Wood Pizza

While at the Hidd LuLu last week, I noticed a wood oven pizza restaurant in the food court called Wood.  My wife and I went back to check the place out.  They had nice selection of pizza, pasta and salads on the menu at a decent price.  We ordered the veggie pizza with extra pepperoni (4BD) and a Insalata Verona salad (1.2BD).  The pizza and salad were OK.  Not a meal I would drive all the way to LuLu's just for the pizza.  However, if I had to choose between Wood pizza and a food court burger joint, I would choose the pizza. 

 

Frangipani (New Location)

A Frangipani has opened up in the new Nasser shopping center.  I've been to the one at Seef Mall, so my wife and I were excited to check out the new restaurant. The staff was very welcoming and the restaurant offered regular dining as well as teppanyaki style service.  For appetizer, I ordered the seaweed salad (2.5BD).  I thought it was delicious and would go back just for the seaweed salad alone.  For my main, I went for a yakitori theme, and ordered the grilled chicken and the grilled squid (1.9BD/2.2BD). The chicken was ok and I would say the squid was good.  My wife ordered the Mongolian Beef (5.2BD) and we shared the Volcano Roll (4.3BD).  The beef was delicious; however, the Volcano roll was a little disappointing.  The rolls came out with a heaping of crab salad on top of the sushi rolls and was very messy.  Overall, it was nice meal. The star of the meal for me was the seaweed salad.  

Seaweed Salad

Mongolian Beef 

Volcano Roll, Grilled Squid, Grilled Chicken 

Al Forno

My wife and I headed over to Al Forno for an early, quick dinner at Amwaj.  For starters, we had a complimentary plate of breads, called the La Cassetina, that came with a pesto and red sauce.  The bread was really good. Together, we ordered the Gnocchi Bolo (4.7BD) and the Insalata Pasta (3.25BD).  My wife didn't care for the Insalata, but I thought it was ok.  I'm not sure I would order it again.  We both enjoyed the Gnocchi. Add a couple diet cokes, and the total bill came to 11.05BD.  Not too bad.  I've been to Alforno before (See Review) and think I would prefer ordering the pizza next time, but again, we wanted some light and quick. 

La Cassetina

Gnocchi Bolo

Insalata Pasta 

Tea Club (Amwaj)

I had to make a trip back to Amwaj to satisfy my longing for the buffalo chicken wrap (3.5BD) at the Tea Club.  It's delicious! My wife ordered the Mini Cheese Burgers (3.5BD) and we split the Cream Earl Gray Tea (2BD) for our drink. The Tea Club is a very nice place to try a large array of different teas and has a very nice menu.  Not only does the Tea Club have the best buffalo chicken wrap in Bahrain, they also have the best Cheese Steak.  See my review.  We also picked up a couple bags of tea for our friends stateside.  Their favorite tea is the Mlesna Tea.  The 500gr pack runs 6BD.  

Buffalo Chicken Wrap 

Mini Cheese Burgers

 

Maki

Maki is a favorite to a lot of my friends, but this was our first trip.  We went to the web page, and was able to make reservations via the web.  In fact, the manager called back within 30 minutes to confirm our reservation and asked if we wanted to be seated in smoking or non-smoking. We parked in the general parking area for the Moda Mall. My game plan when ordering was to order the top recommendations from our friends.  As a result, we ordered a lot of food! The lighting in the restaurant didn't allow me to give the pictures their true justice.  We ordered the Crispy Salad (5.5BD)  for a starter. It was a nice portion, with crispy potato chips and wonderful dressing on top.  We followed that up with the Garlic Tuna Tataki Sashimi (7BD).  The tuna was very, very good.  We then had two main dishes, the Volcano Maki (6.5BD) and the Tartufo Yaki Udon (8.5BD).  Both dishes were outstanding. The Tartufo Yaki Udon had very thinly sliced scallops cooked with truffles.  Every dish was delicious and worth the price.  Of course, there are a lot of sushi restaurants here in Bahrain. Yo Sushi, Bushido, Kabuki and Sumo Bento to mention a few; however, for a very upscale restaurant with delicious food and wonderful service, Maki is my recommendation.

Garlic Tuna Tataki Sashimi

 

Crispy Salad

Volcano Maki 

Tartufo Yaki Udon

Mooya Burger

Mooya Burger is a favorite for a lot of people in the Juffair area.  My wife has fell in love with the Black Bean Burger with fries (2.5BD).  My preference has been the Grilled Chicken sandwich, but on this trip, I opted for the Black Bean Burger Salad (2.9BD).  The salad was surprisingly good.  I ordered it with "everything" which came with lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, grilled onions, sautéed mushrooms, fried onion strings with swiss cheese and a balsamic vinegar dressing. I also loaded it down with some Cholula  This was a really good lunch for a total cost of 8.7BD.  

Black Bean Burger

Black Bean Burger Salad 

Reyes at Coral Bay

My wife and I stumbled across Reyes restaurant over at Coral Bay.  It is a Lebanese restaurant that also offers hooka and serves alcohol.  The place has a great view of the marina and has smoking and non smoking areas.  The menu has traditional Lebanese grilled dishes in the 2-3BD range and seafood selections from 7BD.  I ordered the Mutable Batinjan (1.8BD) and it was very good.  For my main dish, I had the Dajaj Meshi (grilled chicken) (2.8BD) and my wife ordered the Hammour Meshweh (grilled fish) (7BD).  My chicken was good; however, the fish was lacking seasoning.  It was a nice size serving, it just lacked any real flavor.  I think the bread was the best tasting dish.  The overall experience was ok, but the mood about the place was very somber. I wouldn't put this on my top ten list of must-try places to eat.

Mutable Batinjan

 Dajaj Mesh

Hammour Meshweh

 

Joey's Pizza

Ok, pizza fans, there's another pizza place open over in the new Nasser shopping complex (near the Nestle Toll House). My wife and I wanted to try the Garlic Bread with Cheese (1.5BD) and pizza.  We asked the waitress how big the large pizzas were, and she brought out the serving tray for the large and medium pizzas, and the large would've been the largest pizza I've seen in Bahrain.  We chose the medium pizza, which was perfect.  We ordered a half/half combo of the Bianca, which included pepperoni, green peppers and mushrooms, and the Capricciosa, which came with salami, pepperoni, olives and onions for only 4.2BD. Both were very good and filling.  There is a unique taste to the pizza sauce, which I couldn't put my finger on.  I'm not sure if it's tangy, or sweet, but it's different, and pretty good. The menu calls it "Joey's Famous Sauce", but didn't give the secret recipe.  The menu also offers pasta, Risotto and desserts.  We'll be back to try one of the pasta dishes in the future.

Half Bianca and Half Capricciosa 

 

Garlic Cheese Bread

DWTC

Potbelly

It was lunch at Pot Belly's for lunch at the City Centr.  I've been to the restaurant once before, so I decided I would go for a soup instead of the fries.  The fries are baked steak fries, not bad if your counting calories, but not what I was desiring for lunch.  I ordered the Chicken Salad Sandwich on toasted wheat bread (2.6BD).  I added lettuce, tomatoes, olives and peppers.  It was delicious!  I also ordered the smaller, cup of Broccoli Cheddar Soup (900fills).  The soup was also very good as well. Overall, a very good and filling lunch.   

Chicken Salad Sandwich and Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Bait Al Donut

There are several new shops open at the Nasser Shopping area by the Nestle Toll House Coffee Shop.  Bait Al Donut is a little stand with excellent donuts.  We went after dinner, so they didn't have the largest selection; however, they were very fresh and tasty.  The donuts run between 400-500 fills each.  The glazed donut was melt in your mouth fresh.  The shop is open from 9-12am and 4-9pm.  

Yo Sushi!

There's a lot of good sushi places here in Bahrain.  One of my favorites is Yo Sushi, behind Johnny Rockets by the Seef Mall. The place is casual, has a sushi go-round and offers a lot of dishes you can order off the menu. My wife and I used an Entertainer coupon, so we were able to buy 4 dishes and get 4 dishes free.  Most of the menu items run between 1BD to 2BD for each plate.  We also ordered the all you can eat Miso Soup for 700fills each. The Spicy Edamame was a nice change and I really enjoyed the Crab Onigiri.  The Crab Onigiri is a special order item, so you'll need to ask for it to the waitress.  We also enjoyed the Hammour Katsu, Spicy Crunchy Prawn, California rolls and the Chicken Katsu Mango balls.  Add a couple drinks and the use of the coupon, the bill came out to be 12.26BD. 

Spicy Edamame

Crab Onigiri 

Kimchee Salmon Salad 

Hammour Katsu and Chicken Katsu Mango 

Spicy Crunchy Prawn and California Rolls 

iL Capo (Pizza)

There's a new pizza place in Hidd, offering New York stye pizza.  The pizza's are made with a Neo-Neoopolitan crust. The menu includes several pizzas with either a red marinara sauce or a white sauce.  I found a good map on the restaurants web page, however, we didn't know until we got there that they didn't have any inside dining.  They were kind enough to offer us the small table outside, but it was over 100F, so we decided to take to to go. The pizzas come in one size, large.  We ordered the custom (4 topping) (7.0BD) with beef pepperoni, green olives, mushrooms an roasted peppers.  The pizza comes with two drinks as well.  The pizza was really, really good.  It was loaded with toppings and a lot of pizza sauce inside.  My wife also ordered the Fried Garlic Bread (1.6BD)…oh, it was very good.  Oh, the pizza looked so good when we got it, we decided to head over to the park at the airport and ate it in the front seat of the car.  Enjoy!

 

Fried Garlic Bread

Noodle Factory

My friend and I headed out to Amwaj for an early dinner.  We ended up at the Noodle Factory for some Asian.  I ordered the Tom Yum soup (2.4BD) and the Roasted Egg Plant in chili sauce (2.6BD). My friend ordered the Beef Ribs and steamed rice.  The egg plant was very good, as well as the soup.  However, the soup was loaded with lemon grass, there was a lot of inedible pieces left over.  My friend said the ribs were very good, but pretty pricey for the portion (5.9BD).  Most of the menu items run between 3-6BD.  Overall, a very good meal. See my previous post here. 

House Boat (New Location)

The House Boat is one of our favorite places to eat at Amwaj.  I'm happy to report there's a new House Boat that opened up in Adliya.  My wife and I visited for lunch on a Friday.  We arrived around 1130, and we had the place to ourselves.  On the menu was the Dhal soup (1.9BD) for starters, followed by the Rock House Beef (5.6BD), Steamed Basmati Rice (1.3BD) and Chicken Tikka (3.6BD). Everything tasted great, but the Rock House Beef was really, really good.  The beef was tender and the green peppers and sauce were delicious. Add a couple ice teas for 1BD each and the total bill came to 16.7BD.  Great meal!