McDonalds Khalidiyah - Spicy Chicken Strips

After a disastrous and frustrating visit to the nearby KFC, I plucked up the courage to go to ... McDonalds in Khalidiyah. Cute paper-bag ... "What's the secret?"

My Fuji X100S likes the look of these french-fries shot at f/2.8, 1/60s and ISO2000.

Here's what I came for (In fact I actually wanted their wings, but they had sold-out) ... and so, I chose the Spicy Chicken Strips. I was having flashbacks to the Mini Fillet meal disaster from KFC last week!

Thank goodness the McDs staff were quick, courteous and ever so friendly - Even whilst I was in the queue, someone came up to me and said hello, and asked what I wanted to eat, and quickly ushered me to an open counter. Now, that's service for you!

As for the Chicken Strips ... Nothing much to shout about, I think it was breast-meat, tasted kinda dry, but hey ... McDs are forgiven, when their service is so darn good! KFC ... Tsk tsk.

KFC Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi - Bad customer service

I don't think I can ever convince myself to go to my local KFC again ... That's the one located at Zayed the 1st Street, here in Abu Dhabi's Khalidiyah area.

Just last week - At 6:23pm in the evening, with hardly a person in the restaurant ... I ordered my Mini Fillet meal. I waited ... and I waited ...

After 2 other patrons who came after me received their meals prior to myself .. I complained to the Manager, who then tried to expedite my order, which was when I realised he wasn't wearing any gloves when he used a temperature probe to measure the temperature of the chicken at the counter. I would be surprised if this was part of KFC's HACCP management system!

After waiting 15 minutes, I decided to remind the staff that I have been waiting an extraordinarily length of time for what is considered "fast" food, and what surprised me was - There was only one or two other persons waiting around the counter ... Why did it take so long to prepare a couple of fries and my "mini fillets" and why could I not have been kept informed about the reasons for the delay?!

22 minutes later ... I got my Mini Fillet meal. Am I going to take the opportunity to write about my experience eating this take-away meal? I think not - This experience has left me genuinely dissapointed and surprised with KFC.

Update 10th Sept - I provided the above feedback to Americana-Food and Yum group who operates KFC in the MENA region, and to their credit, they seemed to take my concerns seriously. Pity the staff in this store didn't!

The French - McDonalds Tastes of The World

I had The Asian some months ago, followed by The Mexican ... and now it was time for McDonald's latest Tastes of The World here in Abu Dhabi.

 

Kinda looks ... blahh... cos' it was rather much so! Prosperity Burger it sure wasn't :-(

We also had the new "Deliciously sweet strawberry custard pie" ... It was ok, lar!

 

Shake Shack - Now open in Dalma Mall, Abu Dhabi

Located: Ground floor, Dalma Mall - Mussafah, Abu Dhabi

Tel: +971 26120750

Opening hours: 12pm - 12am daily

Thanks to KCL for pointing out Shake Shack's website, which publishes their simple but elegant menu...

 

Here in the UAE, it is operated along with their partner M.H. Alshaya Co - Seems this unit at Dalma Mall is their 5th one, with the first 4 being in Dubai I believe. On this occassion, I was the first to arrive, it opened at exactly NOON, and the staff were really friendly :-)

After asking for the signature Shack Burger, I had a single patty burger (If you don't ask them specifically, they prepare each burger "medium" - I may try a "medium rare" next time) with no drink and no fries. Gulp ... 25 AED or RM$20 for this. Hmmm, wonder how big it is! Wonder how good it would be?

I did wonder why they issued me with a JTech Wireless Paging system (Not dissimilar to the one they issue at our local Evangelical Community Church), then I realised they cooked each burger fresh (I did not see any burgers "queueing" at the service counter) and it took about 10-20 minutes ....

BUZZZZZZ!!!... Yay .....

It was well worth the wait, and I enjoyed every single bite - Succulent patty, perfectly cooked, delicious cheese and veges, and a wonderful and delicate bun. It was small, but soooo good ;-)

49er's The Gold Rush - Dana Hotel, Abu Dhabi

Hotel: Al Diar Dana Hotel
Address: Al Meena, Abu Dhabi
Located: Corner of Sheikh Zayed 2nd Street and 10th Street
Tel: +971 2 645 8000  

Well known for being a seedy joint - As long as you go before 9pm, its actually "OK"! Food was very well priced, with a mixed grill costing only 79-89 AED or RM$65-70. Good customer service, decent food ... Its OK!  

We had ... Chicken wings to start, Mixed grill as my mains, and a "Love Boat" to finish!  
Goodbye and bon voyage, E ... You will be missed :-(  

Shrimp or Chicken Rizo - KFC, Abu Dhabi

Riso is rice in Italian ... KFC in the UAE took some artistic license and called their "rice side dishes" ... Rizo.


Previous review: 2010 in Abu Dhabi
I had the Spicy Chicken Rizo a while ago (That's the one on the left, 8 AED), but KFC recently launched a Shrimp Rizo (10 AED, on right). I did find both overly spicy this time, and didn't enjoy it so much. It is still a nice "change" for KFC here to introduce rice dishes :-)

Home cooked Mexican food - A gem in Abu Dhabi

Jes farewell dinner at our home ... Thanks to MD and DS for the delicious home-made Mexican food! Seems a local lady here in Abu Dhabi makes it once a week to order ... and voila, they picked it up, and we had a scrumptious dinner at our home!

The Corn cake, Salsa and Guacamole were genuine highlights of the meal ... Delicious! There were two varieties of tortilla-wrapped chicken and spinach wrapped enchiladas too.


Nice Mexican rice ... both the plain, as well as the "black" variety. Seems black rice is created from black beans ... Yum!


Jes ... we will miss you. Can't wait to see you again, soon!

McWings by McDonalds - UAE

McDonaldsArabia.com describes this as succulent chicken wings rolled in a mild spicy batter and served hot and crisp ...

Its good, its very good! Paid 8 AED for a 4 piece pack, which is about RM$1.50 per piece of succulent chicken. Here's a list of all the branches in the UAE.

Our chicken McWings are halal :-)

I had mine takeaway tonight, and had it with some rice :-) There's a choice of sauce as well, I had the Sweet and Sour.

Cantina Laredo - Khalidiyah Mall, Abu Dhabi

Add: Cantina Laredo, Khalidiyah Mall, Al Khalidiyah, Abu Dhabi
Tel: +971 2 635 4877
Opening hours: 11am - 1am
Review: Restaurant that serves the best chips in Abu Dhabi!

Glorious hot and fresh corn-chips, with a spicy and a not-so spicy sauce, chunky bits and full of punch ... Yummy! I think we shared two portions between the three of us :-)


DS and MD's choices :-) Thats a vegetarian fajita sizzling on the plate, on the right!


My virgin (Yes, no alcohol is served here - Cantina Laredo is in the middle of Khalidiyah Mall) cocktail - Thought I'd have a Margerita as I was about to have my trio of Mexican dish :-) There was rice, salad, chicken and spinach on my platter. Yummmz!

Steaks at Meat Co - No longer our favourite!

Located: Souk Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi
Tel: +971 2 558 1713
Opening hours: 12pm - 11:30pm/12am
Map: Google

A great looking wine cellar does not make a steakhouse good ... Not at the very least.


Why were we so dissapointed at what was probably our "first" favourite steakhouse in Abu Dhabi? Lets start with the service! Our waiter had an indifferent attitude, despite the fact that it was hardly a busy evening at the restaurant. For a restaurant that used to pride itself in great (and different - namely, fun) customer service, this was unforgiveable.

Even our bread came late ... Very late. In fact, it came at the same time as our main-course, and only cos' I reminded our waiter!

Next ... the ambience. Meat Co's menu is priced similarly to large hotel steakhouses, such as the ones I recommend below, but we found the environment to lack "special" - It was warm, and as we sat on the ground-floor, we had to put up with the screeching door as it rubbed against the floor everytime it opened and closed!

Worse of all ... the food. Not only on this occasion, we found our steaks to be over-cooked, despite L ordering "Medium rare". We were surprised that our Wagyu choices were not juicy, and not sufficiently tender. Dissapointing! On a plus side, I liked the onion rings!


My wagyu, prepared "medium".


The last straw ... The price! Whilst Meat Co prices their steaks similarly to other hotel steakhouses, it does NOT even include sauces and side-dishes. These are all priced individually.

Hey, its not all doom and gloom.. We have no problems recommending some really excellent steak-houses in Abu Dhabi!
(1) Rodeo Grill, Beach Rotana - Tourist Club Area, beside Abu Dhabi Mall
(2) 18 Oz - One to One Hotel, The Village - Al Nahyan area, Abu Dhabi

Ah .. at least even on a dissapointing evening for steaks, we had the pleasure of enjoying the sunset from Souk Qaryat Al Beri :-)

Abu Dhabi ... Travellers welcome :-)

Best steak in town - Wagyu at Rodeo Grill, Beach Rotana

Located: Beach Rotana Hotel, Tourist Club Area (Abu Dhabi)
Tel: +971 2 697 9000
Map: TripAdvisor
Opening hours: 12.30pm-3.30pm, 7pm-11.30pm

We like the Rodeo Grill at Beach Rotana, in busy TCA (Tourist Club Area) a lot ... Customer service is always pleasant and professional from the moment you call-up, to the point of arrival (Friendly valet service and concierge), to when you are led to your plush and comfortable bankers' style arm-chairs, to the actual meal ... :-)

The bread and butter combination here is possibly the best in town, with a large loaf of bread whic his made up of different sections, white/sun-dried tomato/olive/multi-grain etc. This is complimentary of course.

Here's our Gazpachio ... Tastes like a cool tangy salsa! Complimentary as well :-)



What you are looking at here could very possibly be the BEST STEAK IN ABU DHABI ... Divine Wagyu Rib-Eye Marbelisation 5, cooked to perfection (Medium-rare). Juicy, moist, tender, full of flavour :-)


Here's a comparison of what used to be our favourite steak-house versus Rodeo Grill ...

Meat Co, Souk Qaryat al Beri -
1) Indifferent service,
2) The ambience lacks "special",
3) The steaks are priced similarly to Rodeo Grill (and 18 Oz - One to One, The Village) but does NOT include sauces and side-dishes, which are priced separately, and most damagingly ...
4) The steaks were over-cooked on each occassion we were there (three times), and thus less juicy and not tender.

Rodeo Grill, Beach Rotana -
1) Friendly service from the manager to the front-of-house, to each and every one of the waiters,
2) The ambience says "grand and special",
3) The steaks may not be "cheap", but we actually consider it really good value as the meat is wonderful, and a Wagyu 250g (Marble 5) costs about 330 AED, and
4) The steaks are not over-cooked, and medium-rare IS medium-rare. Juicy, tender, perfect!

We like dinner time at IKEA, Yas Island - Abu Dhabi

We love IKEA at Yas Island, yes the newly opened one ... used to be convenient to travel to Marina Mall for the IKEA experience, but I have to say that it had outgrown its four walls, and the move to Yas was the right thing to do :-)

Here is a recent article in the newspaper which made me chuckle ... The National

So... here is what we ate (Yes, we travelled all the way there not to buy a new Poang, or tea-lights, but to ... have dinner!) ... Swedish meatballs (Small portion of 5, but they were generous and threw in a few more) with Cranberry sauce (Measly but so damn good!) for only 7.50 AED, and Beef Goulash (Not so yummy) for 17 AED.


bbG chose the yummy Farareej Mashwi or Arabic roast chicken, 19 AED. We also had a small bottle of water (2 AED) and unlimited-refills soft-drink (3 AED).


Best of all ... this is a seriously "family" and "child-friendly" restaurant :-)
1) Unpretentious
2) Free paper bibs
3) Microwave to heat up any bottles etc
4) Children's cutlery
5) Multiple play areas (Please take off your shoes, kiddies and ADULTS!)
6) Kiddy meals for 5 AED (RM$4 only!), chicken nuggets and chips ...


Yes... this was our trolley of food :-) All for under 54 AED or only just over RM$40 :-)