Eating Out

The compound restaurant has gotten really old really fast.  Occasionally we do go eat outside the compound.  We have actually had quite a bit of Arabic food especially at the hotel during the Iftar buffets during Ramadan.  Those were amazing and the buffets were just as big as anything I've seen in Vegas and much better as well.  There was quite a selection that included many Arabic dishes as well as foods from other nationalities as well.  Anyway, we went to those with people from Matt's work so I couldn't take any pictures of the stuff but it was quite good!  Trust me.

Well there are plenty of restaurants here.  Some good, and plenty of the same old stuff that they have back home!  First and foremost.... there are plenty of Applebee's.  Not exactly America's finest.  Still, I did want to see what the inside of a Saudi Arabian Applebee's looked like.  Other than the portable screens in the family section... well it looks pretty much the same.

This is just one of the many Applebee's around.  We didn't go to this one, we went to one in the Mall.

Pretty much looks the same!

And the food is also pretty standard.  I ordered sliders with no cheese.  Pretty yucky.

Moving on!  In this same mall, there is also a Tony Romas.  Those are actually the only two restaurants in the mall.  Everything else is a food court establishment.  Anyway, traffic was bad one night and we were buying a vacuum, and we were hungry and so we ended up at the Tony Romas this time.

Hey... it's a step up from the Applebee's!

Here is a picture of the family section.  All of the booths are curtained in.

Here is me in my standard pose now, wearing my standard abaya.  Apparently though, this wasn't enough, because the Mutawa came through and one of them looked at me and told me to put on my head covering.  Well, he said it in Arabic so I am assuming that is what he was telling me.  Since we were sitting in the family section and the whole point of the curtained booths is so that you can take off your head covering, or hijab, (thanks Mary!) I just pulled the curtain closed and he walked away.  We would have left it open but I think the waiter was worried that they would come back so he kept closing the curtains on us.

This was our waiter.  Every time he wanted to come in he would say, "Sir, madam, may I come in?" Odd I tell you.  Very odd indeed!  Anyway, I wasn't all that hungry and so I once again ordered sliders.  But these were tenderloin sliders.  Really, I do eat other stuff... and this was at least a couple of weeks later.

These were actually much better than the Applebee's.  And they came with a mustard dipping sauce.  Mmmmmm mustardy goodness!

Occasionally we get out of the mall.  The other day we went to the Four Seasons Hotel, but at the time that we went, only the lounge was open so we had high tea.  We had an Asian tea and an International tea.  Both were very good but they came with way too much dessert.  I know, how can you have too much dessert?  Easy!

This was the tea when it came out.  Probably should have just split the International tea.  But the Asian tea came with sushi... and I never pass up sushi.

Here is the tea a little closer.  The scones were so good with clotted cream and jelly.  I could only eat one, but I did sneak the other two into my purse for later.  (That's how the really classy ladies do it!)

Also, we went to a Mexican restaurant.  Anytime I see a Mexican restaurant in a foreign country, I just have to try it.  This time was no exception.  We were actually planning on going to a rather fancy Arabic restaurant, but parked in front of "El Chico," and or course we never actually made it to the other place.

Luckily, in my abaya, I am always dressed appropriately no matter where we go. No need to post another pic... scroll back up... they all look the same... only the food changes.  And so here is the food.

It looks pretty gross, but actually it was really pretty good.  Way better than Macau.  These were tamales.  I was really in the mood for those.  Not bad at all.

And finally, tonight, we had Chinese at Golden Royal Chinese Restaurant.

Kinda hard to miss this place... and yet we walked into the restaurant next door instead.  Really not sure how that happened.

 I think that Grandma was there.  That top bird looks like a hummingbird right?  Grandma always did like Chinese food!

 Here is me... waiting for the food.  It was very dark in there.  Hence the candle.

And here is the food!  Really quite good.  There was shrimp chop suey, beef with bell peppers, and cashew chicken.  We ate everything.  Both very hungry I guess.  Oh and also, I realized that when you have your own private booth, well, you can blow your nose at the table and no one else in the restaurant will see.  Like I said... Classy!!