About a week ago, the yearly change of seasons started in Qatar. This isn’t as tangible and the leaves changing color. No, in Qatar, the daytime temperature drops below 40 degrees. When that happens we all collectively lose our minds and start doing wacky things like sitting outside at night. It was a balmy but bearable Monday night and when we arrived at Mykonos at the Intercontinental Doha and overtake by this collective weather induced hysteria, we made a beeline for the outside terrace. Along with others diners we wanted to take advantage of the first days of the brief winter. I’m glad we did as it gave me a chance to…
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Money Matters – Making the Most of Doha’s New Look Dining Scene
You can put it down to a long and slow summer break, the timing of Ramadan this year or maybe just fatigue, but people in Doha aren’t spending what they used to on going out. I’ve been hearing stories of near empty dining rooms for brunch at some of the best restaurants in town. And, being actually able to get a seat at happy hour. Despite what they tell you, times are tough. We all know that the lack of enthusiasm for spending money on the niceties of life is more deeply rooted in the Great Reckoning of 2016 – when oil prices plunged and some hard business decisions were…
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Miso Happy – Nobu Doha’s First Anniversary
When the team at Four Seasons Doha incited me back to Nobu Doha to try their first anniversary menu in the company of three of my fellow favorite bloggers my reaction was in four phases: Phase one: Nobu you say? Let me clear my diary for the next month Phase two: Wait…it’s been one year already? Phase three: Who’s coming? Flying Pinay, Boulangerry and The Snapped Fork you say? Phase four: I’m free ALL MONTH Bad sushi puns and jokes aside, there isn’t much I don’t like about this restaurant. Exceptional food and service, the sexiest building in Doha and listen people, it’s NOBU. It took a long time for Doha’s outpost of the Nobu empire to…
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Instant Noodles and Bad Lighting – True Confessions of a Food Blogger
Food blogging isn’t all Instagrammed fabulosity and swanning around. Many of the food bloggers I know here in Qatar and abroad work hard to develop and write engaging content. As do I. But there are some deep, dark secrets, that I don’t even talk about after a few drinks, about my experience with blogging. Sometimes I just can’t be bothered to post. I have an over articulated work and personal life and frankly, I just want to watch TV. I would love to be more disciplined, but at the moment I just can’t. I watch more of the crime channel than the food channel. OK I do watch Masterchef, but frankly…
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So You Want to Start a Food Blog? Five Questions to Ask Before You Start
Despite my recent grumblings, I also quite enjoy talking about food blogging and social media and am heartened by the many new blogs that are popping up in Qatar and the region. One thing I love doing is sharing my experiences and supporting those just starting out. As a food blogger in Qatar, I get asked regularly for advice on how to start out in the blogging world. Thanks to the great people at QPWN I also have the chance to occasionally run workshops on the topic. Here are a few questions I recommend you ask yourself before embarking on the #bloggerlife as I call it. Why am I doing this? So as…
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Australia on a Plate – Crowne Plaza’s Culinary Journey Down Under
I have a particularly over articulated life. I write and communicate for living. So it always comes as a shock when I am lost for words. It has happened twice recently. Once when I tried to verbalize just how awful Fifty Shades of Grey the movie was. The second time was last week, when someone asked me what “Contemporary Australian Cuisine” was. Australia has one of those truly unique culinary scenes which draws on a myriad of influences – European, our Asian neighbors, influences from the Middle East and beyond thanks to immigration and of course our traditional Aboriginal owners. To borrow a phrase, it’s “eclectic”. For the next few weeks,…
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Going Bananas – A Staycation at Banana Island by Anantara
When I first arrived in Doha more than eight years ago, Banana Island was a well worn stop on the show boat route for jet skiers and partiers. But a lot can happen in eight years (leaving my 30s is one of those things) and now the island has been redeveloped into an exquisite resort – Banana Island by Anantara The island is a a 25 minute luxury ferry ride away (QR200 with QR100 credit for dining or free if you are an in house guest) from the Doha port. With a check in area and valet parking, the feeling of taking a trip starts here. Once on the island, you…
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Fine Dining With a View – Review of La Mer’s Blind Tasting Menu
I’m about to clock up eight years in Doha. I’m not going to bore you with the expat habit of saying how fast it’s gone, how things have changed etc. What I will talk about are the things that have become a constant. The irritating being the sandstorms, the whingeing expats and the bad driving. The good constants being friends, special people in my life, my job, this blog and the opportunities. There are also the physical constants – those places you have been going to for years, that are a part of your life. One of those places is the Ritz Carlton Doha. Always elegant and welcoming, I have always…
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Cheese Really Did Change the Course of Western Civilization
I don’t want to say I told you so, but this piece on the fabulous Quartz blog has confirmed what I have been banging on about for many, many years. That is…cheese changed the course of civilization. Long story short, the dawn of cheese apparently happened 8500 years ago less than a three hour plane journey from where I am sitting writing this post. In the Fertile Crescent (which stretched from Egypt to what we now know as Iraq and parts of Iran) over production of agriculture had depleted the soil, meaning our Neolithic ancestors turned to raising sheep and goats. Meanwhile, some smart cookie also invented pottery. Throw into the mix…
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Tapa the World – Brunch Without the Big Buffet
I used to be a prolific bruncher. Fridays would always consist of a jug of margaritas and a lush buffet. Brunch in the Middle East is an art and I was an old master. But something changed, maybe a desire to get healthier or a realization that I would end up spending Friday nights napping. Maybe I just got old. Last week the Oryx Rotana asked me to come our of my Brunch Exile to try their new “Tap Brunch” at their popular Cellar restaurant. I was glad I came our of retirement. This hotel is actually my “local” and to my great detriment I always forget about it and literally drive…
