Happy Sarah California

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner
Price: 2.200 BHD
Dishes:  Carne asada soft taco with side of guacamole
Payment: Forgot to ask
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No (I don't think so)

Tonight I stopped at the Mexican/Filipino restaurant with the odd name of "Happy Sarah California".  It's run by Filipinos, but I was interested in the Mexican food.  It's a bit further down Shebab Avenue than most venture, but I like the places this far down as they are much less pretentious.

I opted for the carne asada soft taco and a side of guac.  The salsa that came with it was not very good, but the taco itself was a hand-made corn tortilla and the asada with pico de gallo was quite tasty and larger than I expected.  I have to say I was surprised.  For the Middle East, not a bad taco at all.

I wouldn't mind coming back to sample the pinoy cuisine another time.

Azal Pottery House

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner
Price: 6.400 BHD
Dishes:  Lamb dish, chapati (and we were served an extra free dessert)
Payment: Credit cards accepted
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Finally got to a new restaurant on Shabab Avenue (aka "American alley") the other night.  I was told this is a new Yemeni restaurant and having not had Yemeni cuisine before I had to try it.  It's set up more like a fast food restaurant where you order and pay first.  There are numerous items on the menu, most of which come with bread and rice.

Lamb and rice

I opted for the lamb dish, which looked delicious.  I also wanted to try their version of chapati.  The lamb dish was quite tasty, though full by small bone shards, so careful eating.  The broth was great too.  They brought a dish of rice though I said I didn't want any, which was good too, though I only ate a bite.  It comes with bread as well if you want, but I got the chapati to try it.  It was not the best chapati I've had, being a bit dry, but good for sopping up the broth.  It also came with some kind of spicy sauce that tasted like nothing but salsa verde, and a good one at that!

Dessert dish

As a bonus, they brought out a dessert dish for us, which was some kind of possibly bread or rice porridge, with a distinct banana flavor, sweetened with syrup and cheese on top.  I had a bite, it was ok, but not my preferred type of dessert (I like chocolate).  Very generous of them though.

Quite tasty and I'd definitely try it again if I lived here.

Takht Jamsheed

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner
Price: 17.460 BHD
Dishes:  Iftar set course
Payment: Credit cards accepted
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Just pick the soup, the rest all comes...

I'm glad to be able to record a restaurant at the Gulf Hotel of better than Ok quality.  Takht Jamsheed is an Iranian/Persian cuisine restaurant.  They are also open starting at Iftar, and I definitely planned to give it a try.

I chose lentil soup

They are not serving a buffet, but rather a set course in which you choose your soup, the rest is all fixed.  I figured it would be a lot of food, but wow...it was a feast!  So much good stuff, I could barely taste most of it.  I tried to not overeat on the initial appetizers, and I'm glad I did because when the main courses (!) arrived there was a ton of meat to eat as well.  I didn't even bother with dessert as I could barely limp out of there.

I can't begin to describe or name all the dishes, I'll just leave the photos here:

Al Waha

Rating: OK
Meal:  Lunch
Price: 11.000 BHD
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Mixed grill
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Al Waha is the name of the "common" restaurant in the Gulf Hotel.  It's one of the two places open during the day in Ramadan, and the only place open for breakfast.  I've had a couple of breakfasts which consist of only the buffet, which is insanely expensive.

I went there to try the lunch option today and was pleased to see I could opt for something from the menu.  I chose the mixed grill.  It was fairly spendy and not a ton of meat, but it was better than the things I was seeing on the buffet.

Despite having a discount (I found out about yesterday), the price came to a higher than expected 11 BHD, again, probably because I ordered water and was brought a precious glass bottle of unicorn tears.  Oh, and some extra olive oil and yoghurt...that probably pushed it up there.

I've figured out that I should buy something at a grocery store from the deli section to have for breakfast (cold...not microwaves for guests unless you have a fancy suite).  For a 5 star hotel, this place kinda sucks.

Elysee Restaurant

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 13.800 BHD
Dishes:  Iftar buffet, shisha x 2
Payment: Not sure if credit cards are taken, but probably
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Yes

Another evening in Bahrain during Ramadan, another iftar buffet.  I spotted Elysee on my way to the Extovert cafe the other night and noted the shisha pipes.  I went back with my friend last night and we had their iftar buffet, which was much better than Extrovert's.

Of note were these interesting fried triangles, which turned out to have a fried egg inside, perfect breakfast food, though I've never seen it anywhere for breakfast before.

There was a spicy baba ganoush as well that was noteworthy.  They were bringing out thick fresh baked bread that I wish I could have partaken of, but I'd already eaten kibbeh and some other carbs so I passed.

Definitely a cut above, I'd love to try this place's regular menu.

Sato

Rating: OK
Meal:  Lunch
Price: 16.300 BHD
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Steak teishoku
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

The other restaurant open during the day for lunch at my hotel is Sato, a Japanese restaurant.  Normally I wouldn't eat something I can get all the time on a trip, but my options are extremely limited.

Sato has lovely ambiance, and they do try hard with all the Japanesey things.  The menu has a lot on it, and it is eye-wateringly expensive.  I opted for a cheaper teishoku with steak (only 7 BHD on the menu).  Of course, I asked for water and got something european in a glass bottle.  Then I asked for a side of avocado, knowing this would be spendy, but I wanted more good fats.  All of this plus tip added up to 16.3 BHD, so you can see how quickly this can escalate.  It's a pity, because there is plenty of reasonably priced food to be had in Bahrain, but it's all closed during the day, and so many places are doing these buffets that justify a big price for dinner.

Anyway, the teishoku was kind of funny, tasting very unlike a real teishoku, but that's not necessarily bad.  There was more flavor for one.  The steak was good enough, and the miso tasted good too.  The funniest thing was that in addition to the yellow pickled diakon (which is more Korean than Japanese), there was a strange purplish looking thing.  I tasted it and was amused to find it a beet, something I don't think I've ever had with a Japanese meal.  Anyway, I passed up the rice and the sweet things on the plate (shredded carrot, ginger dressing soaked salad, two sweet sauce platters) and tried to only eat the stuff that isn't poison.  The side of thinly sliced avocado arrived and I was glad for it, though the sticker shock at the end of the meal unpleasant.

Extrovert Cafe

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner
Price: 5.5 BHD
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Buffet
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Yes (shisha mainly)

It's been a long time!  I've been eating carnivore for the past several months, so my eating out has been limited.  I'm in Bahrain again for work for the next two weeks, so at last I can start reviewing restaurants again.

Unfortunately, it's Ramadan, which means my options are quite limited.  There's plenty of food after 6:30pm, but most everyone is running an Iftar buffet, and I'm not exactly a night owl.  Lunches will probably be quite dull, or if I'm lucky, leftovers.

I got in yesterday in the morning and we got to our hotel by late morning.  We ended up eating at the only restaurant in the hotel that is still open at that time, the "main" one where people who get free meals eat.  It's partitioned off with screens so we don't bother those keeping the fast.  Apparently the only restaurants allowed to be open during the day are like these that are sequestered within hotels.  Let's just say it wasn't really worth reviewing.

I'm staying at the Gulf Hotel, which has an insane amount of restaurants here normally.  I've actually reviewed the Italian place once before.  Many of these are simply shut down all month, and the rest only open in the evening for Iftar.

I managed to stay up until the evening, and since I knew of a decent shisha spot nearby, I figured I'd eat dinner there at Iftar as well.  I found the Extrovert cafe the last time I was here, while hunting for different shisha spots.  I guess I never ate there though, as there is no review up.  It was another buffet of course, but not a bad price at 5.5 BD.  We were allowed to start loading plates up around 6pm, but had to wait for the official announcement to start eating at 6:24pm (it changes slightly each day).

The food was just ok, nothing spectacular, as I usually find is the case with most buffets.  I've never really been as fond of them.  I may end up back here again to smoke shisha, but probably won't partake of the buffet again.