Dandydish

An experiment by the wife which turned out to be a brilliant concoction of taste and texture. Cottage cheese marinated in home ground spices on skewers and grilled in the oven. Accompanied by cottage cheese salad and sliced pears.

The long absence from my last post is attributed to the summer here in Jeddah. It has started. It is getting really hot here, so much so that we have been avoiding stepping out most of the week. But finally we decided to venture out as I felt a part of my life missing without being able to taste some of the wonders that Jeddah restaurants have to offer and to be able to post it on the blog. So 4 of us decided that we needed some local flavor to soothe our systems and the unanimous choice was Montazah Al Nakheel (Palm gardens) located along the Jeddah cornice. We were introduced to this place by our Saudi friends in Jeddah, a wonderful couple who appreciate the finer things in life. From the first time we were there, we have been going there at least once every fortnight. Nakheel is basically an outdoor restaurant and a huge one at that. Going by the crowds that gather here every evening, I presume that this is indeed one of the most popular joints in and around this area. The food the...

For those of you who have not visited the Belajio resort located in the Jeddah cornice, I have only one advice. Please GO. This is the kind of impact this place had on us. I mean really, it was one hell of a fantastic evening. Wife and I accompanied by our partners in crime Mr. & Mrs. H decided to start the beginning of the week by having dinner at Belajio. None of us had been to this place before although we pass by this place almost on all our weekend visits to the cornice. Calls were made and a table booked. We were informed that they had four restaurants within the complex. 1.) Crystal: Fusion cuisine 2.) Dar Al Qamar: An open air restaurant serving Arabic/ Indian cuisine 3.) Layalina: Lebanese cuisine 4.) Tea garden: An enclosed restaurant facing the red sea offering a mix of cuisines, a la carte. All four places serve the essential shisha J We decided on Tea Garden owing to the temperature in Jeddah right now and thought the air conditioned comforts would be better than sitt...

Some things are best left unsaid. Let the pictures below do the talking. This is how it was described This is how it looked Description Fabulous end product. Location: Haagen Dazs, Red Sea Mall, Jeddah

A friend at work and I were discussing places that are ideal to just sit and relax and probably keep reading books without being bothered. Of course this place had to serve good food as well J He is a fellow who loves good food and has been in the kingdom for around five years now. He asked me if I had been to Casper & Gambini’s ever. I have had food from this place for more than ten times during lunch at work. Nothing fancy, plain old sandwiches, some good salad, but it ended there. He told me I should visit the place in Al Hamra district if I wanted to really experience the true Capser & Gambini. The Majestic structure looks truly fabulous. So we were there a couple of days back. The place is pretty easy to find and you wont miss it. The huge structure in a pleasant site although I did have my doubts as it looked pretty dull from the outside. Once inside though my doubts died a silent death at once. It is huge, and I mean really huge from the inside. Picture this, tall ...

It started out as an innocent trip to the mall to make a small purchase. It turned out to be a marathon session of more than four hours of intense shopping. By the end of it both I and my wife were tired, hungry and exhausted. We needed a feel good meal where we could sit and relax our tired muscles. We were at the Mall of Arabia on Medina road, which was not so full owing to the weekday evening. There were advertising all around the mall showcasing   two new places to eat. One was Al Balad which was the Lebanese place and the other was Vapiano’s, an Italian joint. A quick check on the tab revealed that Vapiano is a German chain offering Italian cuisine. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapiano ). Interesting enough for us to try this place out. We reached the place located in a quiet corner next to the Lamborghini café and is hard to miss. We were well past the prayer time and could hear some loud music blaring out of the restaurant. On entering, we saw separate counters displaying...