Dining out --Kuwaiti Style

THANKS to superKuwaitblogger, Intlxpatr, for this tip and the "use" of her photos
We've started something we call Adventure Dining. Once a week, we get into a taxi with friends and ask the cab driver where he would go if he was eating say Chinese, or Indian or whatever. It's been quite fun and we've been treated to some great new restaurants.

Last night's Adventure Dining took us to a place recommended by another expat on her wonderful blog. So we convinced the BFFs to drive us there.

We were treated to a lovely Kuwait style dining experience featuring very "old Kuwait" decorations and overall feeling. The old Kuwait means that there were lots of Bedouin embroideries and the color scheme was along the lines of being out in the desert. (Complete with twinkly lights in the ceiling to imitate the stars)

First of all, Bachelor Men are seated on the first floor and families and women were seated on the second. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for a private cabin. As we were the only Westerners in the restaurant, I was worried that we might not have enough "Washta" to secure a seat, but after 10 minutes, they showed us to our booth.We enjoyed having a cabin all to ourselves. It was an enclosed, privacy booth. Very special, very nice.

The real reason it's enclosed is so that Muslim women can eat and take off their abiyas (the covering they use over their faces). The waiters knock each time they enter.There are cushions on the booth seats with a lovely fullwindow view of the shopping mall across the street. Almost like sitting in the front window seat at Riverside Coffee in PR, but not quite.

As you can see, the menu was quite extensive. I ordered the dish that had mutton and rice. The rice was very similar to Somali dishes I've eaten before. Loved it! David had a curried chicken dish which he said was good.

The meal began with pickled carrots and parsnips (they love to serve pickled vegatables here) and a "salad" which looked like the tops of parsley leaves. Of course, we were supposed to eat it with our hands (it was the Bedoin way after all). There were also some "spices" which David tried. He immediately grabbed his glass of water but he was it was "interesting."

The main meal included humas (my new favorite thing), salad, our main dishes and then was followed by a plate of sweets. Some things were VERY sweet, like divinity and then there was a caraway seed cookie which seemed like it didn't have any taste at all until the last bite.

It was a delightful time. Unfortunately it will be a limited time that we can dine out with our BFFs as they've accepted a new position in Seoul South Korea. Alas, such is the International Teaching life.

I'm deinately learning to Live in the NOW!