Yum Yum Restaurant Review - July 15th 2012 @ 7:30pm

Al Ghanim, Doha, QatarP.O. Box : 24207Phone: +974 44 333 000

http://k108hotel.com

Well well well! Finally a restaurant with a name that says it all, Yum Yum! For those of you who have not yet been here, do yourself a favour. From the ambience, decor, simple menu, great service and high quality food, it's very difficult to fault this restaurant. Featured as part of the K108 Hotel, this top floor restaurant serves meals at breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the evening, the view of the city from the top floor is simply stunning, with a lovely view of the Museum of Islamic Arts.

French Chef Hugo Coudurier has done a remarkable job. His menu changes weekly, and the selections of Starters, Mains and Desserts are small, simple, yet with options that cater for all. I have eaten at this restaurant 3 times for dinner and about the same for breakfast. Words cannot explain the quality and taste. People of Doha, this is a must dine at restaurant. I have only had exceptional meals each visit and trust me, so will you. I have even taken a few guests along with me and without fail, they were flawed.

July 15th was for a table for 3. Each of us drooled over the menu and my guests simply loved the decor, view and environment. I have attached the menu below for that week, but for this review, I ordered the Tuna Sashimi with Exotic Fruit and Sweet Soy Sauce, Basil Ravioli for my main and a Selection of sorbets for desserts. You can see from the menu that there are also meat, fish and other vegetarian options. Oh my word! The sashimi, pictured below, was immaculately presented on a plate with a fusion of flavours that deliciously integrated into an explosion of Yum! Wow! I had no other option other than to let my guests try it and bang, same result. The fruit, small jellied savoury discs filled with peppercorn and fresh sashimi were so fresh they melted in my mouth. My guests ordered Arancini and Carrot and Ginger Soup....watering mouths and silence said it all.

Next to come was the Basil Ravioli (picture below). Beautifully presented home made ravioli pasta leaves filled with puree basil. The pasta sheets were so thin they were see through. They were topped with a divine tomato and onion puree that again just melted in my mouth. I also had to share one of them with my guests who were flawed. Nicely sized portions too, but I felt I could have gone on forever. One of my guests ordered the Lamb and was speechless and equally shocked that she had never been to Yum Yum beforehand.

For dessert I had the sorbet, all freshly made. I had Apple, Raspberry and Lychee. One word, AMAZING! One of my friends had Choco Apricot. This dessert was simply presented, but had enough flavour on one plate to produce sounds of joy. It was a combination of a milk chocolate mousse base with a scoop of dark chocolate fudge like substance that was too die for....and a scoop of apricot sorbet on the side just to top it off. 3 very happy campers who ate well proportioned meals  and ended with content tummies.

So, overall, I can't help but give this restaurant a perfect 10! Congratulations Chef Hugo and the whole team at Yum Yum, including Artesia! 

Sticky Fingers: Lo Spaghetto - Doha - Restaurant reviewAl Sadd, Do...

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Lo Spaghetto - Doha - Restaurant review

Al Sadd, Doha, Qatar

Map Location

7th July 2012 at 19:30

Parked on a corner location, this small yet busy italian restaurant has a lot to offer. As usual, parking is not easy to find (common in Doha), yet upon entry into Lo Spaghetto, there is a hint of an italian village lurking in the background and the voice of one italian head chef who is repeating orders in English followed by a sentence in italian; the added sparkle! At the forefront of the kitchen is yet another italian pizza maker with a massive oven. I can already smell pasta and pizza in the air.

There was only one table free which is always a good sign. The menu selection was extremely comprehensive and titled in both Italian and English. It ranged from many vegetarian options, meat options, salads, pastas and pizzas. They also discreetly outline in their menu that their homemade pasta is for sale. The pasta options included Spaghetti, Linguine, Fettucini, Tagliatelle, Ravioli, Pappardelle and all homemade. I chose to go for the pizza and a Caprese salad. For those lovers of pineapple on pizza, you will not find it here. This is a truly italian pizza menu. The pizzas are all made fresh in front of you and the pizza chef likes to demonstrate his pizza dough flipping abilities.

What gave it a quirky ambience was the multi-cultural staff. They ranged from Filipino, Indian and Chinese; a fully integrated and diverse working environment. Some of the waiting staff need to turn up the volume on smiling a little versus a blank face. Some training in terms of probing questions should also be on the menu for their serving staff. Without looking at the menu, I asked the waitress if they had lemon mint drink, she replied "no." What I was expecting was, "Were you after something fresh? We do have a range of drinks, here's the options, is there something from interest on this list?"  Anyway, there's always an opportunity for development.

The food did not disappoint. The Caprese salad was very fresh. The buffalo mozzarella was just perfect and the tomatoes at least were in good shape. We asked for some balsamic glaze and clearly this was also homemade. It was missing some of the potential additives that can be found in the supermarket types. The pizza soon followed and it was very italian. It reminded me of the pizzas I'd eaten when visiting Italy. The base was very thin, crisp and topped with simple basic ingredients. I had a Pizza Romana which included: aubergine (egg plant),  fresh tomato, mozzarella. It was light, crisp and equally tasty. My fellow diner had the fresh Ravioli and I gathered they were good when there was no conversation coming out from his mouth for the duration of the meal. There was the occasional moan of "yum" sound coming through. I did have confirmation that they were in fact delicious.

For those three dishes, plus a plain bottle of water, the bill came to QAR 188, or approx $51 USD. This is actually very expensive when you consider the cost of pizza dough. For this price I expect way better service, even though the food was good. Price must equal quality all round. Not so good service also means that my likelihood to return may not be as often.

Overall rating: 7/10. Get the service to match the price you charge and this will increase.

Restaurant Review:

Diwan - Lipscani (Old City) in Bucharest

Friday 29th June, 2012

I hadn't been out to Bucharest for almost 2 years and all I can say is WOW. Lipscani, the old city, has really come to the surface. The place is just amazing and absolutely buzzing. I was there on a Wednesday night at 22:00, many restaurants were still very occupied, illustrating the re-birth of the area as well as some hope for locals as they move ahead into a new future.

On Friday evening, along with my friend Vicky, we dined out at a Turkish Restaurant called Diwan. The place looked fantastic on the inside and the waiting staff were in full costume. The menu was very comprehensive in terms of choice. In fact there were so many entree choices. We were served by a young gentlemen who could not have done enough for us in terms of customer service and making us feel welcome. He saw we were struggling with the entree menu options and he comes back with a massive tray that had all of the entree options on it and advised us of his favourite ones and also popular ones with customers! The food was simply amazing, the Turkish music played in the background adding to the ambience and the drinks were either freshly made options or wines and beers that accompanied the cuisine.

We also shared a main meal as we ate way too much with the entree selections. At this point, the belly dancer came out, just in the background, non intrusive and again, that Turkish flavour was in the air. The desserts looked amazing, but we seriously had no room to digest. Shisha (Hooka) was also available in various flavours too.

For all the great flavoursome quality of food we ate, plus drinks, plus tip, it all came out to £40! I have to commend the waiter as his service was exceptional!!! Shame on me for not asking his name.

A definite 10 out of 10 for me and will definitely go back again.

June 22 2012

Restaurant Review: Comptoir Libanais - 65 Wigmore Rd, London.

Website: www.lecomptoir.co.uk


I have a few rules when it comes to dining at restaurants.

• Smile and greet as soon as guests walk in
• Provide menu and ask for drink within 10 minutes. Over 10 minutes....I walk!
• Check to see if all ok at least once into the meal
• Check on drinks
• Waiting for the bill after asking for it shouldn't take more than 10 minutes

Well, what can I say? Most of the above points were not met when it came to Comptoir.

It was a quick hello and seated in a hidden corner table. I start timing and at 9 minutes, only because a couple next to me had waited over 10 minutes to pay that I got attention. I asked for my two entrees and one of the Hot Specials. The waitress, in a boring (I don't really want to be here) voice said that they don't have any of the Hot Specials. Me, disappointed! I then order something else and wait.

The hummus I ordered came out first and it was amazing. I was waiting for my Fattoush salad that was also an entree. It surprisingly came  out with my Chicken Tagine main course?? Why?? Who knows! Anyway, the tagine was very nice and the fattoush had onions in it, yet the menu didn't have onions listed in the ingredients. It was extremely bland and not at all worth the money.

Overall I have it a 5/10. The food is it's saving grace! On to the next restaurant.Le Comptoir Libanais