Last night marked another milestone for Keith and I. After what seemed to be ages, we finally had the chance to go out to dinner by ourselves* (translation: without our three active yet endearing children). Hip, hip, hooray!

*(Of course, this wouldn’t have been possible without the “loving support” of “brother and sister cousin” (Rinel and Ge) who have agreed to baby-sit our three gremlins, este darlings, for us. For this, Keith and I owe the Mega-Mags our eternal debt of gratitude! What do we do without you guys?)

The restaurant of choice: Orient Restaurant in Al-Khobar.

This place was recommended by Keith’s local officemate, Hakeem (God bless him!), after Keith complained that there was a serious lack of Japanese restaurants in the kingdom. In fact, before this pleasant discovery, we only knew of one Jap resto and we weren’t really too keen on visiting it for two reasons: (1) the Japanese food really was only part of an international buffet spread and not an entirely separate restaurant; and (2) the restaurant is located in the compound where some terrorist action happened a few years back (scary!).

Pardon the digression. Back to the “main event”.

First off, the interiors of the restaurant came as another pleasant surprise for us. After coming out of the elevator (since the place is on the 4^th floor of a building), we were ushered in to a very Oriental-themed (i.e., Japanese-Chinese) resto environment where the furnishings, china and flatware all blended very well together. Attention to detail was also very evident since the place settings all matched, down to the chopstick rests and the yin-yang shaped ceramic salt and pepper shakers! We later learned that the owner is also actually an interior designer to royalty and dignitaries both here in the kingdom and abroad (kaya pala!). For its ambience alone, the place truly is a cut above the rest here in KSA.

Of course, the most important part of a restaurant is the food it serves. Thank God they got it right in this area too! Keith and I started off with miso soup and crunchy California maki – both “delish” (as our friend Rachael Ray would say) – which we downed with our equally refreshing “mocktails” (alcohol is prohibited here, remember?). Keith had a mint-lemon concoction while I chose a strawberry-melon-yogurt delight (yum-o!). Come the entrees. Keith had a 250-gram steak (sliced in five portions) with white sauce and steamed veggies and rice while I had the “Orient Land and Sea”, a flavorful combination of beef, chicken and seafood teppanyaki with stir-fried vegetables and plain rice on the side. The portions were just right and allowed room for dessert.

Due to the reliable “kabayan connection” in the restaurant, Keith and I were even treated to dessert “on-the-house”! We had something like fried ice cream (where the ice cream is inside a tempura-like batter with sesame seeds) except that instead of ice cream, we found sweet bananas inside. This was then topped with vanilla ice cream. Definitely a delightful way to get the “ulam” taste out of our mouths!

Lastly, we were served house tea (again in a very impressive ceramic pot with a bamboo-designed spout) and assorted candies to cap our meal.

The tab may be a bit pricier than usual but truly worth every riyal! Our verdict: Five-stars!!! A place where we would definitely come back to and recommend to our friends.

Our only regret is that we weren’t able to take decent pictures to share with you. Well, there’s always a next time, right? Till then, bon appetit!

We were blessed to head off to Bahrain to usher in the New Year with Bro Cuz Rinel and John, Keith's office mate who flew in from Riyadh. We set out the morning of Dec 31st and stayed on until the early afternoon of 02 Jan. We stayed at the Al Jaberiya condotel which, though a bit older than the Sayedaty Plaza unit we reserved during Ramadan, was more spacious and had free internet access.

Like most Filipinos who go to Bahrain, first order of the day once we got there was lunch at Swan Lake, the Filipino restaurant known for its yummy Crispy Pata. Unfortunately, as there were apparently a lot of Filipinos who also trekked to Bahrain to celebrate the New Year's and had the same agenda as ours, the Crispy Pata had run out by the time we got there - too bad! We had a true-blue Pinoy meal nonetheless as we feasted on Lechon Kawali, Kare-Kare, Lumpiang Shanghai and Sinigang na Lapu-Lapu sa Miso washed down by refreshing Gulaman at Sago - yum-o! For dessert, we had creamy egg pie, something I make it a point to order whenever we go to Swan Lake. Did I just hear myself let out an oinkish squeal of delight? Hahaha!

After lunch, we headed off to the Seef Mall to catch the movie, "Arthur and the Minimoys", which the boys had been dying to watch since our last trip there in October. I surprisingly found the movie nice as it skillfully combined animation with "real-life" actors - was even doubly surprised to find out that Madonna and David Bowie were the voices behind two of the animated characters, Princess Selenia and the Evil M. As this was "too kiddie" for Rinel and John, they opted to watch "The Illusionist" instead and also found it to their liking. We also managed to grab DVDs of films we missed back home (MI 3, Monster House and Da Vinci Code) which we intend to watch in a "movie-like ambience" (complete with popcorn and dimmed lights) back home since movies are a no-no in the kingdom (pathetic ba?). We were so exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel that we just freshened up and said our quick New Year's greetings to one another before we hit the sack at around 2 am - definitely a far cry from our usual New Year's eve celebrations back home! We so miss Bellevue already!

New Year's Day was spent pretty much like our first day - brunch at Bennigan's (French Onion Soup, Chicken Salad and Monte Cristo Club Sandwich) and a movie ("Night at the Museum", a Ben Stiller comedy-adventure which I recommend) at the Al Dana Mall - except that we managed to squeeze in a visit to the Bahrain International Circuit, the country's very own F1 racetrack! Too bad, though, that we only got as far as the gates and its souvenir shop as the stadium was closed for the Muslim Eid End-Of-Hajj Holiday. Hope to catch an F1 race soon when the races start again in Feb or March.

Since Japanese restos are a rarity in KSA, our Japanese lunch at Gulf Hotel's Sato restaurant was a definite highlight of our Bahrain visit. The classy ambience - Japanese snare drums as guests enter amid very Zen-like interiors - and the tatami room where we were served our meal lent to a very authentic Japanese eating experience. For starters, we had tuna sashimi, California Maki and Miso Soup while Keith and I both had bento boxes for our entrees. Keith chose a Japanese version of "Surf and Turf" while I ordered something not as delectable - fried dumplings, hammour sashimi, stir-fried noodles and beef teriyaki. Good thing the boys ordered the usual ebi tempura and yakisoba which tided me over! The green tea ice cream which I had for dessert thankfully made up for the "blah" meal I had for lunch. Yum yum!

As we headed home, we couldn't help but say a silent prayer of thanks that despite being away from home during this holiday season, the good Lord made it possible for us to still celebrate Christmas and New Year's in very meaningful (though simpler) ways.

A blessed and bountiful new year ahead! See y'all in December!

It was truly a welcome treat for us to have Tito Dimples (aka Rinel ) to "sponsor" us to a yummy international buffet at the Sheraton Dammam, where he is currently billeted.

For me, it was some sort of return to "normalcy" as I was very much reminded of the times we had gone out as a family in Manila to sample the buffet meals at Shangri-La Makati (thanks to Mommy Dollie and Dr Songco ) and nearby Bellevue Hotel in Alabang where good food, fun and family were a-plenty.

Though I still had to wear my "costume" (i.e., abayah) all throughout the meal, I relished the fact that, for once, we need not be segregated into a "family section".  FYI, here in KSA, only men are allowed seating into the more general areas of all restaurants and food courts while men with women need to always go to the designated family section - an area which normally could not be viewed from the outside for the simple reason that culturally, women's faces should not be seen by non-family members when they eat .  Also, it was a welcome break from eating the ever-popular "broasted chicken", Saudi-style fried chicken which is always served with humongous heaps of saffron rice (as in laborer servings!).

The food, though not gastronomically spectacular, was definitely respectable and at par with many fine restaurants back home.  Keith and I especially liked the Hammur (tilapia-like fish) with Lemon Butter Sauce and the warm custard-like dessert with almonds.  The selection of appetizers was also varied - from kilawin (believe it or not!) to hard boiled eggs topped with cream cheese and the usual deli meat platter.  Being a true-blue sweet tooth (my mom would be proud of me! ), I made sure that I got to sample their desserts and found the flan with pistachio topping very much to my liking.  Too bad, though, that I didn't have any more room to try their soup and salads (Rinel found the lentil soup very good). Well, there's always a next time...

The bonus of our food trip was that we met a new Filipino restaurant manager ( a 22-year veteran of hotel management having worked for various hotels in the Middle East and in Guam before his posting here in KSA) who was kind enough to tour us to the premises of the ... hold your breath... Japanese restaurant (yipee yahoo!!!) which is slated to open at the Sheraton rooftop by next month.  Keith and I were thrilled by this as we noticed that there was hardly any Japanese resto here in KSA - the only one we know of, before this "discovery", was the equally pricey one at the Oasis Compound (yup, the site of the infamous terrorist attack some years back ) which we have yet to frequent.  The restaurant interiors were very classy and gave a very good view of Dammam by night - definitely a good date place (Ge, Rinel promises he will take you there once you come over! ).  What's more, it is but a 5 minute drive from our house! 

When the meal was over, I couldn't help but mentally say grace - "We give thee thanks, O Lord, for these your gifts... (they were yummy!)" - for the opportunity to have not only a good meal, but moreso, a good meal with family who reminded me of the good things back home.

God is good!