A new year. And new promises to ourselves.
And hopefully realistic goals that we’ll keep hitting rather than just another empty resolution. And that is: to move more and to blog more. Thanks to Life on the Wedge and her recent Bloggers to Follow post we’ve been given just the nudge we needed.
By moving more, we don’t mean that we’ll be hitting the gym every day, just making sure that exercise becomes more of a daily habit… here’s hoping.
(Don’t worry if you’ve come here looking for a food review, you will still find it.)
So on Sunday (when my back-to-work-face appears) in order to cheer myself up and tick off our moving more resolution, I suggested a walk to the souq for food to one of our faves, Jasmine Thai, Souq Waqif.
And the Mr suggested that the walk went via the new(ish)Doubletree Hilton to check out their rooftop bar and their Happy Hour. The man sure knows how to turn my frown around: one Dark Glance (a lovely refreshing whisky, Campari and citrus mixture) later, a look at things from a different perspective (quite literally) and a change from the norm helped to lift the Sunday gloom.
From the DoubleTree it took us about 15-20 minutes to walk to Jasmine, where we knew what we were in the mood for ordering: dumplings and oodles of noodles.
I love this place. It’s neither fancy/intimidating nor a mediocre family-aimed chain (Applebees etc). The dishes are always full of flavour, the service fast and friendly, and although it can be quite pricey for some simple dishes, it’s a still on our go-to list.
What we ate:
Pan-fried Chicken dumplings
I’d have preferred these a little crisper, but they still had a nice bite. Although these aren’t full-on flavour, they are a comforting snack to work your appetite up for something with a little more heat.
Pad Kee Mau – Fried flat rice noodles with basil, minced chilli and baby corn
I opted for the vegetable option and to take the spice factor up a notch from medium to hot. It delivered the heat we sought yet I suspect that it’s still isn’t as fiery as it could be. We’ve ordered this dish before and it was served with lots of green peppercorns that appeared to have gone on holiday to hotter climes (how could they leave me here). Still very enjoyable though.
Phad Thai Goong – Fried rice noodles with prawns and crushed peanuts
This dish comes in two size options and we opted for the smaller portion. Wisely so, as noodles have that habit of filling me up fast. The sauce here is sweeter (soy and tamarind I suspect) and served with dried shrimps and beansprouts, fresh plump shrimp and crunchy peanuts so it delivered on taste and texture. We haven’t tried this here before, and we’d definitely have it again.
What we learnt the hard way: That sometimes even a firm favourite can let you down a little. This was by no means our all-time high in our experience of Jasmine Thai, yet we’re still happy to recommend it. A few things amiss, like all dishes coming at once, and the peppercorns’ mysterious vanishing act yet the grins still remained (or maybe that cocktail was stronger than I thought).
What we learnt that surprised us: Our walk, from outside the Port building along the corniche to the DoubleTree and the Souq and back to the car again, racked up round 7km (so maybe we could have even headed for dessert). And that the rooftop bar at the Doubletree is a nice place to get a view of a city and slurp a reasonably priced drink. Cocktails, beers and wines are 30QR from 6-8pm.
The damage: Our drinks cost us 65QR (the Mr had a mocktail) and the meal with sparkling water came to 140QR.
L & M rating: 3.5/5
Lemon & Mint
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