Must-try Sandwich at Charley’s Grilled Subs

Philly Steak Deluxe

We indulge to burgers and sandwiches at fast food chains once in a while. We thought that the newly opened Charley’s Grilled Subs at Al Wahda Mall is worth a try. We were right. This American food chain is a heartening alternative to a typical fast food sandwiches outlet, which usually serves sandwiches made of processed or deli meats. The Philly Cheesesteaks, which consists of sliced beef steaks, grilled onions and mozzarella cheese, is simply delicious and fresh-tasting. It is even made healthier with the Philly Steak Deluxe option, which is basically the same as the Philly Cheesesteaks with additional vegetables such as mushrooms and green peppers. It also comes with gourmet fries and a cup of soft drink when ordered as a gourmet combo meal.

Going Vegetarian at Briccocafe

Probably, my blog have felt lonely and abandoned again after several weeks of not posting. Blame it to our accommodation shifting and partying. It is true in a way because after we moved to our new place, which we haven’t fully adjusted to, we attended birthday parties for two weekends in succession. We haven’t been cooking a lot these days, we are eating out yes but I wasn’t in the mood to blog about them because we haven’t completely recovered yet from the “shifting” stress. But, I couldn’t skip this one restaurant we went to that turned me to an instant fan of their vegetarian pizza.

Briccocafe bears the slogan “the real Italian taste”. I couldn’t confirm that because I have never been to Italy to experience the authentic taste of Italian food, but what I can tell is that we would definitely go back to Briccocafe.

The branch we went to is in Khalidiya Mall at the food court level. The resto’s design is a combination of relax and on-the-go atmosphere. My reason for saying this is because half of the restaurant’s area is exposed to the hustling and bustling of the food court environment and the other half is at the back of the kitchen and food counter enclosure and within the mall’s wall façade.


Verdure Pizza at Briccocafe

Now let me go back to my instantly favourite vegetarian pizza called Verdure on the menu. Being our first time to visit the resto, we did what we usually do and that is to ask our friendly server to suggest their bestsellers on the menu. The Verdure was one of the two main courses we ordered upon our server’s suggestion and I couldn’t thank her enough because I liked what we ordered so much. The Verdure pizza was quite light to eat and very much tasty! What’s it made of is a thin crust pizza topped with thinly sliced eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms and tomato sauce. The toppings were melting in my mouth and I couldn’t contain myself from eating half of the pizza when usually I can only consume 1 or 2 slices. The pizza dough wasn’t greasy at all unlike most of what I’ve tasted so far. It was really a delight to eat. You can taste the freshness of the dough as it is being freshly prepared in the resto. When it comes to the price, I must say it is reasonable considering the quality of the pizza.

With such good food like this, I would darely say that as a fish and meat lover, it wouldn’t be worrisome if I convert as a vegetarian. Hmm, what a pleasant thought, but nah, I still love fish and meat!

Iftar Buffet at The Village Club

Our company sponsored an Iftar for its entire staff yesterday. Despite a glitch on the reservation, all went home satisfied, or at least I believe that everybody felt satisfied.

It was a night of fun and a chance of loosening up from the pressure at work especially for the top bosses on project sites.

Iftar is the evening meal taken when Muslims break their fast during Ramadan. Iftar buffets are popular in the UAE. During Ramadan, several hotels and restaurants are offering all-you-can-eat meals. Our company-sponsored Iftar was booked at The Village Club at One to One Hotel. Last night was full-packed and I wonder if it is always the same every single Iftar night.


Photo credit: Jenny (Twin Sister of Agua)

The Iftar buffet at The Village Club is priced at AED110 per head exclusive of tourism tax and service charge. I find the price quite reasonable compared to other buffets hosted by other well-known hotels that cost more. Our colleague though mentioned that the Iftar buffet package at Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi is less expensive than The Village Club.

The food was abundant, mostly Arabic cuisine and a few European dishes plus plenty of deserts such as fresh fruits, cakes, nuts and dried fruits.

I ate just enough. A little taste of almost everything I dare to taste. Everything I put on my plate was delicious. I had bow pasta in cream sauce top with parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves, salmon fillet cooked in cream and lemon, stir-fry broccoli, chicken kebab minus the skewer, circular-sliced potatoes cooked in some herbs. For deserts, I shared with hubby a platter of chocolate cake, slices of watermelon and cantaloupe, dried fruits, pecan nuts and walnuts. My most favorite desert last night was the brazo de mercedes paired with bite-size fresh fruits in season. The slight sourness of the fruits complemented the overly sweet brazo de mercedes. Hubby did not like it much though.

The chicken kebab was the only Arabic food I tried last night because it just looks like grilled chicken breast. I wasn’t brave enough to try another Arabic dish. Hubby tried the lamb biryani (I forgot the Arabic term for it but it looked like biryani to me). Biryani is a rice-based food made of basmati (long grain) rice, spices and meat, fish, eggs or vegetables. Also, he particularly liked the smoked salmon on his salad plate.

The selection of drinks were smoothies of different kinds of fruits, which I fail to remember except for the watermelon that I welcomed happily since it is my favorite, and fresh orange juice. Water on bottle is not included on the buffet but can be ordered separately, which costs at AED10 per bottle. Likewise, coffee and tea were available on separate orders, and shisha too!

Overall, the experience was great. We had fun seating on the traditional Arabic floor couch, despite the occasional gliding, and posing for lots of picture taking.

Dan Dan Noodles of Noodle Hut

Dan Dan Mian

It is our first time to have Dan Dan Noodles and what a treat, it tasted real good! I’m not sure if others would share the same sentiment, but it has instantly become one of my favorite noodle dishes. (Be warned though that it is really spicy, even without the sliced chili that they usually top it with. )

Dan dan noodles or Sichuan Spicy Noodles is a Chinese classic dish of Szechuan or Sichuan Cuisine. According to Wikipedia, it usually consists of a spicy sauce containing preserved vegetables, chili oil, Sichuan pepper, pork, and scallions served over noodles.

What we had last night was a slight variation of the usual dan dan noodles. It is one of the two Kung Fu Noodles selections on the Noodle Hut’s menu. Btw, the Noodle Hut is located at the food court of Khalidiya Mall, which just opened a couple of months back. Yesterday was our second sampling of their dishes. The charming lady at the counter recommended that we try dan dan noodles and said that it is one of their best tasting noodles, and she did not fail us.

Going back to what I was saying, the difference of the dan dan noodles on the Noodle Hut’s menu from the usual that was described on Wikipedia was the roasted duck. I couldn’t compare at the moment which one is better, pork or duck. I only hope that I could also taste the pork version in the future.

Smitten by it, I did a little research for the recipe, which I hope to prepare in the future. Meanwhile the recipe links below would serve as a record to check out with when I finally gain the courage to prepare it.

The links also discussed a few facts and history of this Spicy Sichuan Noodles. Most of these recipes are dry version, the nearest to what we had was the one from Chinesefoodfans.com.

• Dan Dan Noodles Recipe by Foodandwine.com  (It is one of the recipes in their 100 Tastes to Try in 2007)
• Spicy Szechuan Noodles: Dan Dan Mian by Emeril Lagasse of Foodnetwork.com  (I used to watch Emeril Live! shows on TV)
• Dan Dan Mian - Sichuan Spicy Noodles by Appetiteforchina.com
• Dan Dan noodles by Chinesefoodfans.com  (This is probably the nearest recipe to what we had at the Noodle Hut)
• Dan Dan Mian Recipe by KitchenChick.com