Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Dinner at Bohemia's

Outside of the restaurant, Bohemia, in Adliya. It was dark and this pic is blurry... and you don't get to see the whole bldg... but, it gives you an idea of the place.



This isn't the best pic of the outside of the restaurant... it doesn't show the height of the bldg.... and how cool it looks, but this is the best we could do when there were so many cars out front and a constant stream of traffic.

The dinner we had wasn't as great as I had hoped. The place was nice on the inside w/ light burgundy and teal colored walls, nice light fixtures, a beautiful old wooden door at one end of the dining area - if you know the doors in Muharraq, then you'll know what type of door this was... overall the ambiance was really nice. Drinks were good. I had a marvelous orange, banana and strawberry juice that was just incredibly delicious, and Hashim had the house red wine, which he seemed to enjoy. The waitstaff were courteous and knowledgeable, which is always good when ordering... but the food, well, it could have been a lot better, I think.



For appetizers, I had an avocado and crab meat mix on red cabbage, but it came out looking a lot different than I expected and the taste was just too strong on the fishy side, which I don't care for. I think it would have been better if they had used some lemon and other herbs in the mix, but... they chose a different route, and I think if they had put the mixture right on top of the red cabbage and put a dressing on top of that, it would have been extremely tasty, but as you can see, they brought out the mixture in halved avocado shells - not nice. Hashim had a calamari salad, which ... after he ate the calamari and some of the salad, I had the remaining- and it was delicious. The dressing was some type of balsamic mixture w/ lemon and maybe even a tad of mustard... w/ spanish olives, aubergine pieces (that were to die for), small little baby onions that weren't too crunchy and melted in your mouth, tomatoes, mushrooms and yellow bell pepper. ummmm... it was so so good.

For dinner, I had first wanted pasta and should have gone w/ that choice, but I let the hubby talked me into having salmon, which I figured would be good for the baby. So, I chose a grilled salmon steak with a creamy garlic and white wine sauce, au gratin potatoes and a veggie mix. Hashim decided on a t-bone steak w/ a creamy pepper gravy, french fries and a salad.



I didn't like mine at all. The salmon was way too fishy, which I can't stand - thankfully I had the gravy to dip it in. I only had a small amount of it and brought the leftovers home to feed to the outside cats! The potatoes were the best thing on my plate. I ate every single, delicious bite of those. They were rich and creamy w/ the added benefit of being mixed w/ an aged cheddar cheese. It delighted my taste buds.... ummmm... heavenly. The veggies were pretty plain. Hashim's steak was good, he said. He ate every single bite... but if I were the chef I would have chosen something different to go w/ the steak other than french fries. It seemed too much like a chain restaurant to me. His salad was very plain w/ lettuce, tomatoes and such thrown on a plate w/out a dressing and such. It was a bit disappointing.

We didn't have desert, since I had gotten a bday cake for the hubby at a great place called LiLou's. It's a dark chocolate cake w/ dark choc. icing, thin and crunchy dark choc. leaves on the sides of the cake decorated w/ gold veins, dark choc. flowers on the top in one corner, and a musical note sheet on the top - for affect.


The cake is just to die for. It has the best flavor, is moist and much bigger than I expected. It has a nice crunchy filling in between the layers that reminds me of rice crispies in some type of light and creamy glaze.... very nice. I will say, this place knows bday cakes!

At first, I was a bit disappointed w/ the cake. I was to pick it up at 10 and when I got there, they couldn't find it and it wasn't ready. They gave the excuse of their power being out that morning... but I had ordered it days in advance, so I was a bit miffed over it. I waited some 30 mins, when they told it would take 5 mins. When I got it, it looked nothing like - or rather the scroll on top - the picture they had shown me. It was then that I asked if they had just put the scroll on the cake and he said, "yes". The scroll didn't look like the picture and I was really pissed. After telling him that I was disappointed w/ it, I took the cake and hoped that the hubby would like it.

He did... and that's the most important thing, right?!! It was and is utterly delicious. I also bought candles for the cake and come to find out, they were magic candles that lighted back up after blowing them out. So... after singing happy birthday to my husband, he made his wish and blew out the candles. Not 2 seconds later, the candles were all relighting... and not only that, but they had some type of little sparklers inside... so it made it all very festive. :) After about the 5th time of trying to blow those babies out, we decided to read the back of the package which said you had to put them out in water! It was all great fun ... but he now wonders if his wishes will come true, seeing that the candles didn't go out... I wonder if that makes a difference! ;) I'm sure it doesn't... and I'm sure all his wishes will come true this year... I can feel it! :)

Well... this was our night out. I can't write descriptions about food like my friend, Olivia... she is the master at tantalizing your taste buds and giving you every scrumptious detail of what she ate.... but... at least you have an idea! :)

12 comments:

Puppy said...

Food, restaurant and nice cake its good of course, But..... But.... There is something more interesting in the pics, your round belly :)) Mashallah. And it doesnt look that big as you described.

Mashallah and take care

Puppy.

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

I eally think at this stage of your pregnancy, small meals are best and fairly plain food.

Some day I hope you get to experience South Pacific kinds of food with coconut cream, curries, etc.

Restaurant food here in Oz is so so boring - towers of green leafy stuff with no taste. We go to Smorgies - I know that everyone breathes over the food etc. and it's noisy with families and people eat six or more plates of food, but I can pick Chinese food anyway which I like best.
W.

Gaz said...

Tooners,your going to spoil that that lad,he's going to expect that every year now,lol,his steak and fries(chips in england)looked great,love his music by the way.

The Moody Minstrel said...

Tooners, during your pregnancy you should pay close attention to your tastes and cravings and obey them as closely as possible. If you feel like eating something, or if you don't feel like eating something, your body may be trying to tell you something.

(Okay, that was my two cents' worth...)

Wendy, actually I was impressed with the eatings up in the Sunny Coast area. There were some really good seafood restaurants along the coast. I was somehow able to go more than a week in Australia without eating a single steak! (My Japanese colleagues refused to believe me afterward...)

RC said...

looks like a fun experience...although i'm not sure the food looks like my choice, but it's always fun to go to unique places.

Um Naief said...

moody, i've heard exactly the same thing. i should have stuck w/ the pasta... next time i'll follow my heart.

puppy, yes... that's the belly. :) and thank you!

wendy, yes, smaller meals are much better. if i eat too much, i get sick in a hurry and stay sick most of the night. it may look like a lot of food, but i only eat in small amounts. i've learned my lesson the hard way! i've never tired South Pacific food. i wonder if they have any of it here. it sounds good. i've tried some thai food w/ coconut sauce and it was okay.. wouldn't say it would be a favorite, but i'm sure that South Pacific food is different... is it?

gazza, yes... the idea of giving up going out to eat is hard for him right now. it's something he'll have to come to grips w/ though. i hope it's sooner rather than later! ;)

rc, nice to see you again!

Olivia said...

Weyheyyyyyy! You did it, and look at you, taking pics at the restaurant and stuff. You knew you were gonna blog it, didn't you ;)

Everyone sort of beat me to it, but I was going to say that being pregnant, maybe your tastebuds have decided to be sensitive over fish.
So lay off until after, and maybe get the benefits in Omega-3,6,9 supplements?

***

As for the food...blimey look at the size of that steak!
The fries with it looked good too. Don't worry, even the French like fries with their steak.

Don't get me started on the cake. It looked heavenly even before you described it!
I like bakeries that use a smooth choc finish and make finishing touches with gold leaf...good sign.

So thanks for sharing, and thanks for the mention ;)

Olivia said...

Peceli and Wendy - I am surprised. Every time I see an Oz chef on the TV, I think more and more that the food there sounds great...unless all the good Oz cooks have moved away!

Leilouta said...

I hadn't even noticed the belly in the pictures :)
...and yes you can write descriptions about food as good as Olivia :)

Leilouta said...

I never understood why steaks were accompanied by fries either.

Olivia said...

Guess what I saw on a cooking program today? A guy made a chocolate ganache cake, then he made chocolate curls by spreading melted choc on plastic strips and curling it, letting it cool, then peeling off the plastic. AND THEN, then, then, he dotted on some gold leaf with his finger!!!

--Olivia

nadooi said...

is there any chance that you have any other pictures of the restaurant? They're planning to tear down the building soon so we are looking for pictures. I'd be very grateful!