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Foods of several Far Eastern countries feature at Gulf Hotel’s Fusions but notably, too, also at Monsoon which resembles a Buddhist temple. BamBu! serves several kinds of Far Eastern specialities. The concept is that you pay one price, order whatever you want from the menu and have as much ale or vino as you’d like. The dishes are prepared in gourmet fashion, and you’re encouraged to order more. From hundreds of modest eateries to a stylish restaurant in a village setting, Indian food is doubtless the single most popular type of cooking in Bahrain. The most unusual is Lanterns, off Budaiya Highway, with a duo performing classical and Bollywood melodies, and the atmosphere created being that of a roadside with tiny shops, a craftsman’s workshop and a truck parked at the side. Go ahead and try the curries – the hotness can be adjusted to suit any palate. For a lovely end to your meal, ask for serpentine coffee. The red-velvet elegance of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel’s Nirvana can’t be beaten with its dining room resembling a maharajah’s salon and its food quite royally prepared. Experts in the cuisine of the subcontinent claim that Clay Oven, with its New Delhi staff, serves the most authentic tandoori food in the kingdom. Caesar’s, set incongruously in a Louis XIV salon, also has the specialities of India on its menu but has now added Chinese to the offer. Paradise, which has been in Bahrain for nearly 30 years, specialises in Pakistani and other regional foods. Among the styles of cooking of the Continent, Italian certainly takes the prize with a dozen restaurants. Oliveto has the affable Chef Paolo Orca creating gourmet specialities in a neo-Italian atmosphere. Of course, everyone likes pasta but don’t miss the risotto al funghi porcini. Mammamia’s has a genuine Italian mama in the kitchen and pastas so good that she even sells them to five-star hotels. A trendy, new restaurant is the Diplomat Radisson SAS Hotel’s Mondo which styles itself as on the “cutting edge” among Italian restaurants. Primavera at the Ritz-Carlton is a fine-dining class act with a vista of the Manama skyline and superb Italian specialities. Arias can be heard in the background. Cico’s and La Taverna are well-established ristoranti with a loyal following. The stylish Roma is another deservedly busy place. In both Roma and La Taverna, I like to order a trio of pasta as an appetiser, and that responds to my pasta fix for a week. cafe Italia has fast become an ‘in’ and trendy place for the younger set. |
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