Tokyo, Riyadh.... a Japanese experiance.

Most of the restaurants in Riyadh offer a tedious dinning experience, only a few truly standout. For those seeking to indulge themselves in Japanese cuisine the options are limited, but one restaurant stand out which is Tokyo restaurant located on Uruba Street. The restaurant offers an authentic Japanese experience and is the closest thing to actually eat in the land of the rising sun. The restaurant is well known for its Japanese Head Chef.

You get a glimpse of Japan when you pass the Japanese curtains at the entrance of the single's section of the restaurants and notice the rack that curtains the numerous Japanese newspapers. Then you would be welcomed by the smiles of the affable restaurant staff. The singles section is well known for its vibrant environment, the many Japanese and asian customers, the sushi bar and the tapanyaki cooking tops turned into tables. The family's section on the other hand lack the lively atmosphere found in the singles section.

Anyway to the thing that matter the most which is the food. Miso soup and salad comes with any order a customer would chose along with an infinite supply of green tea. The soup lacks texture but the dressing of the salad offers an interesting taste. The sushi the restaurant offers is one of the best in Riyadh and the best time for it is Sundays because it is the day in which the restaurant gets its supply of fresh fish. The tempura maki is highly recommended. The only problem with the sushi is that there isn't that much variety of sushi for people to chose from which I guess is related to the authentic theme of the restaurant. The dish that offers the best value for money is the seafood tapanyaki. It contains two types of fish and shrimp. And for desert make sure that you try the green tea ice-cream.

Although the restaurant does not offer an elaborate sitting, it offers food that tastes very good and is consistent. The animated atmosphere adds up to the overall dining experience. Tokyo restaurant is one of the few restaurants in Riyadh that offers a unique dining experience and is highly recommended.

Ibrahim

sombreros...margaritas...The Mexican Food Festival

Men and children wearing sombreros , margaritas, Budin de calabacita (zucchini pudding), Arroz a la tumbada, Pico de gallo salad with jicama, shrimp 'cazuela' with bell peppers and cheese. It was a festive night at La Brasserie as HE Artoro Trejo the Ambassador of Mexico to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia inaugurated the Mexican Food Festival , that will be ongoing for the next ten days.

Chef Gostavo Pinet arrived to Riyadh two days ago from Rosewood Mayakobá hotel in Mexico to overlook and prepare for this event. Eventhough challenged by the scarcity of certain ingredients he was able to bring the true flavors of Mexico into the halls of La Brasserie Restaurant at this event.

Arriving to the event I was greeted by six different selections of margaritas: Ginger, pineapple, mango, plum, white grapes, and strawberry margarita. Even though I thought the pineapple margarita would be the one I would love at the end, it was the strawberry that won the prize… Moving along I got greeted by a smiling man wearing a sombrero hat and a ponchos. Seating was scarce at first since this event was overwhelmingly welcomed. I did not mind that at all, for it gave me more time to walk between the large selection of foods and give my eyes a treat. The setting was a buffet in the middle, a hot plate station for cooking skewers and casadias, another station for a variety of cooked sea food, and a beautiful island of at least twenty selections of deserts. As usual I decided to start with something that is made by many restaurants around the world, a traditional Mexican dish, the fajitas. Even though simple to make, it gives you an idea of how well the chef is, and what is his style of cooking. I have had oily fajitas, dry fajitas, fatty fajitas while I dinned in many Mexican restaurants in Southern California, and Mexico. I must say this fajita was excellent, light on fat, but in no means dry. Well balanced is the least I can say, a delicious start to open my appetite. Next were the cheese casadias, and the taste was just getting better. Overwhelmed and anxious to try other dishes my eyes took me towards the soups. There I met Chef Pinte for the first time. It is always nice to see a chef next to food, it gives me an essence of care, not only for the food but also for the person who will be eating the food. Chef Pinet recommended the Tortilla soup, he ladled the soup into the ball, and garnished it with some bits of tortillas. The soup was a very balanced one, not an overwhelming taste of broth as it should not be for a tortia soup, and loaded with flavors. From there even though satisfactorily full; I launched into the buffet trying bits of everything. Everything I tried was either great or divine, with one exception and that is the beautifully made ‘marinated tuna in a sweet and spicy dressing’ , it looked far better than it tasted for my own taste buds. (if anyone gets to try it, please let us know what you think).

Next stop was the Treasure Island (at least that is what I call it), the island of deserts. For once I was disappointed with my own self, for I knew I cannot try all the selections of treasures. I started off trying Sopaipilla and then the toasted almonds with vanilla sauce, the toasted almonds were really good. Then I walked around and let my eyes take the lead and choose my final desert. It was grape and almond tartlet and it was divine. Other selections of desert were rich banana nut bread, sangria roulade with Grenadine jelly, cinnamon rice pudding, steamed coconut flan, orange dust, and the most wanted 5 spice chocolate mousse cake. The mouse cake must have been exceptional for I could not get my hands on a piece, and I left before the new cake came along.

In every essence this was an amazing event, and even though the sombreros men won’t be there for the rest of the Mexican Food Festival, if you are looking for great Mexican food, La Brasserie restaurant, in Al Faisaliah Hotel, a Rosewood Hotel, is the place to dine for the next ten days. According to chef Pinet the selection in the buffet will be changing between couple of menus he has setup, and depending on the fresh ingredients they are able to secure for that day.

The Mexican Food Festival will be ongoing from the 12^th of April till the 22^nd of April in La Brasserie restaurant, Al Faisaliah Hotel, a Rosewood Hotel for dinner only, and Friday brunch will have some of the selections as well.

To reserve online through artofdining.net use this link : La Brasserie restaurant

100th Anniversary for sickle cell... Meat Co, Bahrain

In recognition of the 100th anniversary for sickle cell discovery, Society members and volunteers in Bahrain are hosting an awareness/fund raising campaign for sickle anemia over the next 6 weeks.
The kick-off will begin at Meat Co Restaurant in Adliya, Manama on the actual anniversary date of April 16 (Friday) from 1pm till midnight. All food revenues will go to the Bahrain Society for sickle cell disease patient care

The price will be 20BD for a 3 course meal.

We will update you as we know more about how the society members in Bahrain of different ages and nationalities are coming together to help the society in awareness and unity.

Layth Sudairy

Roma, Riyadh... The italian dream or...

The bread.... You enter a restaurant and you are extremely hungry, low and behold, the first thing that comes to you is a selection of bread, along with a side of butter and green as well as black olive paste. it is most certainly the best quality and freshest table bread a restaurant has to offer in Riyadh. I always have to keep the bread away from me, otherwise my dinner will be consisting of nothing but bread and butter :) The olive paste even though oily is actually really good especially with the balsamic vinegar.

We were a party of 18, and the service was pretty good. Do not expect all the starters or entrees to be delivered at the same time in Roma. The servings come in waves of four to eight dishes at a time. So if you are going to wait for all the food to come to the table.... For smaller parties the food will come at the same time.
I would describe the food in Roma to be more of an southern Italian style. I am in by no means an expert about all regions of Italian food, but that is the feeling i get. In southern i mean, pasta dishes that are made with heavier sauces, cream, lots of cheese, and pink sauces. My ritual in Roma, is to order an espresso as soon as i arrive. Sometimes I order an espresso with one scoop of vanilla ice cream as my starter (yup coffee/sugaraholic) once they come, I pour my espresso or most of it atop the ice cream, and have my desert as my first. The espresso there is excellently made(check my last post about excellent espresso), They do use the same coffee beans as those used by Anthurium, yet i still like the Anthurium espresso more, and i am not entirely sure of the reason. For me the espresso in Roma is a tidbit more bitter. guess this will need more investigating.

Back to the menu, starters and salads such as carpacio, fried calamari, insalata caprese are amongst the dishes offered, I opted for the tomato soup. and i have to say it is a must try. It is not a spicy tomato soup, but i have seen people people who turned it into an ocean of chili flakes. and it tastes excellent no matter what you decide to do with it. Pastas are well done, and not overcooked, but if you want a real al dente pasta, don't forget to tell ur waiter the magic word 'al dente'. Pastas are served with couple of choices for sauces, yet from experience, you can attempt asking the chef to make you any style of sauce you could think of -I wounder if they make a potanesca, someone should try asking for that- I have tried many of the sauces, and they are all very good. My own preference is the simplest and lightest 'tomato e basilico' (not on the menu but u can always ask for it).
The main dishes are excellent, I have never ordered one that i got disappoint in, whether it was beef, lamb, or fish.


In summery I would say the rating for this restaurant (amongst others in Riyadh) is as follows:

Food : 9
Starters: 9
Salads: 7
Pastas: 9
Meat : 9
Sea Food: 9
Desert :7
Service : 8 (for party more than 6) , 9 (for smaller party)
Ambiance: 8
Hygiene: 9.5
Acoustics : 9


Please feel free to add your comments whether to support or oppose this review, it is only my opinion, and it would be nice to hear others opinion about this restaurant.

Reviewed by Layth Sudairy

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