When No One Dines At Home

We've recently received a copy of the"dining and delivery guide 2007", which is a considerably hefty (well over 300 pages) guide to all the restaurants Kuwait has to offer, and includes reviews, tips and the actual menus.

My initial reaction was one of joy. Oh, that would make choosing where to eat out on our weekly family day so much easier and more informed, I thought. And so I snuggled on the couch, and began to explore the contents!

The first 10 minutes were enjoyable and every so often I would exclaim to whoever happened to be passing by the living room things like: "Oh there's this Italian restaurant we must go to!", and "Come check out how cutely designed this place is".

This initial amusement and appreciation of the guide, however, was short-lived. Soon, I found myself in a state of disbelief, which quickly worked its way into pure disgust at the sheer amount of restaurants included. Each new page extolled yet another restaurant and vouched for it. It was overwhelming. I tossed the guide aside and gave up. There was no way in hell I could read about all those restaurants, let alone visit them all. Not unless I ate out, like, EVERY day and on every single meal. I haven't touched the guide since.

Not until last night anyway. I had promised Abood to treat him to some sushi, and so we sat together checking out the sushi places in town. In less than 5 minutes, we had already found at least 5 fancy sushi places to choose from. We settled on one named Maki, since it was strategically situated along the beautiful walking path at Marina Crescent, and so would be ideal to head to after we take a nice long stroll there.

I didn't even consider calling to reserve. I mean, for one there were at least 10 another top-end sushi places for sushi lovers to choose from. More importantly, it was a school night. I reasoned that unless the entire population suddenly and simultaneously got an urge for some immediate sushi, we would be fine. Besides, what are the odds of that happening?

Shockingly good, it turns out.

We enjoyed every bit of our walk.. Abood couldn't believe how gorgeous the weather was, and tried to make me grasp what a -30 temp. actually felt like! brrrrrrrrr. NOT cool :D

Heading towards Maki, Abood asked me if I've ever tried walking into a restaurant with someone then asking for "a table for one please" just to see the look on their faces. He tried talking me into trying it out and almost succeeded when our convo was interrupted by a smiling maitre asking about our reservation.
Me: Oh we don't have one. We need a table for two please.
Maitre: I'm so sorry we're fully booked. In fact, we're always booked two days in advance. Even the sushi bar is full, I would've put you there. I'm very sorry. Here have our card to call in advance next time.
Me: *disbelief*

We walked outside, clearly disappointed. Suddenly I turned towards Abood and indignantly exclaimed: "Please explain to me HOW is it possible that in a country as tiny as Kuwait, where the restaurant to citizen ratio is 1:1, and on a SCHOOL NIGHT no less, can a restaurant be FULLY booked, unless it was its opening week or something????".

Abood: Leave it to Kuwaitis to find a way to do that.

Honestly.
On the bright side, we ended up going to Johny Rockets, which makes the best hamburgers on the planet- no competition.
And they agreed to take us in, which is what counts really!