Lunch date at Florence La Maison Méditerranéenne, Bahrain

You will most certainly agree with me that Florence La Maison Méditerranéenne is a top contender for the quaintest looking restaurant in Bahrain’s Block 338. The pastels, the green, the airy space, natural light all play a major role in increasing this Mediterranean restaurant’s attractiveness.

The husband knows I have been eyeing this pretty place since it opened up but for some reason did not dine there. May be it was some sub-conscious fear that it may fail to strike a balance and have equal amounts of beauty and reallllly good food. I am very pedantic about my food and once I have a bad experience it is hard to recover. You can say these are TRUST issues that I have with restaurants and I won’t mind it at all.

This visit to the restaurant being at lunch time, I was starving and decided to directly dive into the main course. No looking around… no teasing myself with appetizers and then complaining that I didn’t get to demolish a main course.

I ordered the Spanish Chicken (not to be mistaken for a chicken wearing a sombrero) and the hubby ordered Rosé Chicken.

Their Spanish chicken was boneless chicken pieces in a creamy sauce filled with herbs (quite strong), saffron and potatoes and I am guessing paprika. I bet some tomatoes and bell peppers were used to prepare the sauce as well. All this served with fragrant Spanish Rice.

And the Rosé Chicken was escalope chicken breast grilled and laid on a bed of fried mozzarella, and topped with some sauce (Rosé of course) served with mashed potato and steamed veggies.

I also ordered a fresh juice of Carrot and Orange and specified no sugar, and to my pleasant surprise our server mentioned that they do not add sugar to their juices and they are as fresh as fresh can get. He definitely did not disappoint me. I was presented a tall glass of this perfect juice and I got some to take home as well.

The hubby ordered the regular Watermelon juice- nothing to say about that.

As we waited for the food, they served two kinds of bread with black olive and olive oil dip and a minty coriander dip. Again we left no crumbs to trace…blame it lunch time.

For a first visit my overall experience was good. It will take more visits to taste their offerings and form an opinion. I also do not know much about the Mediterranean cuisine so I won’t comment on whether it lives up to its title. But what I would suggest it go give Florence a try.

This is not a sponsored blog post.

Tuna Masala

I know I have been MIA for more than a year and funnily enough it is because my cooking load has increased (who would have thought!). So after being promoted to WIFE, I have definitely been a lot more busy and loving it. I did slack on the blog work but probably compensated by at least posting photos if not recipes of food I have cooked through my personal Instagram handle (at least I think).

So I am back for a bit with a recently prepared dish cooked on a hungry Friday afternoon with very few and basic ingredients to satiate rumbling tummies in no time.

Tuna Masala (Serves 2)

You will need:

1 small onion-chopped finely

1 small tomato –chopped finely

1 green chilli- slit or chopped (increase the number of chilies if you prefer your food spicy)

½ inch ginger- chopped finely

4-6 Curry leaves

1 can of Tuna fish (I used the one in oil)

A pinch of cumin seeds

Two pinches of Turmeric powder

1 tsp Red Chilli powder.

2 Tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

The steps are fairly easy.

Heat a pan, add oil. Once the oil is hot add the cumin seeds when they crackle add the onions, frying them till translucent (you know the basic drill).

Add in the chopped ginger, green chilli, curry leaves- fry a bit.

Add the chopped tomato and fry them up till they become soft.

Open up the canned tuna and add that to the pan. Break the tuna down (this takes effort).

Add the masalas i.e. Turmeric, Red Chilli.

Give the Tuna a nice stir and add salt to taste.

Allow this to fry for say about 5 minutes more.

This was devoured with some plain rice and basic dal and remembered fondly even a week later.

Guest Post: Baked Creamy Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

Earlier on when I had just begun to document recipes, my friend by the name Ekta P shared her recipe Guest Post-Rajma and Potato curry  which received 144 views all thanks to her. As a new blogger a three digit view meant a lot. 

Well, she is back with a Guest Post, sharing her tried and 'tasted' recipe for 

Baked Creamy Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms. 

Creamy Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients

1. Fresh Whole Baby Portabello Mushrooms (used here 1 dozen)

     2. Cream Cheese, Softened (brand used here Philadelphia, approx.3/4th of a 250gram block)
3. Pack Of Baby Spinach  (brand used here Supafresh 200 grams)

     4. Grated Parmesan Cheese (I've used Millel; you can use any brand)
5. Salt- to taste
6. Black Pepper- to taste
7. Bread Crumbs
8. A few Tablespoons of Butter Or Olive Oil
9. 2 Teaspoon Of Garlic Paste
10. ¾ Hot Green Chilies   

    Directions

Wash the mushrooms and pat dry. Next detach the stems gently from mushroom caps & chop (as shown in the pic).  

Mushroom stems detached from the Caps.

Chopped Mushroom stems (to be used as filling)

Take a saucepan, pour a few tablespoons butter or olive oil once the oil is slightly hot add garlic paste, then let the garlic paste cook until slightly golden brown then add in chopped mushroom stem. Let this cook for few minutes.

Add Salt & pepper & chopped green chilies as per your taste let this cook for few minutes. 

Add in baby spinach (do not chop spinach as chopped spinach releases more water). Stir this mix until spinach is completely cooked.

Now add in the last ingredient the crème cheese & mix this well into a nice paste. You can also add Parmesan cheese in this mix but it’s completely optional you can skip this step.

Now let this mix cool down (suggestion keep the mix in the fridge for at least 30min). meanwhile preheat the oven to oven to 180 degrees.

Time to get the mushrooms caps ready take large baking tray place a baking sheet on the tray. Line up the mushroom caps on the baking tray.

Add a teaspoon of the spinach crème cheese paste into mushroom caps, mounding slightly. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese & bread crumb mixture over filled mushroom caps.

Finally bake 30 minutes or until you can see the cheese melt and brown. Serve hot and fresh.

Do give it a try when you feel like having some earthy and healthy food (as mentioned earlier , the cheese and creme are totally optional) and leave a comment/feedback. She will definitely be watching this page. 

Oriental Dinner at Wagamama

Over the last weekend, we went out for a celebratory dinner to Wagamama.

Although Mr D has dined at the Wagamama in the UAE several times , this was his first visit to the Bahrain branch and my first ever visit to this particular restaurant.

What we learnt from the server there was that Wagamama brings to your plate or bowl most of the Asian cuisines-and is mainly inspired by the Japanese cuisine. What was a surprise to us was that the restaurant is UK based chain of restaurants and has nothing to do from a business point of view with Asia. Interesting. Lol.

Their menu was definitely impressive. A rather notable fact for my Vegetarian readers; is that there seemed to be equally enough of green-options for green lovers.

The staff were very helpful and explained our options to us;clearly.. they knew what they were serving and were able to enlighten us.

I knew Mr D had his eyes on the curries section of the menu, and went along the recommendation of our server for the Kareraisu Beef. This is a red curry, with stir fried strips of beef, beans, aubergine and tea-stained  fried  egg served with steamed rice. Despite the red chilies being visible, the spice level was safe to say on the lower side.

Eating this curry and hot and steaming rice, gave me that warm and fuzzy feeling.

My sister and I share a love for noodles; we decided to try the Chicken + Prawn Yaki Soba minus the Prawn from the Teppanyaki section. They were kind enough to replace the Prawn with more Chicken for us.  So this was basically stir-fried soba noodles (‘Soba’ –Japanese for Buckwheat noodles), with chicken, egg and veggies, garnished with pickled ginger shreds. Happy to say, we wiped our plate clean, found no greasy noodles, and the veggies crunch remained intact.

Mum, tried the Chicken+Prawn Cha Han Donburi from the DonBuri section of the menu. This consisted of a very homely bowl of stir fried brown rice with chicken and prawns, mushrooms, corn , egg served with Japanese pickles, which mum devoured needless to say.

And Dad trusted the Chef and ordered the special, which in one word means Omakase in Japanese. He tried the -Thai Green Kare ( Chicken), which came with steamed rice. This happened to be the last one dish I tasted, and boy did I feel the kick out of the chilies in this curry. Just when you begin to feel that this is the same old Thai Green Curry, it decides to prove you wrong.

This post would be incomplete if I didn’t mention that they took hardly any time to serve us. I am definitely going to be visiting Wagamama again, and this time may be go old school and try out their Ramen and their Fresh Fruit juices, which BTW everyone is totally raving about.

Our total bill amounted to BHD23.8/- for 5 pax.

Photo Courtesy: Mr D
Please Note: This not a sponsored blog post, all opinions, feelings and experience shared are personal. 

Shot Glass Desserts

So what do you get when put someone who enjoys feeding others and someone who loves his bar?

A *read blog post title again*

Who says a dessert recipe needs to be long and intricately detailed? You can fix a quick dessert, won't make you have a tonne of dishes to wash up and is guilt-free.

Here are photos of two cute and quick desserts I whipped up for the hubby and myself in shot glasses I borrowed from his bar. 

                                                   

                                                   Shot Glass Dessert #1

Crushed digestive biscuit (not fine/powdered..keep it coarse) mixed with melted butter and spooned in to the shot glass and then left in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. Layered with some fresh cream, chocolate pudding (brand used here 'Danette'), topped with fresh chopped strawberries. 

Shot Glass Dessert # 2

This was quite simple, I alternated between layers of yogurt and fresh cut Kiwis and honey as a natural sweetener.

I hope to add more Shot Glass Desserts to this post in this brand New Year 2017. Until then have a good one!

Bahraini Breakfast at the Souq-Manama

We ate a Traditional Breakfast served at Naseef Restaurant at the Souq Mall at Bab Al Bahrain. 

We started with Freshly Squeezed Orange juice and a Lemon and Mint Juice. Both equally amazing, you could clearly tell how fresh and cleansing this was. 

Baby 'E' took the not-so-traditional path and opted for Grilled Chicken Sandwich, that came with a side of French Fries and a few slices of Cucumber. This was clearly more of a Grilled Chicken Wrap than a Sandwich but then again..what's in a name? What mattered was taste. And it wasn't too bad. 

Next came the long-awaited Tradition Breakfast on a big colorful plate was brought to us by Arif our server. Out of the several options available to us for a big plate of traditional breakfast, we chose the 'falafel'- which is a deep fried chickpea ball consisting of other beans too, it is slightly flattened and fried and you eat this in a pita bread pocket with salad leaves, 'Egg tomato'- which is an arabic style scrambled eggs with lots of tomato, 'Mashed potatoes'-this again is mashed potatoes in an arabic style with a hint of turmeric. This was served with tonnes of khuboos/arabian Pita bread.

Our total bill amounted to BHD8.250/- for 3 pax.

Photo Courtesy: Mr D
Please Note: This not a sponsored blog post, all opinions, feelings and experience shared are personal. 

Dinner at Hash House- Adliya, Bahrain

Last weekend Mr D and I decided to dine at Hash House. This place was my top choice for my birthday dinner but unfortunately on that night, Hash House was packed and the waiting list consisted of four groups which meant a minimum of an hour's wait until we get a table. Since I was with a party of 6 guests, I decided to come back to Hash House on another day.

Hash House, is located at Block 338 in Adliya, between Zoe and Coco's. The entrance to the restaurant can be easily be mistaken to be just a window of a restaurant. Once you enter you are in a blissful and warm yet busy atmosphere, both my visits, the restaurant has been busy and this tells you a lot about the place ;)

With four tables downstairs-enough to seat 10 guests and fours tables upstairs-Hash House is a tiny yet cozy place to enjoy a peaceful meal. This restaurant serves Thai fusion food with great value for money and very friendly staff.

Initially we went to sit upstairs because it was packed downstairs, but by the time we finished our delightful appetizers, it had gotten way too cold. Upon requesting the staff present there, we were given a table downstairs where is was just right!

We ordered the Crispy Prawns, (again Mr. D Seafood craving continues) plus, the table next to us had some wonderful seafood on their table. The aroma just made me agree to Mr. D's choice.

The Prawns were 'Crispy' as promised and mentioned in the menu and were fried to perfection. This dish was served with the restaurant's sweet and sour sauce.

Our second appetizer was the Beef Salad, which comprised of grilled beef of course, and a very funky and refreshing salad made of cucumber, carrots, coriander, red onions, tomato, red chilli, pomegranate seeds, celery, fresh mint leaves, lemon grass and some of the signature home made sauce. 

This definitely was a party in mouth and I looked forward to every bite. This salad, had something sweet, refreshing, spicy, crunchy, fruity!! EVERYTHING GOOD!!

 For drinks, I ordered the LemonGrass drink, which is a house special, so I've heard. I was debating  whether I should have this drink or a Tom Yum Soup, I saved the latter for later. Just another reason  to visit you can say :P. Yes it was a cold night-yes I was feeling cold, but I just had to try this pretty and not so little chilled drink-that so did a good job as a palate cleanser. Talk about refreshing!

Mr. D chose a glass of Drosty HOF Shiraz -Merlot Cape Red (South African Wine) to accompany his dinner, I remember him describing the taste as subtle but strong. He enjoyed his drink and continued to explain 'tannins' to me.

Once  it got way too cold for me, we asked if we could be moved down, and we shifted downstairs.

We ordered the Red Thai Chicken Curry accompanied by Jasmine Rice. 

Some more snaps from the Hash House..such warm ambiance..*sigh*

total bill was:BHD15.500 for two pax.

Photo Courtesy: Mr D
Please Note: This not a sponsored blog post, all opinions, feelings and experience shared are personal. 

Dinner at Rice Bowl-Bahrain City Center

During the first week of this brand new month, we headed to the Bahrain Farmer’s Market in Budaiya, which I believe everyone should visit because it is a wonderful experience. We had a big and filling Bahraini breakfast which included fried omelet, chicken liver, Arabic bread, cheese and ‘Luqaimat’ (sweet and crunchy on the outside deep-fried dumplings drizzled with honey) and Karak Tea. This breakfast kept us happy till past three in the afternoon. Following this, hunger pangs crept up and we ended up picking up lunch from Lulu Hypermarket’s Hot food section.

After a food-filled day, later in the night we headed to Rice Bowl (located on the ground floor of Bahrain City Center) for a light dinner, we were the last diners that were accepted, those who came after us were politely declined.

Since this was going to be light and Mr. D was inclined towards seafood. We ordered the Calamari, but we were informed that it was not available. Then Mr. D ordered the Tempura Prawns and for the main course we ordered the Mixed Lo-Mein.

Our orders did not take long to come-which is impressive. We were served our appetizer and before we could finish it, we were served, our main.

The Tempura Prawns -are battered and deep fried prawns which I personally felt leaned towards the non-crispy side, and it felt as if they had softened (visible through the photo). The seasoning was a miss too. This was served on a scanty bed of shredded cabbage and a slice of cucumber and tomato along with a sweet sauce.

                                                 (Tempura Prawns)

The Mixed Lo Mein (Chinese/Cantonese noodles) basically comprised, chicken, vegetables, beef and shrimps cooked with wheat noodles and tossed in Chinese sauces. The latter was definitely lacking and it resembled and tasted so much like regular ‘mixed fried noodles’. I don’t know how an actual Lo Mein should taste so I leave you to try this and decide.

(Mixed Lo Mein)

May be the next time we head there we might try the Arabian dishes. 

Please Note: This not a sponsored blog post and all opinions/feelings/experience shared are personal. 

The Urban Dhaba ,Adliya, Kingdom of Bahrain (Our second visit)

Over the extended weekend, we visited The Urban Dhaba once again, but this time we were accompanied by two of our friends.

During our first visit , which fortunately was a weekday, there were very few guests, which probably is the reason why service was super-fast. Our second visit to The Urban Dhaba was on an extended weekend, and the place was packed, and quite naturally, there was an expected delay in catering to guests.

As mentioned in my previous post that detailed our first visit to The Urban Dhaba, I longed to try their tikkas and kababs.  So we ordered the Lamb Seekh Kabab, but unfortunately that wasn’t available that night. So we ordered for our next option Chicken Tikka as well as the Paneer Pudina Tikka.

(Photo Credits: Mr. D)

(Starters: Chicken Tikka and  Paneer Pudina Tikka)

After quite a long wait, out starters were brought to us. First we were served the, Paneer Pudina Tikka- paneer squares, tomatoes and onions marinated with fresh mint paste and spices and grilled.

                                    

Next came, the Chicken Tikka served in a table top copper tandoor, with a wooden base and two skewers with 6 pieces of amazing Chicken Tikka on each *drool*. Good food makes me happy and this definitely made me happy, for I can still recount that first encounter with that amazing piece of chicken tikka.

We also ordered 2 Aloo Paranthas and 2 Chicken Paranthas served with Minty Chutney, both of which were good for the price, however, I guess in a hurry they missed checking the salt for the Aloo in the parantha.

                           [Main: Chicken Parantha (left) & Aloo Parantha (right)]

The Chicken Tikka definitely was the highlight of our second visit.

Do give this small, cozy, Dhaba a try.

Click on the link to view my first post on The Urban Dhaba

http://bpvenus.blogspot.com/2015/09/dinner-at-urban-dhaba-adliya-kingdom-of.html

Total Bill for 4 people: BHD5.300

Please Note: This not a sponsored blog post. 

Photo Credits: Mr D.