OMAR KHAYYAM

• Location: Ruwi (near Ruwi R/A) / Madinat Qaboos (near Centerpoint) / Al Khoud (Gulf Crown Hotel)
• Menu: Continental, Arabic, Indian and Chinese dishes
• My personal rating: 5 out of 5

 Whenever me and my hubby are hungry and we wouldn't want to risk dining out and not being satisfied, we always come to OK (Omar Khayyam) as the food there has become our comfort food. Whenever we're there, our order is automatic - Chicken corn soup (divided into 2 bowls, since I can't finish 1 by myself), Nan or butter Nan bread, Mixed fried rice, and the popular Pancit malutong (Cripsy noodles), and a big bottle of water. And we'll always have leftovers to take home.

They also cater to parties and they have a function room in their MQ branch. I dont know if its the same with their other branches since I dont usually visit Ruwi & Al Khoud because both are far from our place.

There was a time when I really got frustrated. We went there on a Friday evening, the place was packed, so we immediately placed our orders. I think it took more than 30 mins for our foods to be brought to our table, and by that time I was really, really very hungry (that I could eat a whole cow), and so was the baby inside me. Being a woman, I would've wanted to storm out of the restaurant because of the long waiting time, but good that guys are more patient, haha. It took me a long time to go back there, but still, even if I had 1 bad experience, I would keep coming back to this place.

 

CRIPSY NOODLES (PANSIT MALUTONG)

It's automatic, they know what our nationality would like to order and this has been the popular and favorite. I usually request the sauce to be separate from the noodles so that whenever I intend to eat it, then it will still be crispy, and also good for taking home if there's any leftover.

MIXED FRIED RICE

With shrimps, chicken, scrambled egg

For more information on this restaurant and their menu, try checking their website.
http://www.omaralkhayyam.com/

NANDO'S

• Location: Qurum, near CCC / 1st Floor Muscat City Center, Seeb
• Menu: Portuguese dishes
• My personal rating: 5 out of 5

Nando's serves mostly chicken and beef dishes. You can also advise them regarding the hotness of the chicken that you want according to their Perio-meter: lemon & herb, medium, hot, and extra hot peri-peri.

We love dining at Nando's especially if we want our meals with rice and don't want to eat at the food court especially on Friday's after attending church. Last time we were there, we only spent around RO 30-35, good for 5 persons during lunch, and all were full afterwards.

I think that their best seller is the Chicken Espetada, pictured below, and it really is good with regards to the taste and its presentation. But since we're looking out more on how to save and at the same time, enjoy the taste & portion of our food, I always suggest that we order the peri-peri chicken - marinated flame-grilled chicken, which can be ordered as quarter, half (2 pcs) or whole (4pcs). They also serve the peri-peri chicken as a meal and you can select the combination of sidelines that you want - spicy rice, potato wedges, french fries, coleslaw, etc.

They also have meals good for sharing between 2, 4 and 6 people. They also have a selection of mocktails and most of the drinks come with mint leaves (which I really dont like having in my drink, so I usually go for plain water only).

On a personal note, I prefer dining in their MCC branch because I feel that the chicken served there has more sauce in it rather than how they serve in Qurum branch, which is a bit dry.

FULL CHICKEN (2 Lemon & Herb, 2 Medium Peri-peri)

Flame-grilled chicken marinated in Portuguese sauce

HALF CHICKEN

Flame-grilled chicken marinated in Portuguese sauce

MEAL FOR 2

Chicken livers accompanied with 2 flame-grilled Peri-peri quarter chickens, traditionally baked Bolo bread and served with creamy bay-leaf butter, golden wedges and a Portuguese salad (rice not included in the meal)

CHICKEN ESPETADA
Tender pieces of marinated chicken and fresh peppers, flame-grilled and served on a skewer, with your choice of 2 sidelines

QUARTER CHICKEN MEAL

Flame-grilled chicken marinated in Portuguese sauce

 

BEEF TRINCHADO

Succulent chunks of marinated beef cooked Portuguese-style with home-made pickles in secret Peri-Peri sauce and served with spicy rice

Mushkak

I know this is out of place from this blog since it is not a restaurant, but still, if its about food which I love and would recommend to others out there (and cheap as well), then I'm up for putting in this blog.


In Azaiba beach, at around 7pm or onwards, some locals would set up their barbecues and sell to passersby. Mind you, their barbecues (in Arabic, pronounced as mushkak) are really great. They have grilled mutton (250 bz) and cuttlefish (300 bz) in sticks (around 4-5 pcs per stick), quail (800 bz), and quarter chicken (800 bz). They will also ask you if you want it spicy or not (as seen from the pictures below, they have these 2 basins where they'll dip your barbecue in a spicy or regular sauce).


I've noticed that so many are buying from them every night, and even having it as take-away orders. They usually have a big cooler to keep all their ready-to-barbecue mutton/cuttlefish sticks.


If you want to hang out in the beach, just bring your picnic mats, drinks, and buy these yummy mushkaks and you can enjoy your dinner with a view.

Menu Hoarder!

Yes, I admit.. I am an official menu hoarder, but only here in Muscat and I don't think I'll be doing that back in the Philippines. Haha!

If you're a resident in Oman, Im sure you can relate to me, that its so hard to decide almost everytime where to eat simply because there are few restaurants here in Oman, unlike in my country or in UAE where your problem would be the opposite as it is too hard to decide because there are just so many options wherever you go.

And so, in order to help us in deciding where to go to before leaving the house so as not to waste time driving with no sense of direction or end up going the opposite side of the road once we have finally decided where to, considering the budget for that day which we have convinced ourselves to splurge on food and location wise, then the menus I have on hand somehow helps and lets me decide on what I'll be ordering before I even reach the restaurant.

And if there happens to be no take out menu which I can keep and if I badly want to have their menu, then my phone comes in to the rescue.

I'm back.. (hopefully! :)

Hi guys, finally.. had myself convinced to go back to blogging about our restaurant hopping after reading quite some blogs and realizing that a part of me missed blogging and because we really are food-lovers and explorers.. Hopefully, I could post some reviews just before our little one comes out next month. :)


Anyway, just a tip.. if you still haven't purchased a copy of the Entertainer Oman book, then you still can. You can grab it in Borders, Seeb City City for 25RO, and if you would like to have an idea what vouchers it actually contains, I believe Al Fair supermarkets have the sample of the book which you can find in their magazine racks (Well that's how it is in their Azaiba branch). There's still 6 months to go for you to maximize using all those vouchers in there and save tons especially when dining.


I know some of you might say that all those vouchers are just hard to use because there's just so many of it.. then I suggest you find a friend who's willing to share with you, at least 1 or 2 friends for you to share the cost with since each page will be having 3 coupons of the same hotel/restaurant or wherever, then just divide within yourselves who gets what since some of the coupons are not exactly the same.


You might think that I have already bought one for myself because I was advertising it earlier, unfortunately, the answer is No. I really, really wanted to purchase one when 2012 started after realizing its worth last 2011, but since I got pregnant by the end of 2011, then I realized I had to wait for 2013's Entertainer book simply because me and my husband wouldn't like to be eating at all those inviting restaurants most of the times just to maximize using the book and thus, get myself and our baby too big (knowing how I love eating and since I've made it as my hobby, haha!). We just don't want to sacrifice our baby's health. We still believe that it will be a healthier choice to have a home-cooked meal. I guess I have to sacrifice for now, but when next year comes, I think I can indulge (guilt-free) in my cravings, I believe I deserve it as well, after having 9 months to go through reminding myself of what I can and should not eat (or because of my strict hubby warning me most of the times what I can't eat and drink which leaves me no choice, haha!).