Breakfast woes

I am that lazy person who does not feel like getting up early on weekends and dressing up to go out for breakfast but I managed to somehow do that with an empty stomach. Me and my friend were roaming in sahara when we bumped into this nice coffee house called Icons coffee couture where they had a lovely vibe going on so we ordered Intercontinental breakfast platter which comprises of two fried eggs, two hashbrowns, labneh, grilled tomato with cheese, ricotta, fresh bread, orange juice and a hot beverage of choice.

So glad that the orange juice was fresh and had fair quantity of pulp in there. And the basket with buns and breads was awesome. The bread was so soft and so were the buns. Loved these! But the breakfast platter itself was a let down. The sunny side up eggs were over cooked and the hashbrowns were dry.

Loved the glasses in which they served juice and tea. I got green tea instead of coffee and it was nice. The staff was friendly and the service was quick. They overcharged my friend while swiping her credit card but then she contacted them and they quickly resolved her issue and reimbursed her the extra deducted money. Thank you very much for that.

July 4, 2019 0

How much is too much chocolate?

I know I will be bashed for posting this by a lot of you but hey! this is entirely true and I don’t think I can order these dishes again because they had extremely high content of liquid chocolate and while I tried eating, the chocolate stuck to my throat and felt itchy and uncomfortable. Ugh!

So I was craving for a dessert when I bumped into freez near Mamzar. This dessert parlor has 8 outlets in Dubai and I had seen them while driving in a lot of different areas so I planned to try them out with super high expectations. I ordered the customized waffle with half lotus and half pistachio and a red velvet kinder cake. The waffle was unbearably sweet, it was just too much. And not because of lotus but the chocolate effect. What I don’t understand is the fact that dessert lovers think nutella is chocolate where it clearly isn’t. I wish they would have added dark chocolate that has a hint of bitterness to it so that the flavors were balanced.

The red velvet kinder cake on the other hand was not that bad. I can have it again but with one exception. Icecream! Please add icecream on top of this which will actually make it best!

July 4, 2019 0

Chase the flavors with Manoushe street

Manoushe street has always been the talk of foodies for as long as I remember but I never really got a chance to try them out. Last week I accepted a blogger’s meet invite after a month I guess and I am so happy that I went there and tried their menu because it they had various combination of breads, salads, pizzas, wraps, Labenese kaak and manakeesh.

What I loved the most was how all manakeesh and pizza had this soft doughy bread that tasted beautiful along with their toppings. If you are a vegetarian then you my friend are in luck because they serve amazing veg manakeesh and pizza. Their potato wedges and homemade hummus was pretty awesome to begin with.

From pizza, I tried pepperoni pizza and three cheese pizza where my favorite was the pepperoni one. It was fresh, juicy pepperoni and the soft base made so much sense. Also, I would totally recommend you order their baked halloumi; even if you are not a halloumi fan. These guys bake it to perfection.

The tidbites with zaatar and spinach were also very nice. I specifically admired the sujuk because it was loaded with cheese and chicken. Tastes so much like a quesadilla but only more in terms of filling.

Thanks for having me Team Manoushe street, your service and quality of food was amazing.

July 3, 2019 0

Play with fire at the Wok’s Den

Wok’s Den is a nice restaurant located in Jumeirah 1 near La Mer with free parking and some really cool dragon graffiti on the walls inside. The kitchen has giant glass windows so you can watch the chefs in action while your food is being prepared.

The service is top notch! Our server made sure we were comfortable and helped us decide different dishes from the menu. Since we were fasting, the staff made sure that all our food was ready a minute before sunset so that we won’t have to wait and that made me feel super happy.

So we ordered Dragon shrimps and stir fried momos with schezuwan sauce for appetizers. The dragon shrimps were absolutely lip smacking, super creamy and soft to chew. The momos were an instant hit because the filling was so flavorsome and generous and the final toss in schezuwan sauce was ethereal.

For drinks, I ordered a pistachio shake and their specialty drink called Dragon’s Fuel which is suoer fun cocktail that has an intense kick of spice to it. Its literally like the sweet tangy and spicy gummy bears. I would recommend you go for it but have it in small sips instead of gulping it all in one go. Whereas the pistachio shake was great too!

For the wok, I chose soba noodles, mushrooms, snow peas, bok choy, sweet corn, black pepper sauce with chicken stripes. Loved the flavors in there and it wasn’t loaded with salt and chilli. The combination of flavors was just perfect. Wanna see how the wok was made? go check my Instagram page 😉

Then we had the triple schezuwan fried rice which were subtle and flavorful. They also have a black bean chilli sauce on the table that you can add to your food as you like. It was actually amazing and not too hot.

For Dessert, their coconut fried icecream was so delicious. I know it sounds so simple but please try it. Thank you Team Wok’s Den for the wonderful iftaar. Can’t wait to drop by soon 🙂

June 1, 2019 0

Falafel Party from Operation Falafel

I always plan to eat here but never actually do that and it had been 4 years so I finally decided to order food home and see what the hype is about. I placed order through zomato and it got accepted but then I received a call from the restaurant that they are out of eggplant so they cant put it in my wrap 😦 that was just sad, so I agreed for a wrap without it. Although they delivered complimentary hummus to make up for it but hey! ain’t no hummus makes up for eggplant in my wrap.

Anyway, the falafel were pretty crispy and good. I just feel they were overpriced just because they had a chutney filling inside. Normally, you get a falafel for 50 fils or 1 aed from street restaurants but this one was 10 aed for 4 pcs because its “stuffed”. The menu reads that these falafels are stuffed with pine nuts, onions and shatta but all I could taste was shatta (hot sauce)

The wraps were fine nothing extraordinary about those. I would suggest the restaurant to increase their quality of food in terms of flavors and decrease the price a tad bit 🙂

May 23, 2019 0

Even chicken recommends Chicken Cottage

Last week I went to Chicken cottage in the mall at JBR, Dubai. Its located on the ground floor with a great space for seating. The most intriguing part of their food is that they don’t use any preservatives for their meals. All ingredients are halal and fresh. I was fasting when I went here and planned to break my fast with the crispy chicken. So I ordered and waited for sunset to enjoy the meal. The service was a bit slow and I actually had to wait 20 minutes more but the restaurant was full of fresh fried chicken aroma so I didn’t mind. I was given complimentary dates and water.

The fried chicken I ordered was spicy and tasted really good, they have a sauce station where you can grab mayonnaise, ketchup, salsa as much as you like. I loved their salsa. It paired amazingly well with the fried chicken. Also ordered the spicy grilled chicken which was a surprise because it was superb. The flavors, tenderness of chicken and the glaze on top with that perfect charred flavor was outstanding. Loved it! I highly recommend you try their grilled chicken.

Next came the Monster burger which was actually a monster. Layered with a crunchy hashbrown and a chicken patty, this burger was pretty good. The only thing missing was a tangy sauce inside, so I slathered salsa inside and munched on this beauty 😉

For dessert, we got the chocolate brownie with vanilla icecream that was gorgeous! you can never go wrong with this combination. Absolutely loved it. Thank you for hosting me Team Chicken Cottage.

May 23, 2019 0

Kulfilicious- Your best bud for the summers

With the heavy summers approaching, kulfi and falooda are desserts that help bear the heat with a smile on our face. But only if they are made with perfection, the flavors and textures should be spot on. Hence, this place “Kulfilicious” that has over 12 outlets in Dubai. This blog is about the Deira branch that is also listed as Al Muteena under zomato. Its a colorful place with old bollywood timeless movie posters and the songs that they play are from the same movies. Their quirky stools, tables and a rickshaw inside are so instagrammable.

We started off by placing our orders: one for the royal kulfi falooda and the other was Gud Bud that’s based on a custard instead of kulfi and has more dry fruits in there. The best bit for all you vegetarian fans out there is that this comes with a vegetarian jelly also.

Loved the crunchy texture of gud bud, it had rose flavored milk at the bottom that was amazing if you eat and sip together. Super refreshing for any day of the year.

For the royal kulfi falooda, my three flavors were: Gulab daani, kaajuddin and malaika (rose, cahsew and creame) Loved the combination of these three. However, if you don’t want your falooda to be overly sweet then don’t choose gulaabdaani. I love the flavor of rose and the sweetness to it therefore I will always choose this one 🙂

The cherry on top is that they don’t use any preservatives and all the flavors are made locally. The service was pretty great and I highly recommend you try their desserts at any time of the day. You won’t regret 🙂

May 9, 2019 0

Ramadan menu tasting at Osh Dubai

Osh is a classy restaurant with some amazing interiors, located in La Mer; Osh caters to foodies with elegant Uzbek cuisine needs. Recently, I was invited to their Ramadan menu tasting and as I walked into the restaurant; their upstairs is dedicated for smokers while downstairs for non-smokers but since the meet up session was upstairs I climbed up and witnessed a dark ambiance with light only focusing on food.

We were served starters with Baba ganoush, hummus beiruti, fattoush and an egg salad. I loved baba ganoush, it had a lovely smokey flavor to it. I also tried their sambosuk that were accompanied with red tomato dip, loved these little bites. They were my favorite. Also had the lentil soup which was super comforting as the base was chicken stock. I absolutely adored it.

For mains, we tried the mix grills where Lamb kebabs and chicken kebabs were served with fresh salad. I particularly loved the chicken ones, I think the lamb kebabs needed more cooking time but they also were flavorful.

I tried their jellab drink which was presented in a gorgeous way with dates on top and lots of pine nuts inside. Loved it.

For dessert I had the chak chak which is basically crispy fried honey noodles. I wish it came with icecream because then it would have been an instant hit.

Thank you for the amazing service Team Osh.

May 3, 2019 0

The cake that broke my heart…

Magnolia bakery is the prettiest, chic bakery that you will ever come across in Dubai especially if we talk about the bakeries in malls. I’m sure you have had their banana pudding and I have to tell you that I literally dream of their salted caramel banana pudding because its absolutely delicious.

Recently, I was craving for a moist chocolate-y cake and so I headed over to Magnolia as they have beautiful cakes. After much thought I decided to go for the Devil’s food cake because it was made with dutch cocoa that creates a darker sort of chocolate and I am always ready for pure dark chocolate any day. A giant beautiful slice came on my table and I took lots of pictures and poked my fork in. I had a few bites and realized that it was dry 😦 and it needed some kind of moisture in the sponge. The buttercream frosting was perfect but the cake’s sponge itself was a little rough. The price was 28 Aed for one slice and I think its fair but I wish the cake was good.

This just broke my heart because I genuinely love desserts and cakes. So its pretty difficult for the cake monster inside me to be disappointed. I am still going to return and try another dessert from here and then update this blog 🙂

May 1, 2019 0

Jordanian cafe in downtown Dubai

Tche Tche premier is a quite fun place to spend a weekend evening at. They have separate area for smokers (outside) while inside for non-smokers. There’s even a play area for kids inside and so many LED screens to watch game on. The interiors are simple and neat, what stands out most is their superb service that won’t let you down. Our server “Nadine” guided best for their best dishes and cocktails.

We started off with the sea food sampler that priced at 70 aed and is loaded with crunchy calamari, crispy panko shrimps, mozzarella sticks and lots of french fries with dip. I absolutely loved this, especially the panko shrimps that were crisp and delicious. However my favorite part of this was the fact that it came in such big portion size that can be shared among two and the masala that was garnished on the fries :p

Then we had Chicken Escallop Funghi which is basically a chicken steak topped with melted mozzarella cheese paired with mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables. Loved the creamy mushroom sauce that accompanied this, it was spot on! Priced at 60 aed.

For sandwich we ordered the chicken zinger but it felt more like a crispy chicken sandwich as it had turkey slices in there as well. Nonetheless, the taste was amazing. The sandwich turned out pretty awesome. It was priced 45 aed

We also tried their house pizza that was priced at 48 aed and comprised of tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, parmesan cheese and beef bites. I know what you’re thinking, that these all would make one hell of a pizza but there was something missing for me. I would say may be the spice quotient could have been a bit better. But if you like low food then this will be an instant hit for you.

We were so full with all the scrumptious delicacies that we skipped dessert but wait! their cocktails satisfied our sweet tooth because they were literally yum! I felt they were more like milk shakes, I had the summer cocktail (mango, banana, strawberry, vanilla icecream, avocado and mango) priced 32 aed and TCHE’s (strawberry, banana and vanilla icecream) priced 32 aed as well. Loved the way these cocktails were presented.

Thank you for having us Team Tche Tche premier. Your service was absolutely wonderful, special thanks to Chef Sayed from Jordan who served us amazing dishes. Thank you.

April 30, 2019 0

Lunch with Philip Chang (co-founder of PF changs Middle East)

Super excited to be at the same lunch table with Mr. Philip chang who is the co-founder of PF changs ME. I’m sure you all must have been to Pf Changs atleast once, their menu and flavors are so genuine that one may find it simply irresistible to not go back. There was so much variety in the dishes I tried that day especially the few items from their newly launched menu were instant hits.

Started off with the famous dynamite shrimps. Even though there are atleast 30 restaurants in Dubai who have this dish on their menu but no one does it like PF changs because they introduced the world to it and they’re still nailing it. The main reason would be the simplicity, thier dynamite sauce is creamy and has a subtle zing unlike the duplicate ones.

The new menu had korean corn pie which was loaded with cheese and tasted quite nice. Although I wish the consistency of the pie should have been a little thicker, the flavors were great.

Also had Singaporean noodles, stir fried chicken, ceaser’s salad, chicken dumplings and so much more. Out of all these dishes the ones that stood out for me were the dumplings, they were so soft and the filling was comfortingly delicious.

They are introducing a kid’s meal called the “Bento Box” which comprises of one portion of rice, fresh fruits, vegetables on a stick, fish or chicken sticks, spring roll and a tangy sauce. My 2 year old got all excited when he saw the box coming on the table and he actually loved it.

Desserts were the best, especially the great wall of chocolate. It was the most delicious cake I have tried in a long time. Felt so satisfying, zero regrets 🙂

I would like to thank Team PF changs the QODE team for organizing such a wonderful lunch. The service was top notch and the team efforts were quite evident. This shall always be a beautiful day in my life as a food blogger.

April 24, 2019 0

Buttermilk fried chicken experts in Dubai

I am an absolute fan of succulent and crispy buttermilk fried chicken and while roaming around city walk in Dubai, I happen to find this place “Clinton street bakers” who are actually located in a less crowded kinda dark alley with decent vibes, the restaurant interior is really pleasing, gorgeous comfy chairs and candle light feels.

I instantly ordered their best seller chicken and waffle that is also on their breakfast menu, I also ordered a fried chicken salad and toddler’s meal; mac and cheese

The food arrived so quickly, first up- my toddler’s mac and cheese was amazing. They made it with precision and added extra cheese for the child. It made me so happy. My chicken and waffles were oh-so-good! the portion size was way too much for one person, I suggest you share it between two people with large appetite. What I loved most about this dish was the waffles that were extra fluffy and melt in mouth, i wish there was a buffalo sauce to accompany this dish which would have made it even more amazing.

Fried chicken salad was top notch. The fried chicken strips in there were super crispy yet not heavily battered. I enjoyed my dining experience here and I would recommend you to have the chicken and waffles here 🙂

April 18, 2019 0