We were invited to Fondue restaurant today, and we went with a bunch of friends. We were asked to try out the dishes and give out honest opinions about the place. We had so many things to eat, and ended up with lots of pictures and a detailed review for you guys

The restaurant is in front of AlSalhiya complex. I entered the restaurant, and liked what I saw. The place was very nicely decorated. Great colors and seating areas. There were still 2 or 3 workers in there, putting some final touches here and there. I didn’t mind them. I took a long time just observing the interiors and the colors, it gave an impression of a casual yet chic modern french restaurant. The attention to details and the ideas for the seating areas were brilliant.

They’re going to have outdoor tables as well.

^how ’bout this table, huh? we liked the idea.

The menu was presented and I started to go through it. Lots of dishes got my attention, and I told one of my friends that there are way too many things that sound good to choose from, and he whispered “He prepared a set menu for us, you won’t be choosing anything, so just look at them and put the menu back.” That was a relief, coz I wouldn’t have known what to order.

Then food started to come in.

The Starters:

A Greek Salad, Caesar Salad, Fries (2 different types of fries: One topped with cheese, chicken cream and mushroom sauce. And the other one was topped with cheese and bolognese sauce). Fried Risotto and Mushrooms.

^ Greek Potato Salad

^Both salads had the dressings on the side. I know Mom would love this coz she, more often than not, hates dressings, unless they’re light.

The Caeser Salad, which isn’t you average caesar salad (they played with the dressing’s recipe a bit and named it Marc Anthony’s caesr salad) had bacon, croutons, parmesan cheese, and the dressing on the side.

^What you see in here is grilled shrimps. Tasted very good and tender.

The Greek Salad kinda stole the Caesar’s moment. I didn’t expect to like it, actually I didn’t expect to like the salads in general (not a big fan of salads) but it tasted very good. The dressing with the weirdly shaped fried potatos on top were a good touch.

^Breaded Mushrooms & Cheese.

^fried Risotto on the right

^Now this dish is amazing. As I mentioned earlier on, there 2 kinds of fries, one topped with bolognese sauce and cheese and the other with chicken, mushooms and cream (there is another kind topped with pepperoni and tomato sauce but we didn’t try that). The chicken topped fries was my favorite. It had the prefect amount of everything. The cream with the fries came along very well.

The main dish:

Each fondue order comes with bread and pickles and your choice of 3 other sides. Beef, Chicken and Seafood are all available and come in 3 different kinds. For example if you order the seafood side with you fondue, you’re getting calamari, shrimps and fish. There is also a vegetarian order as well.

^mini meatballs

^Chicken

^Another kind of chicken

^Pesto Fondue

All the Fondue sauces are cheese based, and you get different flavors to choose from. We got the Pepperoni and tomato sauce (which tasted like the tomato base they use in pizzas), a Pesto sauce, and a mushroom sauce. There are alos many other sauces, I think 7 different ones, including what potentially could be my favorite; The original cheese sauce.

The dessert:

Mini cheese cakes. comes with 4 different sauces as well. It’s all about the dipping in this restaurant. Very good cheese cakes and the white sauce won big time. It went well with all the cheesecakes, very versatile.

^ This is their chocolate pudding. I don’t know why they’re calling it chocolate pudding, I hope I misheard the word pudding, coz this is definitely not a chocolate pudding. It’s a chocolate fondant. The best chocolate fondant in Kuwait. Period.

^Ice cream on a biscuit and chocolate sauce with butterscotch syrup.

My brother couldn’t stop raving about their expresso.

^ Tea fans are going to like this picture.

The food was extremely enjoyable and you could tell they paid attention creating the recipes.

I sat with the owner and he told me that he got the idea while watching a TV program about hotels and food. He said that he’s a food lover, he cooks and has created many of the sauces in this restaurant. Back in February when he first started working on this idea of a Fondue restaurant, he sat with a part time chef and came up with the recipes. He wanted to create something other than the usual Fondue, He thinks Kuwait wouldn’t be too acceptive of a regular cheese Fondue, and would want something interesting.

I couldn’t let him go on before stopping him and defending the original cheese fondue. I love it. I have tried it in Gruyere (The Vatican of Cheese Fondues of the world) and told him that how could anyone not love the cheese fondue. He convinced me that making a restaurant all about cheese is not something that will work out in Kuwait. But then again he assured me that the cheese fondue will be served, and is on the menu. He also said that he himself is a fan of the original fondue, and would want other cheese fondue-lovers come to the restaurant and get a taste of what started it all.

Keeping the original cheese Fondue intact, and available on the menu, he went and created new interesting mixes of cheese based sauces. The ones we tried were all of their new creations. They were masterfully done.

The menu had many other dishes besides the fondue, like sandwiches, burgers, and pastas.

We appreciated their approach and how at the end they were telling us that they don’t want to hear the good things we had to say, they were more interested to hear what’s bad. The things we didn’t like is what they wanted to hear. I liked that! A good start.

I mentioned little things that I didn’t like, like the risotto needed to be more solid coz it was falling apart as we were picking them, and they needed more salt as well. The meatballs needed more time in the pan. Nothing major. (I hate gushing over a restaurant in a review but there was nothing wrong with the place)

The verdict?

Great food and a brilliant interiors. This restaurant could easily be the IT place in no time.

FONDUE is in front of AlSalhiya complex, right next to Fauchon. The opening is on wednesday, the day after tomorrow.

To reserve a table call: 22996424 they’re open from 1pm to 11pm

 

This entry was posted on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 11:11 pm