The SteakCompany – Bareeq Al Shatti
The SteakCompany (Telephone 2469 5903 – Map) is a steakhouse located in Bareeq Al Shatti Mall. The SteakCompany is located in the same spot as the now defunct Abala, but it is not owned or operated by the same people. The SteakCompany is relatively new and at the time of this review the restaurant has only been opening for dinner and not lunch.
BreadTalk Ramadan Specials
The Omani Cuisine received a surprise package in the mail today from BreadTalk – a speciality bakery in Bareeq Al Shatti Mall. The package had a set of BreadTalk’s upcoming Ramadan special mini treats called “Petite Delicacies” which has a combination of savory and sweet items. The “Petite Delicacies” will be available during the holy month of Ramadan and Eid.
I am kind of ashamed to say this, but this was actually the first time I ever try something from BreadTalk – and it was quite good!! Have you guys been to BreadTalk before? What do you think of it?
Hot Pot & Grills – Bareeq Al Shatti
Hot Pot & Grills (Telephone 2440 4291) is a new Asian grill restaurant located in Bareeq Al Shatti Mall right next to B+F and Wasabi.
The seating in Hot Pot is pretty good with a brick and bamboo theme nicely set. The place is relatively small though and it can seem that you are almost sitting in the middle of the walkway if you sit right next to the entrance.
The concept of Hot Pot is that you order to have a platter of vegetables, chicken, meat, or seafood that gets cooked on your table for you on the circular grill you see in the image above. The platter comes with a variety of vegetables and noodles that gets boiled to be served as soup while the meat or whatever you are having will be grilled and eventually the whole thing is served with steamed rice and two bowls of soya and chili sauce.
While the concept sounds like fun, it can be a little bit weird because the waiter puts everything for you on the grill, flips the food to make sure it is properly cooked, and then serves it for you on your plate – it can be a little bit awkward to have the waiter standing over your shoulder for the whole time. I am not sure if you can ask to cook your own food on the grill, but I am aware that it could be a little bit risky as some people might eat things raw or burn their food completely if they do not know what they are doing, another thing I should point out is that there is only place for one grill on each 4-person table, so if each person ordered a different thing you will have to wait for each of them to get cooked before you can have the thing you want – this means that the only appropriate way to order these platters is to order different things and just share everything with everyone.
We tried the chicken platter and the seafood platter and I really liked them both, but I have to say that I liked the chicken one more just because I am a big chicken fan!
I thought that soup was way too much that what a person can handle – each one of us just had one small bowl which was barely one quarter of what we could have had. We were a little bit irritated because the steamed rice only came after we finished the first platter.
In addition to the special hot pot platter, Hot Pot offers a number of soups, salads, dim sums, and sandwiches. We ordered a beef dim sum which took a really really long time to arrive, but was actually pretty delicious when we ended up having it. My friend tried a Hot Pot Burger and quite liked it.
Hot Pot offers a variety of silly-named juices and smoothes, I tried the Lemonino with Mintino (AKA Lemon and Mint) which was as good as what you get in other places.
For some reason, like Wasabi, Hot Pot does not offer any desserts.
In total we ordered 1 starter, 2 hot pot platters, 1 burger, and 2 fresh juices, our bill was RO 23.217.
I thought the service as Hot Pot was OK, the waiters seem to be very polite and friendly, but the order in which our food came was messed up (the starter came at the end). Hot Pot is not exactly a new place at this point, so it really makes you wonder why they can’t get this right.
I enjoy my experience at Hot Pot and I recommend it to those who want to try some different Asian food.
Wasabi Sushi – Bareeq Al Shatti
Wasabi Sushi (Telephone: 2469 9490) is a Japanese restaurant located in Bareeq Al Shatti mall. It is located in the far right side of the mall right opposite B+F.
Wasabi is a relatively small restaurant with about six or seven dining tables only, yet luckily the place is not exactly crowded as only half the tables were occupied when we came to dine in on a weekend evening. The layout of the place is quite modern and stylish, though a bit dim to some extent. Fun thing about the restaurant is that they have an LCD connected to a camera right on top of the chef showing the preparation process live. Make sure you check it out!
Besides sushi, the menu of Wasabi Sushi has nothing at all other than soup and salad. We ordered the traditional Japanese miso soup (RO 1.900) to which you can optionally add salmon. I had mine with salmon and quite enjoyed it!
The sushi menu of Wasabi Sushi is divided into Hosomaki (rice roll with filling inside and seaweed wrap on the outside), Futomaki (larger rice rolls with additional toppings on the outside) , Nigiri (fish pressed on top of rice pad), Sashimi (raw slices of fish), and Temaki (hand rolled cones of seafood). In my most recent visited we tried a hosomaki Tiger Roll (4.100 – which had tempura prawns, cucumber, avocado, flying fish roe, and Japanese mayonnaise – pictured above), a futomaki Dragon Roll (RO 5.900 – which had tempura prawns, avocado, tuna, salmon, roasted eel, mayonnaise, flying fish roe and teriyaki sauce – pictured below), a futomaki Namoro-Maki (RO 4.700 – which had prawns, crab, avocado, and fish roe topping), and California Rolls (RO 4.500 – which had prawns, avocado, cucumber, Japanese mayonnaise, and flying fish roe). I liked everything we had, but I thought my favourites were the Namoro Maki and the California Roll.
In total we ordered 3 soups, 4 maki dishes, 1 soft drink and two small bottles of water, our bill came to about RO 30. I thought that the service was quite good and fast enough. My only complaint about the restaurant is that it doesn’t seem to offer much besides sushi. I mean, they don’t have any drinks other than soft drinks, water, and coffee – they don’t offer juices or any speciality drinks. There are also no desserts at all.
I still had a great time at Wasabi, I like their food and will be going again for sure!
Have you been to Wasabi Sushi yet? Do you think that sushi are going to pick up in Oman anytime soon?
Ubhar – Bareeq Al Shatti
Ubhar (telephone: 24699826) is an upscale Omani restaurant located in Bareeq Al Shatti mall. It is located at the main entrance of the mall and has another entrance from the inside opposite Caribou Coffee. Ubhar is the name of an ancient lost city that is now believed to be located in the south of Oman.
We went to Ubhar in the afternoon of a working day, the place was full and we had to wait for a while before getting a table. I have never been to the restaurant before so I am not sure if this situation is always like that before the end of their lunch time session. The setting in Ubhar is a fusion between contemporary and old Omani styles, the walls have small window-like shelves that have clay pots from Bahla and the glass walls have traditional Omani fittings, while the chairs have contrasting flashy pink fabric – it is very vibrant and nice!
The menu of Ubhar is full of traditional Omani food with an Arab/continental twist. For starters they offer a number of salads, an appetizer platter, and a number of soups. The soup I had was the Matrah Paplo (RO 2,200), inspired by the Balushi dish of the same name, the soup is made up of a turmeric, dried lemon, chili, and sea food. It comes with a small cup of rice to dip in your soup. I really liked it and I thought that it tasted genuine.
For the main course Ubhar offers a number of rice dishes, some sandwiches, and pasta as well. I had a Camel Biryani (RO 5.500) which had camel meat cooked with nuts, raisons, and a variety of spices. It came with rice, one papadum and a cup of raita. This was my first time to try camel meat, I thought that it tasted like mutton more than anything else. I liked everything in it, except the raisins, I am not a big fan of raisins at all and I think the dish would’ve been better off without it!
Other people with me ordered Fish Machboos and Chicken Qabooli, both of which are traditional rice dishes from the Gulf.
For the drinks I had a juice drink called Al Sahil Sunrise (RO 2 – not pictured) which had orange, pineapple, kiwi, and strawberry. I thought it was really awesome!
Ubhar offers a number of desserts such as Omani halwa, date ice cream, saffron creme brulee, chocolate fudge cake, and tiramisu made with Omani coffee. Unfortunately we didn’t have the time to try desserts because we had to run.
In total we ordered three soups, three main dishes, and three fresh juices, our bill came to about RO 30.
I really enjoyed my experience at Ubhar, I thought the food was nice and the service was good even though there was a big delay for our food as the place was quite crowded when we got there. Ubhar is one of the few authentic restaurants in Oman and it was done with great style. I am sure I’m going to bring any guests who come visit from abroad to this restaurant to show them what food Oman has to offer!
B+F Roadside Diner – Bareeq Al Shatti
B+F Roadside Diner is a burger restaurant in Bareeq Al Shatti mall (Telephone: 2469 8836). It is located on the far right side of the mall if you enter from any of the main entrances. B+F (short for Burger & Fries) is supposedly a branch of another restaurant called Burger Boutique originally from Kuwait.
Unfortunately B+F was crowded as usual when we went to it, so we couldn’t take proper photographs of the seating area. The restaurant is not massive in size and is stuffed with many tables and chairs, it is not uncomfortably crowded, but it is not exactly the place to go to if you want to have a private conversation. B+F has a unique theme of low lighting and modern stylish art. It is almost always crowded in the evening, on weekends it is normal to record your name and wait for up to 45 minutes before you get seated. They will offer to take your mobile phone number so that you can walk around the mall until they call you to come inside. B+F does not take phone reservations anymore.
B+F offers a variety of burgers, salads, grilled meals, and pizza, but the place is ALL about the burgers. We do still take starters when we go there, the starters they offer include nachos, soups, beef skewers, and a variety of tex mex starters. We had this time the Spicy Chicken Quesadilla (pictured above – RO 2.450) which I thought was awesome. It was not really spicy, but still full of flavour, the bread was also nice and tender.
There are loads and loads of burgers at B+F, some classics, some gourmet, some in sandwich form, you name it. Each of these burgers may be served in “Burger Style” which is your regular burger or in “Slider Style” in which you will get two mini burgers served on a long pad. This time we had a Bacon Swiss burger (pictured above – RO 2.850) which had a juicy beaf patty, beaf bacon, swiss cheese, grilled onion, grilled mushrooms, lettuce, pickles, and a special B+F sauce. It came in the perfect size and I really liked it, it was juicy as described and the sauce was nice.
We also ordered a Oz Gourmet burger (pictured above – RO 4.250) which had a grilled beaf patty, topped with cheddar cheese, fried eggs, onion rings, bacon, tomato, pickles, beetroot, lettuce, ketchup and mayo. It was a bit hard to handle as it was big, but it was still quite nice!
For the drinks we had a Banana Berry Smoothie (1.950) which had fresh banans and mixed berries and a Red Planet (RO 2.250) which had red berry, pomegranate, pineapple, and apple juice. I really liked my Red Planet, I thought it was refreshing and the pomegranate bits were cool!
B+F also offers a number of sidelines such as fries and onion rings and desserts such as cakes and brownies, but we didn’t try any of them during our visit.
The service is B+F is good, the staff are very friendly and talkative, the food took a bit of time to get to us, but we did not mind it.
In total we ordered 1 starter, 2 main courses, and 2 smoothies, our bill came to RO 14.438.
I love B+F, their food is amazing and the atmosphere is nice for people who into that sort of place. If you have not tried yet you are really missing out!
If you are another B+F addict, what is your favorite burger?
Abala – Bareeq Al Shatti
Abala is a continental restaurant in Bareeq Al Shatti (Telephone: 2469 5903). It is located right next to the food court inside the mall. I think it opened earlier this year, was closed for a short while very recently, but is now open for business as usual.
Abala is all glitz and glamour. Everything from the tiles on the floor, the chairs and all the way to the cutlery napkins are super stylish. Abala also has some seating outside the restaurant for those who want to enjoy the nice weather of the winter. We went early in the evening while a big match was taking place, so the place was empty.
The menu at Abala is very extensive and serves everything from soups, salads, and nachos, to burgers, risottos, steaks, and pastas.
We were undecided between having Calamari or the Turkey Bacon Wrapped Shrimp (RO 3.5) for the starter, we ended up having the shrimps, which came out as four pieces of shrimp wrapped in a small slice of turkey bacon. It tasted alright, though the *dip* below the shrimp tasted better than the shrimp itself.
For the main course I had a club sandwich (3.5) which came with chips. The chips felt as if it was precooked earlier and then reheated just before it got served to me. It was dry and cold. I didn’t like the sandwich itself either, the toast was very dry, almost burnt, and the filling was a bit too salty for my liking.
My friend had a risotto with chicken and mushrooms (RO 3.5), he asked them to change the mushrooms with dried tomatoes. He thought that his dish was “acceptable”.
For the drinks we had a Citrus Splash mocktail (RO 1.9) and a She Said Red mocktail (RO 2.1), I had the She Said Red, which had orange juice, strawberry juice, and pomegranate juiced mixed with crushed ice. We really liked both of our drinks and thought that there were the highlights of the visit.
The service at Abala was really good, everyone seemed friendly and our food came really fast. Not sure if it is always like that or just because nobody was dining at the restaurant at the time we went. In total, we ordered 1 starter, 2 main courses, 2 mocktails, our bill came to RO 16.
We did not like the food at Abala, I did not think that the starter was special at all and I really didn’t like my main course. I cannot really recommend this place. Has anybody else been here? What do you guys think?
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