Category Archives: restaurants

Breakfast at PAUL, Muscat Grand Mall

Posted on May 11, 2013 | 3 Comments

PAUL is a lovely French bakery/café/restaurant on the 1st floor of Muscat Grand Mall (MGM). They’ve been open about a month now and so we wanted to see this restaurant that everyone seems to be talking about for ourselves. Plenty of options for bread at the front counter These pastries look incredible! Just look at the amount of fruit heaped on top! I’ll have to try some of these out on a future visit. When we went to PAUL, we were thinking lunch but we were too early and had to settle for breakfast. There are different menus for breakfast and lunch/dinner. As the menu states on the bottom, you can find out more about PAUL by visiting www.paul-bakeries.com or you can like them on www.facebook/PAUL1889.arabia . Plenty of seating options at PAUL. I didn’t get a photo of it, but the front of the restaurant has a good number of tables. This pic (just above) is of the smaller room situated between the front and the back, outdoor seating area. Not sure how much longer sitting outdoors will be an option with summer fast approaching. The “bacon” on the menu is veal bacon which is often used as a pork-free substitude for regular bacon. This first page of the breakfast menu contains eggs, sandwiches and crêpes. As with any pic on this blog, you just have to click on it to get the high resolution (and larger) image. My wife and our guest chose the Marseillaise Omelette (3.9 OR) on our first visit to PAUL while the sister-in-law had scrambled eggs (4.2 OR). I had the Breakfast Complete (6.9 OR). No complaints about the food! We all enjoyed our breakfast at PAUL. I’m still not sure if the Bread Basket comes complimentary to each table or if it was part of the Breakfast Complete. Large 1.5 Evian (1.7 OR), Hot Chocolate (1.8 OR). Breakfast combo choices like “Parisien”, “Continental” or “Complete breakfast”. Viennoiseries (meaning “things of Vienna”) is a new word for me! There were moments of reading the menu where I felt like I was back in a French class! ”Nos pains, nos gains”, haha! They might want to consider making the menu more in English (like translating “pain” into “bread” as one quick example) to avoid what I imagine must be plenty of questions regarding translation from customers. This was a delicious pastry or “viennoiserie” (Anglaise Apple) that I chose with my continental breakfast. My wife thought the Red Berry Mint Juice (2.4) was sour. As you can see, PAUL is located near the front of MGM on the first floor. Seems that PAUL in Oman is so new that they still haven’t added Oman to the list of Middle East locations on their website! We thought it was a decent place overall and the food was good but service could be better. Maybe it’s because they were so busy, but service was quite slow. Our bill came to 27.032 OR which included 2.232 OR (5% municipal and 4% tourism) tax. We are looking forward to trying out their lunch/dinner when we get a chance. (Tel: +968-2200-9583, +968-2200-9584) Have any of you been to PAUL? If so, how did you find it?

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Tagged chez Paul Muscat, french restaurant Oman, MGM restaurant Muscat, PAUL Oman, Paul's MGM, restaurants Muscat Grand Mall

i foood “Digital Food Cafe”, 18 November Street, Azaiba

Posted on May 10, 2013 | 7 Comments

Yes, it’s called “i foood“. No, that’s not a typo and I’m not sure why they’ve added that extra “o“. Maybe it stands for “O, that was a decent place” or “O, the bill’s quite low!” or “O, my! Why did we wait so long to try this place?!” This tiny restaurant is on 18 November Street just down the road from the Sultan Center (on the same side). I guess these digital menus make this a “digital food cafe”. I’m not sure about their claim to be ”the Middle East’s first digital cafe” though! (Especially since this place has only been open about 7 months.) I guess it’s a kind of marketing gimmick as you can just as easily order from the waiter as we did! This is the first page of the i foood menu which explains what i foood is and their “3 simple steps” of ordering: 1) Choose the dish, 2) Add ingredients, 3) Choose sauce or cooking style. This is partly what the small restaurant looks like. There are 4 such tables which can seat 6 people per table, making a grand seating capacity of 24. Bread sticks and oil as you check out the menu and wait for your food. (or should I say ”foood“?! ) One of the main reasons for checking out this restaurant is that they have a page with 3 coupons for this restaurant in the 2013 Entertainer Oman. Page 2 of the menu with Doners, “Favourites” and Frites I really enjoyed my Mixed Doner on Pita Bread with Garlic Mayonnaise (1.9 OR). I like how they give you extra sauce in a dish even though they already put plenty of sauce in your doner just in case you’d like more! Page 3 of the menu containing Wraps and Grills My wife wanted to try the i foood Platter pictured here (5.2 OR). It’s their specialty dish and well worth a try! We had ours with Tandoori Naan, mini yogurt and sweet chilli mayonnaise. Needless to say, we did not finish all our food and had to take some back home with us. Page 4 of the menu consisting of Pizzas and dishes from the Wok (Oddly enough, we didn’t plan on ordering an item from each page of the menu, but it just worked out that way! ) Canton Noodles! Another fine choice by Mrs. Brown! Surprising that this delicious dish cost only 800 baizas!!! (500 for the noodles themselves and 300 for oyster sauce added) The 5th and final page of the menu containing Pastas, Salads, Desserts (not “deserts”… ) and Drinks The Mixed Berries (2.5 OR) pictured here was SO delicious! The menu states that “At i foood we serve everything fresh” and this was definitely true of the juice! The Chocolate Bomb (2 OR) was a great way to end our meal! Our total bill before coupon came to 16.352 OR for all the food listed in this blogpost + 1 small water. After using the Entertainer Oman Coupon, the bill was only 14.224 OR. (They add 12% tax to the bill.) Not bad at all for the feast we enjoyed! Here are the gentlemen of i foood: Dian, Philip, Nripin, Sujan and Roni. Great service and very helpful in describing the menu and how i foood works. Believe it or not, 2 of these men even insisted on carrying our bags and baby stroller right to the car for us. Talk about over-the-top service!

Have any of you been to i foood? If so, how was your experience? They are open 12pm-3pm and then 5pm-1am. (New timings of 8am-3pm and 5pm-12am are coming soon.) i foood delivers within Al Khuwair, Ghubra and up to and including the Wave. (Tel: +968-24121114) You can check them out on facebook to see delicious pics of their food at http://www.facebook.com/ifood.muscat

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Tagged 18 November Street restaurant, cheap restaurant Muscat, digital food cafe Muscat, Entertainer Oman 2013 coupons, good cheap restaurant Oman, i food Muscat, i foood Muscat

Italian Master Chef Series 1/3 at Tuscany, Grand Hyatt Muscat (May 8-12)

Posted on May 8, 2013 | 4 Comments

“ITALIAN MASTER CHEF SERIES AT GRAND HYATT MUSCAT - Tuscany is set to welcome the first out of three Italian Master Chef series in May. Grand Hyatt’s award winning signature restaurant, Tuscany is set to host a five-day Italian Master Chef series from 8 to 12 May with Exclusive Sponsorship from Qatar Airways, a world class international airline offering 5-star travel experience of exceptional quality & comfort. Argentinean Chef de Cuisine, Francisco Canzano has extensive experience within the Hyatt brand. He started his career in Paris where he worked for the acclaimed Park Hyatt Paris Place Vendôme. On weekends he also worked in local brassieres adding accumulative experience in French and international cuisine. His next move was to Italy at the Park Hyatt Milan, where he learned all the secrets of the Italian kitchens and continued to pursue his career with a speciality in Italian cuisine. Chef Franco then moved to the Grand Hyatt Regency in Spain and learned more about Mediterranean cuisine. After spending years in Europe, Chef Franco made his way back to his home town Buenos Aires, where he worked at the Park Hyatt for six years as Chef de Cuisine at the main all-day dining restaurant. Chef Franco recently moved to Doha in January, where he quickly gained popularity preparing a fantastic variety of high quality food at Rocca, Grand Hyatt Doha. Grand Hyatt Muscat’s General Manager, Garry Friend with Chef Francisco Canzano from Grand Hyatt Muscat’s facebook page.

On the last day of the Master Chef Series, Chef Franco will host a cooking class for interested and up & coming chefs on Sunday, 12 May. The cooking class will feature unique Italian ingredients and professional cooking techniques priced at RO 18 per person. Everyone is welcome to join, cook and indulge in delicious food.

For reservations or more information, visit muscat.grand@hyatt.com, call +968 2464 1234 or email muscat.dining@hyatt.com. Check the hotels Facebook page for more updates facebook.com/GrandHyattMuscat .

If you’ve never been to Tuscany, this is a great opportunity to check it out. Read our review of this fine dining restaraurant from about a year and half ago.

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Tagged cooking class Muscat, Grand Hyatt Muscat, Italian food Muscat, Muscat special event, Tuscanny Muscat

The Friday “Beverly Hills Brunch” at Grand Hyatt!

Posted on April 24, 2013 | 2 Comments

I posted this image more than a week ago (along with 2 other events advertised) after it was sent to me from Grand Hyatt Muscat. They wisely send out such promotions to those in media, including simple bloggers like myself. I hit the reply button and asked them to book us some seats for the launch of the buffet on Friday, April 19th and I’m glad we went as it was one of the best Friday brunches we’ve ever experienced in Muscat! I’ll let the pics do the talking! The General Manager of Grand Hyatt Muscat, Garry Friend with guest of honor, Matthew vanKan, who performed at a sold-out concert the same evening at the Muscat Jazz Club (aka Copacabana). If you do go for the brunch + alcohol deal, you should realize that alcohol is not served until 2pm on Fridays. We were more than satisfied with the brunch + unlimited soft drinks for 22 rials (all inclusive). Carl the friendly DJ! Musicians are also part of the live music offered during this special brunch. Probably my favorite pic from the brunch! The incredible Grand Hyatt chefs take a short pause for a group pic. Just one of several plates I enjoyed… Eat today and diet tomorrow! Plenty of desserts! Anyone familar with Mocha Cafe might realize from this pic that tables have been cleared away to make way for all the extra food provided in their Friday brunch! We were very impressed with this new Friday “Beverly Hills Brunch” at Grand Hyatt Muscat! The best part was when we asked for the bill and the waitress came back to tell us that “the bill has been completely taken care of”! WOW! What a pleasant surprise! That had to be Nicole! We were more than ready to pay 22 rials (tax and unlimited soft drinks included) each for the buffet as the food was so delicious. I was especially impressed with the sushi, lobster and steak. The waitress informed me that the Beverly Hills Brunch will run until May 11th and then close due to the summer heat. I really hope that this brunch becomes a norm at the Hyatt as it really is a fantastic option for family dining on Fridays! You’ve got 3 weeks to try this buffet out before they close shop for the summer…I’d definitely make a reservation if you’re planning on attending as they were quite busy even on the first week of this promotion. (Tel: +968-2464-1234)