Note: I was given the Samsung Galaxy Nexus as a review unit.
‘You are so not getting this phone back’.
As far as first impressions go, I doubt it could get much better than that. More so since it comes from someone who doesn’t use a smartphone at all (no, don’t ask). Simply put, the Galaxy Nexus makes for a good looking phone. Like the impression someone at a party in a snazzy black outfit makes, before you speak to him/her, as the case applies. I don’t mean that the phone is bad when you do (or that the person’s a douche, yet), but you can’t know for sure until you have that conversation, can you?
Since the Galaxy Nexus reached me a few days before the acclaimed Jelly Bean update, we’ll hold off on the OS discussion until the update is done. At first glance however, the phone looks pretty stable. I’m not a fan of the back though — the approach seems a bit flimsy, and reminded me of those sets I played with as a kid. Unless that was the idea, in which case they did a great job.
The size of the Galaxy Nexus also takes a bit of getting used to, being larger in comparison to other phones, so this doesn’t seem like a device you can use comfortably with one hand for extended periods of time. But that’s not a real deal-breaker. On the flip side, this display is quite good and the extra screen space makes for better reading.
A nice display and a good churning droid.
The keyboard takes a bit of getting used to, and so far, typing with one hand requires active use of the auto-suggestions to be quick. The other thing that really got to me though was the position of the sleep and volume buttons that are on the phone’s side (say, in comparison to the top of the iPhone for sleep/wake). This meant I often hit the sleep button accidentally while using the phone, which can take some getting used to. Maybe I’m just holding it wrong.
If, like me, you live your life in Google’s castle from time to time, initial set up is snappy and the single sign-on with your (multiple like most of us…just me, you say? Okay.) Google account is intuitive. Email, contacts, calendar and browser preferences are sync’d without much fuss, the last once you download Chrome on Ice Cream Sandwich (I’m unclear of the logic behind Chrome not being default until Jelly Bean, but my theory is Google just doesn’t think like that).
The Android market — now the Google Play Store — is thriving in its own steam, so apps for most needs are easy to find. The experience over the first day has been positive overall, and the phone does justify its generally good feedback.
Stand by, a full review with notes on Jelly Bean will be here soon!
This write-up (by Jobs’ sister) still moves me, just as it did when I first read it, and each time I go back to it.
Intubated, when he couldn’t talk, he asked for a notepad. He sketched devices to hold an iPad in a hospital bed. He designed new fluid monitors and x-ray equipment. He redrew that not-quite-special-enough hospital unit. And every time his wife walked into the room, I watched his smile remake itself on his face.
I have my reservations (I believe I tend to be vocal about them) about Microsoft, but there’s no denying that they were revolutionary for the PC industry in terms of reaching it out to the masses.
There’s also no denying that Ballmer just annoys me. I’m not really sure why. Maybe because his portrayal in Pirates of Silicon Valley made him sound like an unimaginitive frat boy riding a wave (no offense to frat boys..or waves). I mean…
But we are not going to let any piece of this [go uncontested to Apple],” Ballmer shouted. “Not the consumer cloud. Not hardware software innovation. We are not leaving any of that to Apple by itself. Not going to happen. Not on our watch.
Shouted. Interesting.
I get his point but if they’re going to now drive all their energy towards chasing Apple, they’ll never get there. Apple is known for their secrecy anyway, and they might get lucky but they’ll purely be playing the chasing game.
This is hot on the heels of news that Microsoft is looking at its first loss-quarter since 1986. A holy shit moment indeed.
A little context. My deciding factor to use Posterous for blogging was actually a video of its founders talking about their drive and process behind putting it together (sorry don’t seem to have a link for it anymore). There are some key feature differentiators why I have continued to use Posterous — and expanded my use to a food blog, alongwith using it on a corporate level — but it started with that talk, about their motivation. It seems to factor when I decide on using a product or service, and why I land up sticking with it — understanding its history, the founders and their motivations.
I digress. I came across an interesting post by Posterous’ founder, Sachin Agarwal, who posted some thoughts about how the ran product management at Posterous, a good read:
I loved the process we had at the end of Posterous’ life. We were working hard, shipping new features weekly, looking at metrics (but not too much!), and we were mobile first.
The process also ensured we were working on what we thought was the most high value feature possible, while still dealing with tech debt and bugs. It’s a balance.
We had accountability. We knew when we were making mistakes or running late. It made my life a lot easier. It made board meetings easier. I could go on vacation and know the company was powering on without me.
There are enough posts this morning doing the rounds about Google’s I/O 2012 keynote that I don’t really need to add to that. But I did want to put some thoughts down on the presentation itself.
Because it bothers me on some level. It bothers me that despite Chrome OS being out there for a while (and looks decent too), and official Chromebooks shipping for over a year, Google couldn’t use one to do the presentation. (They instead used a Macbook whenever they needed a browser, in case you were wondering). Subconsciously, and maybe this isn’t true for everyone, but the only thing it tells me is that they couldn’t pull of or be happy with doing the presentation on Chrome OS. ‘Oh we love Chrome OS, but for serious presentations, we just use, you know, Apple.’
Take example 2. When talking about Project Glass — kudos to Google on what everyone agrees was one of the best tech product launches, ever — the presenter mentioned how it was the future. And how, today, when people want to search, they just pull out their phones. Cue a high res picture of someone using an iPhone.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a Chrome boy. I live out of Gmail. I actually like how G+ is shaping up. But why couldn’t Google display an inherent confidence in their own products to actually *use* them for their own keynote presentations?
Some thoughts on giving back to the community and how we’re doing it, ahead of UAE Social Media Day, June 30.
I’ve visited a lot of web sites that talk about social responsibility and the community. It’s always well-written you know, perfectly worded with ‘responsible’s and ‘ethical’s sprinkled in between as if prepared using a recipe. And I’ve always thought to myself, what does that really mean?
I’ve continued to stay heartbroken since my favorite pizza place in Dubai shut down almost two years ago, back when my photo skills were absolute bullshevic (thanks, Madagascar 3!). The photos are only marginally better now, granted, but I shudder at those woeful pictures, ew.
As I was about to say, throw me a lightly charred pie from a wood-fired brick oven, that cooks in 3 minutes and I’ll be your fan for life. It’s what defines a real pizza for me. I’ll typically take a look at a picture (or the real thing) and almost instinctively decide whether I’ll like the pizza or not. I had searched frantically for a shot when Jamie’s Italian introduced pizzas at their Dubai outlet a few months ago before I agreed to try them out. Speaking of which, I need to blog about that experience soon eventually.
So it was little surprise that Foodiva’s post about Rossovivo caught my eye. The review was definitely positive and the pictures got me excited. Could it be, could it? Alas, I had to hold my hopes when the dinner being organized there a few weeks ago was moved after the guest list expanded to a size beyond Rossovivo’s current capacity.
But let it be known that I pestered incessantly waited patiently until another visit was scheduled last weekend. And while I want to let the pictures speak for themselves, we all know that’s not really going to happen.
Pic 1: The Bufalina. A thing of beautiy. I wish I’d realized that the menu was not out of the shot enough, but this is where you thank me for revealing 87.5% of the delivery number before the end. Pic 2: The Raffaele. Who knew pistachio on a pizza could work? Pic 3: The Marinara
The star of the show — for me, anyway — was the Bufalina: Buffalo cheese, tomato, basil. You could taste the difference in the quality of the cheese instantly and, coupled with the crust, it made for the perfect minimalist pizza I enjoy. I jumped at the tomato and garlic Marinara — my mind forgetting that it also meant there was no cheese on it — but the sauce was the right amount of fresh and tangy that I ate it all up anyway.
The surprise of the show — was the Raffaele: pizza with, wait for it, pistachio! Named after the Chef himself. Frankly I thought it was outright bizarre but I did try a little piece — we all live for bizarre, don’t we? — and I’ll admit the chef gets points for creativity. Pistachio and cheese do seem to go together despite my initial objections, and the women at the table absolutely loved it.
Love the fact that you can watch your pizzas being made at the table.
So finally, a pizza place I can rave about again. It helped that someone used me as a landmark with a taxi-driver to spot the place while I stood outside frantically calling everyone waiting quietly for everyone to arrive; nothing like an ego boost just before you’re treated to amazing buffalo cheese pizza.
Rossovivo
Millenium Tower, Business Bay, just off the service road. www.rossovivo.ae | +9714 380 5833
A rather good post by MG with some spot-on points about the Surface. I think it’s a good attempt, but it hinges on a lot of variables, and continues to amuse me that MS is now in the hardware business. Guess who won after all.
On the surface — see what I did there? — the thing seems compelling. It’s a tablet that runs Windows, and Office, and has a keyboard. There’s no denying that the keyboard/cover hybrid is a smart thing to try. Two years ago, I think this thing would have been pretty competitive. Today? Color me very skeptical.
…
Windows is not free. OEMs will be paying Microsoft to directly compete with — wait for it — Microsoft. Cluster, meet fuck.
…
But hey, at least Surface for Windows 8 Pro comes with a pen. To quote a guy I once met, “If you see a stylus, they blew it.”
What a difference a couple of weeks can make I suppose. As promised during my initial thoughts, I pushed myself to break routine and use the SlatePC as my primary device over two weeks. Despite the fact that I’m not a traditional Windows fan as such (without getting into it here, the OS just bothers me over time, as any regular Linux or OS X user will tell you), the SlatePC is a good bet, particularly as a work device, with some caveats.
To start with, it’s the software/OS and not really Samsung that’s the issue here, as I’ve already raised. Windows 7 just does not allow you to really enjoy the SlatePC’s potential. With it, I ran the device almost entirely as a desktop computer, plugged into the dock with an external keyboard/mouse. I was unable to really use the touchscreen — either because my fat fingers couldn’t hit the x in one try ever, or because I kept playing whack-a-mole with the on-screen keyboard. The SlatePC though does come with standard specs you see in today’s laptops, so it did function well in this combination.
But that changed when I moved to Windows 8. For those who are ambitious, Samsung has officially put up a page dealing with this migration (which I think is smart in and of itself) with drivers for the SlatePC. I did face an issue with the touchscreen not being responsive, but the should-be-patented-process of uninstall driver, resintall driver sorted that out. And the device came alive once the metro layout was in place. Granted, this isn’t a Windows 8 review — which is probably a good idea to put through at some point.
Win8 also made the hardware seem better than Win7 did. For example, battery life jumped for a barebones 2.5 hours to almost 4–5 hours of use under Win8, which made portability that much better. I’m sure Samsung is already looking at putting together some apps to the Windows 8 Store, which might make development easier compared to builing their own custom ‘home screen’ they have on the Slate for Win7.
Much better touch experience with Win8.
So the net verdict: If you’re a Windows user and need a change or are trying of lunging around a 5-kg laptop around with you, with Win8 you should seriously consider this form factor. I’m sure the release of the Surface by Microsoft is going to add to the disruption, but I find it interesting that Samsung has already put together a device in this form factor that is a great fit for organizations, particularly with travelling employees.
I realize I’ve said that (professional/work device) a few times, but that’s because at AED4,500, I feel the price point is a bit steep to become an mass regular Joe device. But this price is actually comparable to current business grade laptops that fall in the same range with the same specs. Let’s not forget how much my shoulder thanked me as I carried just this to and from meetings. (With a shoutout to Chrome sync and Dropbox for making my to-and-fro use of two full fledged devices really easy).
In the real world though, my co-workers and customers eyed the device intriguingly. One of my customers felt it was a great idea to adopt the SlatePC considering they spend the same on bulkier 14" laptops that every travelling user they have complains about. And I’ll concede that note taking directly to soft copy made me immensely happy. As did interviewing and marking off CVs directly on screen. No, no screenshots of that are available, sorry.
So I’m geeky. Like you didn’t know.
There you have it. A good piece of hardware, a pretty looking device too and a tricky OS. Win7 might not let you get everything out of the device, but with Win8, there is tremendous potential. I don’t think Samsung really intends this to be a professional device though (purely based on current marketing and the way it’s listed under ‘Home’ on their site), but I do believe that’s where it holds its true potential.
I received this email finally on the personal email I rarely give out, after receiving a couple on my more spam-collector email, so someone definitely sold my email address somewhere.
I obviously removed the company’s name..but I mean…what the hey?
We all know the importance of a Will and why we need one. But, sometimes it always seems to get pushed to the back of the queue. There’s always something that appears more important.
But there isn’t really. A Will is essential. For everyone.
Just consider these two points: If you don’t have a Will, you lose control over who will inherit your assets. That is not good. If you don’t have a Will and you are a parent of young children, you will lose control over who looks after them after you’ve gone. That is even worse…
Here at [XYZ], we provide an individual and highly personal service in the area of Will writing. Your Will would be drawn up by an experienced UK family solicitor.
Everything is tailored to your individual and specific requirements. We will help you create a Will to suit you and your family. We do not produce a computer template Will, with just the name changed.
We also provide a whole range of additional related benefits too. For example, we have vast experience in estate planning, financial protection and investments — and these could be discussed at the same time, if you wish.
Another advantage to you, are our highly competitive costs. For the production of a bespoke Will (written by human hand), our charges are significantly lower than all of our competitors in the market.
So, if you don’t have a will, why not do something about it TODAY? It could be the most important decision you ever make. We can offer you an unrivalled range of attractive benefits, including:
A friendly, personal and individual Will writing service
Your Will drawn up by an experienced UK Solicitor
Additional services can include estate planning, financial protection and investments
Comprehensive knowledge of Local UAE Law
Extremely competitive fees
To take the first step is simple. Just email us at [XYZ].
Just saw the note from Picplz saying they intend on shutting down in one month. I’m guessing they’ve figured it just makes sense to get out of the business with an inconvenience to a subset of users than fight the growing monopoly that is Facebook+Instagram.
While I’ve been a user for some time, I’m not an avid user as I tend to just post pictures here instead. However, I thought the least they could have done was to provide a link allowing users to download multiple pics or say 30–50 at a time, which I’m sure wouldn’t have killed their time. Their solution of ‘we’re providing a download link for each individual picture’ is just…annoying.
Update, June 16: While I doubt my blogpost had anything to do with it, Picplz came out a couple of weeks later with a single archive link of all pictures, which they intend to keep available until September 3. Yay.
Note: I was given a Samsung Slate PC Series 7 review unit this week to play with. Okay, maybe those weren’t their exact words, but how else would I describe it?
Note 2: I intend to write this as a series of two posts — First Impressions — covering Day 1 with the Slate and an overall review.
I’m a little confused, actually. I’m not entirely sure where Samsung intended to place the Slate PC Series 7 in a consumer’s lifecycle and I think if they figure that bit out, they’ll have done well.
To clarify, I don’t think it’s a bad device at all, but I’m unsure how this fits into my laptop+smartphone life. However, it is already clear to me that a comparison of the SlatePC with something like the iPad is not possible — the two do not deal with the same market or have the same goal at all. So I’m going to do my best to keep the iPad away from this discussion. The SlatePC is a PC replacement for someone who wants to be fairly mobile, where you want the full functionality of a PC operating system but the mobility of something like the iPad. So I think this is something that would compete with the Macbook Air for market share.
Staying on point, I can see how the SlatePC would be a good alternative to the PC for someone like me, who moves around, works with wifi where I can, considering it runs a full version of Windows (Win7). At the same time, this is where the problem is. For a devicefocused on having a touch screen, Win7 is extremely cumbersome to use with touch. Thankfully, the device does come with a compact docking station and external bluetooth keyboard (I’ll say it again, thank goodness, the on-screen keyboard in Win7 is pure torture to use with my fat fingers, and using it with the Slate pen feels like a game of whack-a-mole). But this is a software problem.
Going back to the hardware, the packing is simple and clean. I wish they’d put in a little crevice to unattach the device though — I ended up having to flip the whole thing over to get the Slate PC out. All in all, not a bad looking device on your table by any means.
But with Win7, the device acts more like a regular PC than a portable device, forcing you to carry around the keyboard/mouse and dock for usability. What’s more, without any data capabilities, you’re reliant on a wifi connection or one of those USB 3G modems, so I didn’t really benefit from having it with me while I was stuck waiting on my EmiratesID appointment.
So my first impression is that this is a good device from a hardware standpoint. Powerful, pretty robust, a little awkward sizing compared to other devices in this form factor — but not something that you cannot get used to. However, the software aspect is a major problem with Win7 not being ideal for touch/on the go.
That said, there is potential if packaged with Win8, where you’d have both aspects — touch and regular PC use — covered and the Slate PC has the hardware to run this — something I hope to test over the next couple weeks, so stay tuned!
The best thing about traveling is getting a chance to savor the local cuisine. The foodie in me plays a big role in deciding where to go on a holiday. And yes I do travel with a list of restaurants ready!
On a recent trip to India’s capital Delhi, I was of course blown away by the amount of good food available. So much so that I did manage to put on a few kilos, but it was much to my delight!
Pictured here is the ultimate chicken tikka from a traditional Indian roadside eatery- Rajinder da dhaba. The thing about these quintessential dhabas are although you might not like to sit there and eat, you cannot resist the amazing aromas each one carries. Rajinder Singh is known among the Green Park area residents for this scrumptious, succulent and perfectly spiced chicken tikka. Served in a little bowl made of dried leaves, with cool mint and yoghurt chutney on the side, his chicken morsels will melt in your mouth leaving behind an irresistible aftertaste of tandoori spices. Like so many other traditional eateries, this one started out as the eatery for taxi drivers, truckers and assorted transport people. Now though, you can sit in his air conditioned hall and enjoy.
Oh and I only managed one shot because I couldn’t wait to tuck in!
Note: Having known Arva couple years now, our manakish discussions have always been interesting. So when I mentioned the falafel manakish a while ago, it just had to be tested. Who cares if it took 8 months to actually make the trip happen. I’m excited then, to bring you a joint foodie post — the first of its kind. Think of it like a special episode.
Note 2: The word man’ousheh in our post is not some kind of auto-correct defect. It’s the singular of manakish in Arabic. Yes it is. No, it’s not right to say can I have a manakish with cheese. Yes, we know you’ve said it before, we have too. No, it’s never too late to change.
Chirag had told me about these falafel manakish in Karama. That’s like waving a bone in front of a dog, go fetch. I barked till he agreed to take me there.
I came across the falafel man’ousheh quite by accident — come to think of it, this is starting to ring true for a lot of really good food I find. The term they first used at Moulin D’Or when I walked in a few years ago during late night certification classes was: falafel sandwiches. But sandwich it was not. I watched their chef make what looked like a green topping man’ousheh wondering what he was up to, before I realized they really meant ‘falafel man’ousheh.’ I’d had falafel manousheh just once before in Abu Dhabi, where the guy tried to break open what I believe was a solitary falafel over labneh in a combination that, well, was clearly not worth blogging about.
Moulin D’Or however, put a nice spin on a traditional offering, spreading delicious falafel batter on a manousheh dough, topped with tahini, tomatoes, some greens and pickles. I can get aboard that train any day.
Me too…any day, ALL day. And if I’m hopping on any train, I’m taking both Chirag and Sheban — two outrageously smart, tech-wired entrepreneurs — with me, and making a food tour working session of it. Yeah I know, *everything* these days is about the food tours. I’ll launch it and then I’ll shut up already. Or maybe you’ll see promo SMS spam on food tours violently possess your cellphones. You can turn off the TV, turn off the radio, shut your eyes tight when you pass an annoying yellow bakeshop-plastered billboard, but cellphone…that’s where I’ve got you *right* where I want you, because Dubai has established that your cellphone is the one place you can never opt out of promo spam. It’s the Hotel California of ominous marketing spam, you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave…
But I will admit, when I stepped into Moulin D’Or, the food tours were the last thing on my mind. For someone whose Achilles heel lies in warm buttery baked goodies, this was heavenly hell. I walked in and it all just smacked me in the face: giant croissants puffed up like angry birds, small white discs of pastry smattered with za’atar and cheese, chocolate glazed rows of ganache and coffee buttercream-layered Opera cake, boats and crescents and all the usual shapes of tiny fatayer with cheese and meat and veggies. How had I not ever given Moulin D’Or a second glance on my visits across the street to Al Reef Bakery? Imagine, all those mornings where I could have been living the dream with HULK buttery croissants…
Seriously? You know you can get giant croissants anywhere right? It’s the falafel man’ousheh that’s a rare species around here. And to think we almost missed it that evening. When I walked up to Moulin D’Or’s manakish oven, my heart skipped a beat. I didn’t see the A4 printed sign in Calibri that used to read “Falafel Sandwich, 5 Dhs”. It would seem we were a couple months too late to make the trip, and the falafel man’ousheh had now morphed into a mainstream falafel sandwich, no frills. Dejected, we walked back to the table. I was devastated, Sheban looked sad but could potentially be won over with a meaty fatayer, but Arva? Arva hadn’t really accepted the tragic news at all. She just strolled right back to the counter, because one more attempt at sighting the falafel manousheh was *absolutely* necessary. Skipping over a comment relating to women, better service and the GCC, I will merely point out that the chef agreed to make a couple of manakish just for us.
I’m ashamed to admit that I do use my chubby womanly charm when it comes to food. That’s not a bad thing now, is it?
Considering how the evening had progressed, the manakish’s arrival to the table was that much more exciting. The consensus around the table was that it looked even better than expected (though I was just gobsmacked with hunger by this point to have any expectations at all). I was just glad our trip had not been in vain. Crisp manousheh dough, layered with awesome falafel mix, topped with tahina and crunch…a quiet calm engulfed the table as we ate (save for my incessant questions about food tours this and food tours that). Falafel makes for a very light man’ousheh when not fried, and although I felt that my memory of the manousheh I’d had here years ago was slightly better than the reality on my plate, this was still…
…satisfying. Of all the man’ousheh I’ve tried, the salty-bitter za’atar and cheese ones, the meaty sujuk ones, the creamy sweet lebneh ones, I’d say this falafel man’ousheh was the more subtle of the lot. The man’ousheh innards were so light that if you guzzled it down thoughtlessly, you wouldn’t hear the falafel spread murmur fragrantly from the crust. The base was thin and crispy, disintegrating into a crunch reminiscent of a stroll over dry autumn leaves in a city with four seasons. There was no cheese, and if there was tahina, it was barely there. The whole ensemble was delicate and understated.
The manakish must have been good, because we talked about falafels for about 20 minutes afterwards. Did you guys know there’s a falafel bar in Sharjah? NaaahsssSSSH! It’s a secret! …but more on that later. I can’t guarantee that Moulin D’Or will entertain more requests for the coveted man’ousheh, but having a woman in your party apparently helps. If not, they do have a decent repertoire of manakish to choose from.
And cheesy fatayer and angry bird croissants. Yumsies.
Moulin D’Or
Drive past Karama Post Office and you’ll see it on your right (before Options Furniture Building). http://www.moulin-dor.com | +9714 3547847
You can find the cross-posted version on Arva’s blog here.
For me, mexican food comes with a truckload of childhood memories (ok, some adult ones too) associated with it — from the weird experimentations that eventually lead to a decent home-made burrito to trying a variety of taco and quesedilla makers in the market (none of them worked, incidentally), to eating them in all forms — the traditional Maria Bonita style, the fast food Taco Bell style (okay, not anymore) and a few others in between.
So when I was asked to check out Amerigos, I was excited — but I also didn’t look them up beforehand so I didn’t fully know what to expect. My previous experience in the Yas Marina Circuit was actually rather good; but taking your parents along when reviewing food can always be tricky, what with specific food preferences and them having to wait while I snap up pictures of life, the universe and everything.
Now for those of you who want the answer quickly, Amerigos passed!
To begin with, I was happily surprised by the atmosphere and setup. While it is part of the Park Inn by Radisson, Amerigos has a very casual and comfortable decor, a semi-outdoor setting, an indoor sports bar *and* a pool area. With the weather still holding up, the experience was enjoyable — this is a place that works for friends, family, a nice quiet evening or an after-work hours meet and greet.
Food wise, the menu has quite a bit to offer. The menu is modelled more on what I would call Tex-Mex rather than pure Mexican. The guacamole was wonderful and among the freshest I’ve had. The other surprise item — well, surprise because we added it on as an afterthough halfway through the maincourse — were the Fajitas.
Trust me, their ‘stir-fry’, for want of a better word was so good, I just kept eating the mix without having the patience to actually roll up the fajitas.
Overall, the food was on well done & fresh. The chef seems to like keeping things simple — something that works very well for Amerigos.
We were a bit intrigued by something called Hojaldre de Vegetales which was a puff pastry filled with vegetables and an escabeche sauce. While there was nothing really wrong with it at all, it just didn’t feel very Mexican compared to everything else we had and enjoyed.
Since I’m sure those of you who got this far will want to know, I’m doing the smart thing and attachingthe dessert menu for your comfort. I went for the lime, mint & rum sorbet since I was looking for something light — and in hindsight, perhaps the rice pudding might have been more traditional option.
In the end, it boiled down to the usual two suspects — the food and the atmophere, and Amerigos does really well on both counts. There was a healthy crowd through the evening — people out with family and friends, and football fans enjoying the large screens at the bar. Amerigos makes a great choice if you’re up for a leisurely drive across the Circuit followed by a satisfying meal or if you happen to be in the area.
Amerigos Mexican Restaurant & Bar
Park Inn by Radisson, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi (Just drive down the Yas Island Leisure Drive until you hit the hotel area, Park Inn is the first one on your left) +9712 656 2222
How often does it happen that the guy sitting at the table next to you asks ‘Where are you from?’ for the sole reason that, and I quote: ‘Well it looked like you’d never seen a falafel before in your life.’
The first (and only, thankfully) time that happened was when I visited Foul W Hummus a couple of weeks ago to sample and photograph their delicious hummus. Now that I think about it, I’m surprised it hasn’t more often considering my (borderline crazy) fascination with taking multiple shots of food at restaurants and eateries.
Right, let’s get the disclaimer out first: I love hummus. Part of my life’s mission involves hunting for decent hummus* — and don’t scoff, enough outlets get it wrong for me to include it in a mission statement. That’s how much I adore this awesome chickpea creation. So when I spotted a little outlet in Barsha named after it, I was intrigued enough.
Foul W Hummus is a fantastic testament to the ‘less is more’ philosophy. With a simple menu comprising three main items — Foul, Hummus & Falafel (and related variations) only, they may only do a few things, but they do them right.
This is particularly true when it comes to their hummus; the only word that comes to mind is addictive! They seem to have their proportions perfectly right — just enough creaminess and just enough tahini — to always leave us licking the edges of the containers every time we go. They also keep a constantly-on-the-stove container of boiled whole chickpeas to add that perfect warmth into each serving.
I’m a regular, as Mahmoud (who mans the entrance and phones) will assure you. Heck, I’ve even got cousins all the way in South America craving their hummus months after their last visit (during which, mind, we made 4 trips to the place in a week). We’re not the only ones either; stop by on a Friday morning and you’ll barely be able to stand in there — which will only make you glad they get their orders done quickly!
Foul W Hummus does have other items on their menu — foul and falafels — both of which are good as well. I will admit I’ve had better falafels and foul elsewhere, but theirs is still among the fresher ones available around town. It’s just…their hummus is so enjoyable, the others pale a little in comparison. We’ve also tried their fatteh — which is yummy as well except it dries up quickly, so I don’t recommend getting it unless you’re eating it there, or in the car on your way home. (Edit: A subsequent visit indicated that they’ve solved that problem, so take it away!)
To top it all, the staff are incredibly friendly, smiling about in their nice blue tees — to the point where they started posing and pointing at things to make sure I covered it in my picture gallery.
Once we were done eating and I was satisfied with the pictures of the place itself, Chef Azizi walked out from the kitchen and insisted on showing us (and taking pictures of) their nerve center as he made falafels at the speed of light, the smile never leaving his face. A must visit!
*I live to eat. Sue me. Ok, don’t, but you know what I mean.
Foul W Hummus, Al Barsha Ground Floor, Rose Garden Hotel Apartments; near Al Adil Supermarket area | Google Map Link+97143957767
