nikkib

Pan con tomate is one of my favourites - simplicity at its best A loaf of crusty white bread 3 cloves of garlic 5 ripe, sweet tomatoes 100ml extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley Cut the bread into 1in slices and toast them until they are golden brown Cut the end off a clove of garlic and rub gently onto a slice of toast while it is still hot. Cut a tomato in half and rub it over the toast so that the juice and seeds pour out over the top. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with parsley and season with seasalt and black pepper mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

ooh those chilaquiles look amazing, i have never been to a bayless restaurant and found it so hard sourcing ingredients from his book in the UK i kind of gave up sadly ;-(

Great blog Kim - i'm looking forward to read all about your trip... Dinner here was menu tasting at work so not cooked by me but i tried cuttlefish noodles (cuttefish cut into noodle like strips and sauteed) with pistachio, coriander and mint pesto followed by a date, hazelnut & chocolate fondant - two definite hits...

basically fried cauliflower with garlic - no batter or anything, one of my favourite mezzes when paired with some tarator sauce, radish and sumac

Hit up Avenues mall, a huge shopping centre with every shop you can imagine and restaurants ranging from PF Changs (is it any good?) to an english tea house, assorted italian/french/lebanese places and most excitingly a Pain quotidien and SHAKE SHAKE due to open soon... i went to cafe blanc, a favourite from beirut and had the arnabeet (cauliflower sandwish) with tarator sauce - also popped into dean and deluca and picked up some mariage des freres earl grey (if i cant drink booze might as well splash out on some nice non alcoholic options) some jalapeno cheddar and a rick bayless chilli sauce - currently the only things in the fridge bar some water, not sure i will be doing much cooking....

Dinner out at a kuwaiti restaurant the other night, i forget the name but it is near the Holiday inn. I ordered tabbouleh, hummus and moutabal for the group to share and someone else ordered some stuffed vine leaves and a lentil dish that was like cumin spiced baby food - in a good way!(25 of us pitched up without a reservation - sat, ordered and fed within 30 minutes - pretty damn good) As mentioned in the tabouli thread - very green indeed with the scantest smattering of crunchy bulghar, one of the better tabboulehs i've eaten actually, And then i chose the mumorosh robayan (not quite the correct spelling im afraid but not far off if i remember rightly) which was translated as dry shrimp. A HUGE portion of rice with little dried shrimps scattered through it and a bowl of chillis and tomato sauce on the side - still managed to be a bit bland but was alright. Other people went for goats heart and liver - almost in a sort of spiced caponata style sauce, actually very good but more well cooked than i would have liked and something called my mothers lamb which was again LOADS of rice with three huge chunks of meat on top. The rest of the group had mixed grills (kofte, lamb chop, shish taouk etc) and dishes like kfta aryess ( see my lebanon thread for images of this - arabic flatbread stuffed with mined lamb mmmm) amongst others. Not entirely sure i'd bother going back unless we were such a big group again but the staff were very sweet indeed, so we'll see.Charcoal tea to finish which was ok - i was more interested in trying the thyme tea they had listed though.

Pollen street social was outstanding and would be nice at lunch...

great blog so far ben, its going to be a fun week following you!

And my favourite - somehow i have a feeling its not as sinister as i take it to be!

a large array of labneh in the dairy aisle and a HUGe selection of juices/non alcoholic beer/energy drinks/malt drinks etc - literally 2 full aisles to compensate for the lack of alcohol i suppose... there is also a place you can have them juice any fruit you want to buy on the spot as well as buying a single juice to take home which looked great...

OK, not too surprisingly i will go it alone (there must be another egulleter who has passed through Kuwait at some point though i'm sure..) Not too much to report as i've mostly been working since i got here but made it out to one of the larger supermarkets today and snapped a few pics for anyone who may be interested... I want to head to the souks next week at some point as i have a feeling thats where the food action is at.. Fish counter (without the local gulf prawns) so far hammour (not pictured) and pomfret have been the fish i have noticed most locally A great array of pickles/chutneys (makes a change from lebanon where "spicy" food is few and far between packaged rice/spice items and the usual array of beans/pulses And plenty, plenty honey (with nuts etc)

As i've just moved to extremely DRY (in every sense of the word)Kuwait i shall be living vicariously through this one - mines a large one with gin and cynar in some combination please...

No Harts? Admittedly only place ive eaten in Nottingham but i was really impressed as were my 27 yr old sister and 97 year old great aunt who i dined with...

Jamie oliver has a nice recipe where you cut raw beetroot and pear into matchsticks and add fresh mint and feta with sunflower seeds. I usually use pear with spinach/endive, blue cheese and walnuts but almonds would work too...

Despite eating in da polpa last week we ended up in Polpetto last night with a friend, obviously very similar to Da polpa and polpo which is a good thing in my book. Pizzette with pickled peppers and pork shoulder (try saying that after a campari or 3) swordfish carpaccio with pink peppercorns was excellent, really delicious and fragrant. Panzanella salad, braised baby gem lettuce with brown shrimps. Stand out dishes were the ham hock in a delicious broth and a beautiful braised octopus and potato salad - same prices as last week, £66 including aperitifs, 500mls of wine and a few beers. I'll be back!

Seem to have a lot of beetroot left over so another simple salad with roasted cocina squash, goats cheese and home made guacamole on top.

OK so after 15 blissful months in Beirut i'm moving to Kuwait at the weekend, a bit random maybe but does anyone have any recommendations on where is worth eating or what local specialities i should be looking out for? Any unusual customs i may need to know about specific to this area? Any help from egulleters would be much appreciated...

The Tilury in Datchworth - http://www.thetilbury.co.uk/ is decidedly more gastro but also extremely good. A birthday lunch saw us order everything from oysters to whitebait (which were outstanding, possily the best i've had) and chicken liver parfait (also excellent) to steak, burger and chips (bothe poronounced very good and very generously portioned) to seatrout with crab crushed potatoes and a steamed fish ( i forget which - plaice maybe? with lobster sauce)They do a set sunday lunch menu that is extremely reasonably priced whilst the other dishes can creep up (my seatrout was about £17) but all in all a very pleasant lunch indeed

http://www.thehollybushpub.co.uk/ - now this is what pubs are about. The landlord in a suit and simple pub grub and well kept beers. BLT sandwich was a real treat, perfect back bacon, well cooked and generously portioned with juicy tomatoes and lettuce. No restaurant food here, but if you are after a great sandwich/ploughmans/egg mayo and prawn then this is your place

agree on hereford road, used to be my local and its greta for lunch, did da polpa last week for lunch and would second there for either lunch or a cocktail/glass of wine and snacks

More ricotta gnocchi - I didnt get them quite right, they were a bit "heavy" not sure what was wrong, they were tasty enough just think something was missing, very easy to do though - thanks soba, will be adding this to the repetoire and perfecting for sure! Mine were with peas, broadbeans, chilli and asparagus with grated tymsboro cheese.

What is charcuterie sauce - that looks great.....

Pimms and crudites with a roquefort dip to start, followed by courgettes cooked on a griddle with raw cruhed garlic, chilli and lemon juice/olive oil dressing. Cumin, cayenne and coriander seed roasted cocina squash with beetroot, soft goats cheese and toasted pinenuts. Rosemary roasted sweet potatoes again as they were so good earlier in the week. Served with a simple green salad and bbq'd corn on the cob.

£30 a head for food of that quality and 1/2 bottle of decent wine is value in my book but hey - variety is the spice of life and all that...