about little things like the origin of dinning tables and kitchen appliances etc. It was fun to read and  a good time pass until the delicious food arrived. The taste is great and price is reasonable. Match made in heaven for the desi's in the Arab land. One more thing that they had which was interesting was that they were asking for new recipes from their customers which on testing can be added to their official menu. So all the budding cooks, here's your chance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CookShop recently launched their breakfast menu as well and sadly as much as we love the restaurant and their food, we were not big fans of their breakfast. It offers a reasonable variety of omelets and toasts and two breakfast platters but for us it just wasn't the same or up to the mark as the rest of their menu.

 



One more thing we want to add. We love the team they have. Yes, we said LOVE and we mean it. Why we love them you ask? When we first went to the restaurant my daughter got a little sick. By little sick I mean vomiting on everything sick. The food attendants their never flinched but rushed to help us. Even knocking the hell of the men W.C door cause somebody was in there and my daughter was out there vomiting. They were so helpful I could not thank them enough.

Hope you will give the restaurant a try and love it as much as we did. Its already our go to place.

You can find a map to CookShop from Jeddahfood.

 

Monday Rendezvous: Having fish In Jubail.

My husband and I are seafood lovers, And we are always in search of places where we can have good food, at a good price. A while back the hubby bought me fresh Hamour fillet which were really good. He had a friend who took him to Jubail for some bussiness and they ended up having one of the best fish they had ever had. So obviosly a family trip was planned.

The place is the Jubail Fish Market. Jubail is about 92 Km from Khobar. I had visited the Jubail Industrial city twice before. The corniche at the Industrial city is really beautiful and I really enjoyed shopping in the Fanateer Mall. But this time we were headed to the main city of Jubail. To the Fish Market. I know it sounds weird but you will get the freshest fish from there and you can choose what you eat. They have a huge variety from Najil, Hamour, Shrimps, calamari, crabs and what not.  

Step one is to buy the fish from the shops.
Step two: there are little kitchens there among the fish shops which will cook the fish for you. They give you a number of options in which you can have your fish cooked. Grilled, fried, baked. You have the option of buying a variety of cooked Rice from there as well. which is really good. The only draw back to all this is that you dont get to eat the deliciouness right away. You have to pack it all up and drive to the Jubail corniche (different one from the industrial city, you can ask for directions from the fish market), which is at a 5 min drive from the fish market and have a picnic.

The corniche is beautifully made, with restrooms, a cafeteria and a masjid near by. Its clean, green and beautiful. 

It has a small area with play swings for kids as well. 

Some unwanted guests might also join you. but for me and my son that was most fun part. Feeding the cats.

All in its an experience. It is not the usual wine and dine but really worth it none the less.

Jeddah, Part 2 AL-Feroze

We LOVE to eat. and more than anything i LOOVE to eat out. One of the places i always go to when in Jeddah is FEROZE. Its a Turkish restaurant. Its not expensive. And its really reall good.
It has three branches in Jeddah that i know of. One of them is on Heraa Street towards cornich.
Other restautrants i love to go which caters to my Labanese and Turkish taste buds are

AL-Wazzan (available in Khobar as well)
Khayal (Labanese)

All these restaurants are reasonably priced and lovely to eat at. They taste good and are light on the wallet as well.


Feroze has a long list to choose from.
I love the bread they serve, But ask them to bring it fresh.

I am a Kabab lover, but their grill is equally tasty.

If you ever visit, do try their sizzler.

Iron, they used to serve bigger glasses. But maybe the recession is getting to them as well.

Anyways, Its a fun and fullfilling expereince. Do enjoy with your family.

Bakery Review

I am a Big Big dessert fan. It dont care what it is Pastries, Doughnuts, cakes, i will have anything with sugar in it. So a friend of ours took us to bakery here in Khobar. From the outside it didnt look much like a bakery but a restaurant. Le Gourmet is the name. But it was really really good.







They had a wide variety of things there



Sweets



Different kinds of chocolate and candies, Very tasty








miniture pastries, big ones as well. forgot to take the pic of it as i was really busy deciding which one to dig my teeth into. sorry

Cakes

Some delicacies like salmon and other processed and preserved meats

The cigar shop was located on the entrance of the bakery. but can be good gift for someone who are into cigar along with a delicious pastry.

Overall the cakes and pastries were finger licking good. Would go there as many times my husband will give into my pleadings.

The LeGourmet bakery is in Jeddah as well, on Tahlia Road.

Chronicles from Jeddah---Breakfast Anyone??

There aren't lots of activities that you could do in Saudi Arabia, especially if 1) you are a woman 2) living on your own....but most of the time I am ok with it because i believe in "Live in Rome as the Romans do".
Anyways, two to do things that I see the abundance of and personally enjoy alot are SHOPPING(should have guessed it) and Eating out. Eating out in Saudi Arabia especially in Jeddah is a Fun experience. You can find the best deals under 10 Riyals. And you can have the best ambiance and dinning environment you can imagine at the price you can imagine (ALOT). Anyways, In Jeddah you will find every cusine there is around the world. And being a desi and more accurately a lahori ( ppl from lahore) I cannot resist what Jeddah have to offer in this sector!!!

So me and a collegeue of mine have started going out every thursday to try different breakfast places. And I would say we are discovering some favorite & some completely no no place :)!!!

Few weeks back we went to a place called "The Crepe Cafe" in Star Avenue. I specifically went there because on thier menu it says they have pancakes and i loveeeeeee pancakes but sadly upon arrival there what did they tell me !!!! "WE DONT SERVE PANCAKES AND WAFFLES!!".I was like but it says here that you have so many kind of pancakes but there answer still remained the same!! I would say that it was bit of a blow for my taste buds that were already getting ready to taste some maple syrup and soft spongy pancakes, But the name Nutella crepe on the menu just saved the restaurant a huge NO NO review.




Thursdays are family day so be prepared to see some cute babies in the place but also get your ears ready to hear shrieks and yellings of the same cute babies who will not seem too cute anymore.


Now WHY would you put up a scrumcious picture of pancakes when you know you aren't serving them :S!!!

My healthy ;) breakfast....nutella crepe...it was quite yummy..but could have been yummier if it was served warm...so i could get more melted chochlate...ummm yummmm!!!

Iced coffee which is nice!! especially for a sunny warm Jeddah morning :)!!!

My strawberry smoothie.....somthing I did not like much!! it just had a funny taste...or atleast it wasn't sitting well with my taste buds !!!

My friend's philly cheese crepe. In her own words it was quite nice with spring onions and melted cheese....only if they wouldn't have taken half an hour to serve it , we might have gone there another time!!!

Ummm.. overall a good place with nice decor, good ambiance, an ok food ...nothing that you must have to Have as soon as you think of it!!! Rest is for you guys to check it urself.....

Until Next Time

Toodlessss!!!