Dégustation

Cafe Barbera

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Aljufaili) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:32:00 +0000

Name of restaurant
Cafe Barbera
Country
Oman
City
Muscat
Location
Al Khuwair - Bait Al Reem
Name of dish
Barbera's Ultimate Breakfast
Only one comment about the food
The omlette was very heavy and satisfying.

Cafe Art

noreply@blogger.com (Tia) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:03:00 +0000

American coffee (1,200 RO)

Energy omolette (2,800 RO)

Art cafe breakfast(3,400 RO)

Omolette with cheese, mushroom and spinach (2,600 RO)

Tia:

Cafe Art is located near Borders, at City Center Muscat. The menu is quiet varied I asked for a takeaway menu but sadly they didn't have any. We were the only customers around, so we were served really quickly. I went for the omelet which you can choose three fillings to go with it, mine were spinach, cheese and mushrooms. Drinks are not included in the dish I chose, so I ordered black coffee (1.200 R.0). Unlike Darcy's the coffee doesn't come in a pot , so you only get that one cup. All the plates came with salad on the side, which was drizzled with a tangy dressing. As for the eggs they were amazing, very fluffy and light. The menu clearly indicates that only two eggs are used but to me it seemed more! I loved the fact that the mushrooms used were fresh and not canned, however the spinach was frozen. The cheese melted nicely inside the omelet and worked well with the overall taste. We were brought toast (4 triangles) with butter and chocolate wafers, These come free but I am not sure if its possible to ask for 2nd helpings.

Sarah:

Yet another breakfast ! I was not excited about this one at all and was insisting on going to D'arcy's instead. That morning it took me a while to get up ( not excited) and was hardly awake when we arrived and during our order , so decided to go for Energy breakfast (trying to be awake) which had two eggs, spinach, turkey sausage and turkey bacon with mushroom. The first thing that impressed me when I saw my breakfast had a salad, few resturants offer salads as a side dish in Oman something I missed much because in Japan almost every single dish would come with a salad. The salad looked fresh and crispy and tasted great however the dressing was too vinegary for my taste and I had to add more salt to it so I could eat it. The omolette was SUPERB even better than the one I had at D'arcy's everything blended really well with each other and the omolette was fluffly and not oily. Like Tia said it seemed that they had put more than two eggs in their omolette because I was struggling to finish mine.

My experience at Cafe Art was very pleasent and I keep recommending my friends and other family members to consider having their breakfast there. after such experience, it seems that I am getting lazy and I no longer feel like making my own omolettes, rather I would find reasons to go out for breakfasts ;c)

PS as you can see there is another dish (Cafe Art breakfast) in the post, this one was tasted by the silent expeditionor (who's name shall remain anonymous).

Nandos

noreply@blogger.com (Tia) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:59:00 +0000

Chicken Trinchado Meal (2.500) R.O

Chicken Espetada (5.200) R.O

Today we were set free from the Friday lunch ritual , so we decided to go to Nandos. I was a bit hesitant since my last experience at Nandos was disappointing. However, earlier this year we made a pact that to visit all restaurants in Oman lol!

I expected the place to be crowded but it wasn't although it was 2 pm when we arrived. We were seated quickly by the friendly staff and given our menus. We started with drinks, Sara had the Maderia Red and I the Caipirinha, both drinks are made with sparkling water and were amazingly refreshing. The Caipirinha is a lemon/lime mint juice. I loved the fact that it was not 2 sour or 2 sweet just the right taste:D.

For the main course I went with Chicken Trinchado Meal which is one of their new dishes. This meal comes with a spicy rice, but I chose potatoes wedges instead. The chicken was cooked Portuguese style with home-made pickles. I didn't like the taste much as it was sour (the pickels !), but the chicken pieces were tender and well marinated. The wedges were nice, I think they were fried but I am not sure. Sara had a bit of my chicken, and didnt like it all lol. The experice was good, and I am definetaly gonna visit Nandos again, my taste buds are set on Beef Espetada.

Tia

It was my second visit to Nando's but first time with my eating partner (TIA), I like the place alot especially the deco and the atmosphere. The menu didn't have much to offer, so I couldn't decide on a dish because most of the dishes they had offered rice which I don't like much. The other dishes were too cheap so I was a bit skeptical about the volume. In the end I went for the Chicken Estepanda which I already tried before.

Chicken Estepanda had around 5-6 six pieces of boneless grilled chicken thighs with some vegetables and your choice of side dish, I chose potatoes wedges for a healtheir choice.The sauce I chose was medium hot I guess, it as ok for me because I can't take spicy food, the chicken was very delicious a bit on the dry side though. Being a big fan of veggies especially zuccini I really enjoyed eating the vegetables that came with the dish, even though it was a bit too spicy. The wedges were crispy from the outside, soft from the inside and full of taste and if I wasn't already full I would have devoured all of them.

Sara

Japengo

noreply@blogger.com (Tia) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:09:00 +0000

SAS Setouchi (8.300) R.O

Genkai Salad (4.000) R.O

Yakiniku Ramen (4.100) R.O

Maki Shake/Salmon (2.900) R.O

Japengo is located along the love street or "shari3 al7ob" as we call it in Arabic. Both me & Sara were craving for sushi, and Japengo was the closest option. We invited three of Sara's friends , who were japanese and Abdullah (our brother who shares our love for food) came along. The menu offers a wide variety of cuisines..Asian, International, Italian...etc

Tia:

I started with a drink strawberry surprise , and thought it was too sweet. Whenever i take a sip my throat will burn form the sweeteness! Next was the Maki Shake/salmon, I was not impressed with the six small pieces of maki roll on the plate , they seemed so sad lol plus no soy sauce came with it, we had to ask the waiter to bring me some. As for taste, nothing out of the ordinary, I could not feel the salmon but the seaweed used was delicious. I also liked the soy sauce, it reminded me of the one I had in Japan. For the main course I chose Yakiniku Ramen. I will sum my experience with this dish in one word "failure". The noodles were not soft, and taste kinda "floury" , like it was not cooked well. The beef on top was too dry and salty , and the stock was too oily. To compensate, I tasted some of Abduallah's nigiri and they were not bad, at least I managed to eliminate the taste of the ramen!

Sara:
Genkai salad had pieces of raw salmon and tuna plus boiled octopus on a bed of red lettuce and long cuts of cucumber, carrot and radish. the dressing was japanese ponzu my ultimate favourite dressing with a sprinkle of Japanese spice. The Salad it self is filling and can be taken as a meal for those who want something light. I liked the combination of raw fish with fresh crisp veggies and the sourness of the dressing makes it even better, I highly recommend this salad.

The sashimi plate was the chef's choice of 15 pieces of raw fish cuts. Salmon and tuna are always included and the rest depends on seasonal availability. I was not impressed with the tuna, it looked too pink and didnt taste great. The rest was salmon which was ok, sea bream, snapper and swordfish was good but not great. The soy sauce they used was very tasty and so was the wasabi.

I also tasted two nigiris from my brothers plate , one was ika (squid) and the other was tuna nigiri and was not impressed at all with their sushi, and thought that the one I had in Dubai sumo sushi bento was far better. Tia was not lucky this time around and the yakiniku ramen that she ordered wasn't what she expected. good luck next time sister ;)

In conclusion, I would definitely go back to Japengo whenever I feel like eating raw fish because their prices are reasonable for what you get... waiting for "Yo sushi" to open in Bareeq shatti.

Sushi at @ Sumo Sushi Bento

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Aljufaili) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:10:00 +0000

Miso soup (9 DHs)

Shrimp gyoza (22 DHs)

Take sashimi plate (70 DHs)

Rainbow Roll (34 DHs)

Rock'n'Roll (30 DHs)

After long research and constant internet browsing we came across many Japanese restaurants in Dubai and we got really confused on which one to chose. In the end we were torn between "Sumo sushi and bento" or "Bento ya", we ended up choosing "Sumo Sushi and Bento"

I already knew what to order, so it was easy for me to decide. I started with miso soup which tasted really delicious, almost the same taste as the one I used to drink in Japan. The only negative thing I would say is that I was not really impressed with the tofu they used.

Once I ordered the miso soup I asked the waiter to bring the "Tuna lover bento", which had 2 pieces of tuna nigiri, 3 pieces of tuna sashimi, 6 pieces of spicy tuna maki roll and green salad with some raw pieces of tuna. This plate was very filling and satisfying , the nigiri wasn't as fresh as I expected it to be however the taste wasn't bad at all. The sashimi was very delicious, a little bit thick but that means more for me ;), I was not happy with the maki, and that is only because of the weird spicy sauce that they used inside it, finally the salad tasted great especially with the sesame dressing they had.

Then came the special rolls that I have ordered, Rainbow Roll and Rock"n" Roll, Rock'n'Roll is basically the same maki that came with the Tuna bento lover, rainbow maki looked very nice and tasted equally good, but I was too full to finish it. I know that next time I will go there I will make sure to order it again.

The last thing I order was the sashimi plate of around 6 types of different cuts of shashimi Tuna, Salmon, Hamour, Squid, Octopus, Crab sticks. I dont know why they have included the last one because it is not even real fish. Anyways, I was very happy with the volume for the price they offered. The only thing that I would comment on is the size of the cuts, not a complain though.

Also, I would like to mention that the taste of the soy sauce they served was a bit different from the original Japanese kind, with the first one being a bit sweeter.

Over all my experience at Sumo sushi bento wasn't bad, but compared to what I used to have back in Japan they have a long way to go. The prices are very reasonable for the volume they serve, and the atmosphere is nice and friendly. I will definitely go again.

Tropicana - Crowne Plaza

noreply@blogger.com (Tia) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:15:00 +0000

Tropicana is located on the ground floor at the Crowne Plaza hotel. It offers international buffet for breakfast (6:30 - 10:30 am) , lunch (12:00 - 3:30 pm) and dinner (7:00 - 11:00 pm).

We arrived at 8:15 am, there were only few people around, sitting outside. The weather was lovely so we decided to sit outside, however that turned to be a bad decision as we were attacked by flies. The waiter brought us coffee and its aroma was amazing, a change from my everyday morning instant coffee. The milk was right on the table, uncovered! to both me and Sara that was bad especially with the flies around. After few sips of coffee and a the 5 minute session to work out our buffet strategy we headed to the buffet.First we decided to have a look, familiarize ourselves with the stations, the buffet contained the following:
** assorted fresh veggies , labna, hummos, mutabl

** sausages (chicken & beef), baked beans, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, veal bacon

** noodles, pancakes, french toast, assorted spreads (nutella,date syrup, maple syrup)

** A station for omelet

** assorted breads, assorted muffins, assorted pastries

**assorted cheese, grapes, different compotes

** assorted breakfast cereals, dried fruits

** fresh fruits, cheese, cold cuts

** fresh juices , bottled water

** tom yum soup

For unknown reason we started with the latter, I liked the taste (its my first tom yum soup) but Sara thought it was okish.

First Round:

The labna tasted fantastic, the texture was perfect, and the taste was amazing not too sour or too bland. We both hated the buns, and thought they tasted a bit weird. The hush brown was too salty , the pancakes were a bit plasticy (is this a word?) and everything else was ok.

Second Round:

The hummus was great 2 , I liked how the texture was not entirely smooth. Sara fell in love with the cinnamon pastry and declared that its the best she ever had crispy yet soft. We were not impressed with the noodles or the muffins, and had nothing to say about the grilled tomato.

Third Round:

The cold cuts, cheese and fresh fruits were the perfect way to end our meal. They had a good variety of fresh fruits but we decided on the ones which were cut. Overall, the experience was not bad , the staff were very friendly and the view was nice. The only thing annoying about sitting outside were the flies, we were constantly trying swat them.

If you are into waking up early and having breakfast outside of your home (10 R.O for one person including tax and service) then Tropicana is a good place to do so. We are planning to pay another visit, and try their lunch buffets.

Shang Thai

noreply@blogger.com (Tia) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:55:00 +0000

I was suppose to do this ages ago but I have been so lazy. We enjoyed the food at shang-Thai, we went for lunch on the fourth day of Eid Al-Adha and we expected that the place will be packed but it was empty. Shang-Thai is located on top of Mirchee which is located next to Mcdonalds, Al-Khuwair, Sultan Qaboos Road.

We started with Xiang Zha Dui Xia (basically its shrimp on toast) and Dim Sum. Both went down very quickly and we all agreed that they were not bad.

Dim Sum ( 2.500 R.O) Xiang Zha Dui Xia (2.500 R.O)

For Drinks Faisal chose Lemon Fizz (1.200), both me & Abduallah decided on Ginger Lemonade (1.200 R.O) which is just like mint lemonade, but instead of mint you have ginger.

For our main course we went for the following:

Szechwan Chilli Prawn (6.000 R.O)

this dish was mild spicy, with a hint of sweetness but that was about it! I didn't like it much, However my three companions loved.

Kaeng Dang Goong (4.800)

This is Thai green curry , I know its not green color but that what it is. None of us liked this dish, we all thought it was too "coconuty". it was too hot that you could not detect any other taste, not even the shrimps!

Ped Makarm (4.800 R.O)

the Duck was my choice, I love duck meat and I have been craving for it so when I saw that they have it I ordered it with no hesitation. The dish was very sweet, there was nothing else special about. The only one who liked it was Sara, it was her favourite among the dishes.

Hakkian Noodles (3.200 R.O)

Sara decided that this was the best noodle dish she ever had in Oman! The rest of us just thought it was okish :p

Desserts:

Tempura Ice Cream (2.000 R.O) Kluay Thod (3.000 R.O)

The tempura ice cream was amazing, I don't know how they managed to fry the ice cream, its just beyond my imagination. What I liked about this dessert is that the ice cream was the source of sweetness while the batter covering it was not, this created a great balance between the two. It was the perfect ending for a good meal. Me, Sara and Faisal attacked the tempura ice cream, leaving Abduallah to tackle the Kluay Thod as he is a big fan of fried banana topped with ice cream.

Overall it was good experience, and we cant wait for our next visit to Shang Thai :)

Twistos...

noreply@blogger.com (Tia) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:27:00 +0000

These amazing tiny bread bites have become our favourite snacks, I love bread alot so I was really happy to find these. They come in two flavours, the cheese and onion & the black olives and oregano. I like the former better cause you could actually taste the soury/salty taste of feta cheese. Sara prefers the latter cause the cheese & onion have slight sweet flavour resulted from the onion. These snacks are very cheap, the small bag is sold for bz.200, and the big one for bz.400. I highly recommend these either eaten alone, or dipped in a rich creamy yougurt :)...enjoy!

SunBites Wholegrain Snacks - Oven Roasted Onion & Rosemary Flavour

noreply@blogger.com (Tia) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:12:00 +0000

25 g pack contains:
117 kcal
2.3g Sugar
5.4g Fat 0.6g of which saturated
0.3g Salt
Fibre 1.7g

pic

Both me and Sara liked this, the texture is quite crunchy and light and not as greasy as the ordinary crisps. These were tastier than the baked crisps. I didnt like the sweet taste (effect of the rosted onions)but at least they didnt leave a weird after taste.

Walkers Baked Crisps Mango Chilli Flavour

noreply@blogger.com (Tia) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:51:00 +0000

I've saw these crisps during Ramadan when I went to Al-Reef the Bahja brunch, I was going through one of my healthy-eating phase so I thought that this bag of "healthy" bites will be a good addition to my healthy regimen. They had two flavours, the cheese & onion and the mango chilli so decided to go with the latter (i started to imagine the sour spicy taste !). They don't sell individual packs , only a pack of six so I got that hoping that someone will be willing to share. The pack of six costs above 2 riyals.

On the pack its mentioned that they use real mango and real chilli , but let me tell you this there was nothing real or natural about the taste of these crisps. They were really bland , and had a weird aftertaste. Sara thought they were all right and recommended that I try them after Ramadan (she says fasting affect our senses!). Well I am still thinking about trying them again!

The healthy bit: a 25 g pack contains 98 kcal, 2g sugars, 2g fat (0.3g of which saturated) & 0.3g salt.

Cafe Ceramique

noreply@blogger.com (Tia) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:54:00 +0000

Date: 23rd Sep 2009

Location: Qurum, Araimi Complex

This was me and Sara's 2ND visit. We both visited the cafe last year (separately) and liked the experience and wanted to take Faisal (nephew,14 years) and Maryam (niece, 12 years) for a meal. Eid holiday was the perfect opportunity, their mother came along in addition to Raya (adoptive niece, 14 years old) . I expected the place to be packed, but it was practically empty except for 2 families.

The drinks arrived 10 minutes after ordering, me and Faisal went for Love Potion cooktail (2.2 R.O each) and both Raya and Mrayam went for Simply Smoothly (2.1 R.O each) , Raya chose strawberry and Maryam chose Mango. From the name I expected my drink to be red in color! but it was light peachy. It wasn't very sweet, which I liked. Faisal on the other hand hated that. He thought that this would good for someone who is on a diet. Maryam and Raya declared their drinks to be very "yummmmmy"!!

ToughInTheGulf 3.5 R.O

Chicken Quesadilla (3.6 R.O)

Shortly after the arrival of the drinks, the food was brought. My club sandwich -its called ToughInTheGulf no idea why! - was all right. The bread was toasted well not too hard. But I could only taste the chicken and nothing else, I would say that I've had better. The girls shared Chicken Quesadilla, and chose fries as the side dish. They liked their Quesadilla alot but thought it to be a tad spicy. They also had a comment about the serving plates, saying that they were too flat!

Caesar Salad (3.7 R.O)

Sara has been craving a Caesar Salad for a week now, so she opted for the cafe salad minus the chicken. The greens were fresh and crisp as she like them and dressing was very good. She was very disappointed with the portion size, she thought it was 2 little for that price. She also agreed with Maryam and Raya about the flat plates, saying it wasnt convenient to eat salad from a flat plate.

Shawarma Pockets (3.5 R.O)

Faisal went for Shawarma Pockets, which are basically a fancy version of the normal shawarma sandwiches. He has ordered his onions to be really cooked, as he doesnt like his onions raw. They happily complied to his request, but he was not very happy with it (although he wiped his plate clean ma sha Allah!). He thought that the shawarma we buy from Sa7teen (thats a place in Ruwi which we will review soon in sha allah) is far much better and cheaper.

Tuna Salad (3.4 R.O)

Um Faisal has chosen Tuna Salad (3.4 R.O) and liked it. I had a bit of her salad and was not impressed with the tuna in the salad. The wedges were amazing, full of taste! you could actually feel the herbs and condiments burst in your mouth as you chew. Since this is a salad the wedges were cold and a soggy, none of the crunchiness you see in the hot right-out-of-the-oven wedges.

Overall we enjoyed our time, the place was quiet and the service was quick. We liked the fact that the place is family friendly. Definitely another visit is in the plans, we all want to try our skills in painting.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen - GBK

noreply@blogger.com (Tia) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:46:00 +0000

Gourment Burger Kitchen is the latest resturant addition to city center muscat, we have been eyeing this one long before it was opened and finally, just one day before ramdhan we decided that it is time to go there after hearing alot from our friends who have been there before.

The menu offers a wide variety of items, there are beef burgers and chicken burgers in addition to vegetarian burgers. I liked how they offer two types of chicken burgers fried and grilled for the health fantics. I was a bit disappointed cause only four of the 13 beef burgers are served with cheese :(!!

A friend have been to GBK before and recommended us to try Portabella, so we went with that as our starte. Sara liked the combination of the murhsooms with rocket leaves, pesto sauce and goat cheese. She liked how the mushrooms were chewy from the inside which indicates that were not overcooked. I on the other hand, hate how "raw" they tasted, I think I wold have liked them better if there diced, grilled then combined with the other items.

Portabella (3.150 R.O)

Next to arrive was the salad, we ordered the GBK salad which was not bad. Portion should be enough for two people. I am not a big fan of salads so I only had a few bites, left Sara to hog the whole bowel. She thought the leaves were 2 bitter, and that the avocado was almost tastless and with a weird brown color.

GBK Salad ( 2.750 R.O )

The menu offers five types of fries, we opted for skin on fries. The portion was all-right for two people. they were very well cooked, crisp from the outside and very soft on the side. you can choose up to ten dippings (at an extra charge " 0.350bz") to accompany your fries. We decided to stick with good old tomato ketchup.

Skin on Fries (1.250 RO)

So it was time for burgers! I love my burger served with cheese and I wanted something different than the usual cheese burger. I ordered the Blue Cheese burger, the bluecheese was a bit overwhelming and I managed to only eat 1/4 of my burger. We both agreed that the bread was superb, soft and fluffly. We also decided that the burger on its own was tasteless, but I guess it was made this way to compliment the toppings (or so I think :\).

Blue cheese (3.650 RO)

Sara's thought her Mexican burger was too spicy for her taste, nevertheless she consumed most of her burger. She didnt like the combination of kidney beans and meat!

Mexican Burger (3.750 RO)

Every meal needs to a sweet closure, mine was the GBK original Oreo shake. It was the most amazing shake I've tasted in years. They bring it in a shaker, and pour you a full glass and leave the shaker on the table in case you wanted seconds. I finished the glass, and poured some more more for Sara to drink and still there was enough left in the shaker to fill another glass.

Oreo Shake (2.000 Ro)

Overall we had a good experience the service was good, and the waiters were really friendly and helpful. We are definitely aiming for more visits.