Red Hot Chili's

This entry has been sitting in our Drafts folder for a year now. Maybe more. It's one of the photos featured in our Tastebud Tease and has long been forgotten. But, we haven't forgotten the restaurant! This is one place we go to from time to time when all we want is the good 'ol food we know best.

Chili's in Tahlia St. is one prominent landmark. It's one of the first few restaurants that people usually go to when celebrating occasions or mark momentous events. As a matter of fact, this was where Shoegarfreeruby, Eyecandy, and Maryhadalittlehump first brought me to have a glimpse of the gustatory landscape of Riyadh when I was just a newbie here (which btw, feels like eons ago, haha). 

Is there any thing more obvious than that huge chili above the door?

I'm pretty sure I don't have to give Chili's an in-depth feature and review for you to go because chances are, you've already been here! So, here's just some of the photos we've taken from our numerous dinners in Chili's. We couldn't even count how many times we've dined in the place. :)

Chicken Enchilada soup + crackers

Eyecandy professes her love for this soup. It's cheesy and creamy and oh-so good!

Hot spinach and artichoke dip

This is one of the staple appetizers in our book. If we don't like a resto's spinach dip, you're a goner in our list. Haha. Needless to say, we enjoy Chili's dip and nachos. Though not the best in the city, it sure is a great way to start a heavy dinner. Munch on! We usually order their huge plate of appetizer sampler too because who doesn't do that?! Lol. To get to know the best there is, we have to sample everything first! Katakawan!

Southwestern Eggrolls

One of the few appetizers that made us come back for more. This is loaded with smoked chicken, black beans, corn, jalapeno, cheese, red peppers, and spinach wrapped in a crispy tortilla. Too much of this will hinder you from eating the main meal so hinay-hinay sa appetizer!

And here are the main entrees and the drinks that drowned everything into the abyss of indulgence. Please don't hate us for eating and drinking this much! Lol. 

Ribeye plus grilled shrimps

Grilled salmon

BBQ ribs + grilled shrimps

Is this one of their margaritas? I can't remember! LOL.

Strawberry Milkshake

Their steaks are juicy and huge! I remember when I first ate there with the ladies, I can't believe I had to eat the Cajun Ribeye they ordered for me alone! I had a hard time finishing it. Their shrimps are plump and had a nice bite to it. The salmon is a little bit dry, as well as the BBQ ribs, but they're satisfying too.

No doubt about it, we always enjoy the good food in Chili's. It's one our go-to restaurants when we're craving for delicious appetizers and hearty steaks. For a while, we ignored Chili's to try the new steak and burger joints in the city but we eventually find our way back. Chili's remains popular. We noticed a decline in the quality of service for the past months but maybe it's just us. Naninibago lang siguro because we haven't been there for a long time. 

What's your favorite in Chili's? :)

Chili's 
Tahliya St., Olaya, 
Riyadh, KSA
www.chilis.com


§undrenched

Riyadh Living

We've been your lifestyle guide for 3 years now and we love doing this for all of you. Hopefully you get a lot of tips from us and we've made your life in Riyadh a little bit easier. Of course, we don't magically let information appear in our fingertips and blog about it. We have resources too for events, sales, restaurants, and happenings in Riyadh and we're sharing them with you today. We're not paid in making this list (we just wish, lol... just kidding). Here are some guides which can help you in living here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

CITY GUIDES

ArRiyadh 

Everything about Riyadh... and KSA in general

It's all about Riyadh! Obviously... Lol. This website by the High Commission for the Development of ArRiyadh is very helpful in all aspects but it's mainly focused on tourism. They have the links to events and government ministries, information on tourism and sports and directory in their sidebar. And thank goodness, the website is in English! They have a pretty informative sidebar on the attractions found on the various regions in KSA. We usually visit this site just to get a glimpse of the tourist spots in other provinces... places which we can't visit as of now... like the Al-Wahba Crater in Makkah  or the Asir National Park  or the Relica of the Nabataean Empire in Tabuk.

Riyadh Events 

What are you doing for the weekend?

With that site name, you don't have to wonder what's in it for you when you visit. Riyadh Events lists down festivals and conferences in the city complete with their date, time, venue, and contact details... in English! Sometimes, we just visit the site to find out what festivals are celebrated in other places (because we're curious like that). Filipinos are not the only ones who celebrate feasts and festivals according to the region's products! For example, they're having a Honey Festival in Al-Baha and Summer Festivals in Najran, Al-Jawf, and Qassim. Who would've thought, right? If only we can visit each festival, then we're on our way! Now na!

Riyadhciti.com 

RiyadhCiti, a lifestyle magazine

This website is a lifestyle regional guide that delivers business and local events, courses, and lifestyle tips. They mostly focus on new happenings, launches, and news. Launched in 2009, this site is clean, sleek, and simple. We think that their main target readers are Saudis because most events featured are for them but it doesn't mean that expats cannot glean any info focused on them. There are a lot of tidbits for us too. So if you're interested in no-fuss reports on exhibits, conferences, and launchings of new products and services in Saudi Arabia, RiyadhCiti will point you to the right direction. They just don't update often but it's still worth bookmarking.

Riyadh Today 2011

We've featured Riyadh Today in this blog already. This handy book has everything too. So if you're not online most of the time but still wants to know every thing about Riyadh from directions, store contact numbers and basic information on Riyadh living, then this is the guide for you. Sundrenched likes to peruse the book once in a while. The directory and the shopping guide map prove valuable to her. For SR20, this book is sulit!

FOOD GUIDES

My Saudi Guides 

Yummy, yummy!

Indecisive on where to dine to next? Click on this site and you'll be lead to where you have to go. Though the site looks jumbled from all those letters and words in both English and Arabic, it has a good list of restaurants in the city with complete details and photos. They also have reviews and comments from diners so you'll have a grasp of how good (or bad) the resto is. We usually consult MSG when we want to eat in a new restaurant. They give first dibs on the newly-opened resto or bakeshop in the city. And if they do, we're there pronto! LOL. The Pink Tarha also contributes photos here. My Saudi Guides has a beauty guide called Oh La La Beauty but it's not as stocked as the Yummy Yummy Guide just yet.

Riyadh Eats 

An online restaurant guide

Still at its beta stage, Riyadh Eats is proving to be just as informative as its sister site Jeddahfood.com. We've been wishing for a Jeddahfood-like website for Riyadh and we're glad that the creators of Jeddahfood made our wish come true. They don't have many resto reviews yet but at full throttle, Riyadh Eats might just be as popular as its sister site. We love its simple yet elegant look. We like the concise yet substantial reviews and the photos used are eye-catching too. The site is giving away an iPad 2 at the end of the month. Click here for more details. 

DISCOUNT GUIDES

Cobone Riyadh 

Seal the deal!

Groupons have landed in Riyadh and Cobone is at the helm of this new deals phenomenon. Cobone features a daily market-focused deal on the best things to do, see, eat and buy in cities across the Middle East. We love the overall look of the site and everything is easy to understand. They have unleashed some really worthy deals from restaurants in Riyadh. Their first one was a lunch deal in Ketchup, which we think is worth it! There are current deals on Pane Piatto and Pizza Company. And if you're planning on having a vacation in Dammam and Jeddah or any major city in the Middle East then look for deals in their connecting sites too. Their Destinations deals are awesome and very tempting.

Balaash 

Deals, discounts, and freebies!

Balaash means FREE in Arabia so who wouldn't be amazed? No, they don't actually offer every thing for free but they make sure we get the best value for our money... and discounted at that! More sale coupons, woooot! Balaash provides specific sale alerts for specific items and brands in specific stores. So specific, right? Lol. So you don't even have to scout every newspaper or catalog in the city. You get to see them in Balaash's sites. Their discount deals and coupons are currently in their Facebook page but they also provide a link for to download coupons easier. Just print and present! We like their recent Al-Manahil Spa promo.

Burnt Deals KSA 

A gathering of deals and discounts in the city

This is somewhat new so we don't know what they're focused on. If our assessment is right, this site will gather all the best deals in the city daily and present them in the site. Let's stay tuned for more!

Okay, so that's it for now. We'll be coming up for a part two with Insider Guides this time. Hope you don't forget The Pink Tarha once you explore these sites, orayt? Happy living in Riyadh! :D

The Kaya Experience

It was Sampaguita Pride who informed us about Kaya Skin Clinic. If you notice in some websites you visit in the Internet, even Facebook, Kaya Skin Cilinic has advertisements in their sidebars.  Kaya Clinic is the largest international skin care clinic chain in the Middle East with branches in UAE, Oman, and KSA. They have three here in Riyadh. Their website looks professional and photos of their clinics show clean and sophisticated receptions and rooms. I needed an appointment pronto!

The clinics are uniform in their interiors and design. (Photo from kayaskinclinic.me)

Now, I'm not vain or anything near that but I throw a fit (hindi raw vain) when I see pimples in my face. But please understand that when I was younger, I had acne of the rather worst kind, of the traumatic kind that trumped my confidence during my high school and college years (if I had confidence in the first place). Thankfully, I got over it when I graduated college through several visits to a dermatologist in Makati. The pimples rarely appear in my face now but there's nothing I can do about the scars. I still get mild breakouts from time to time and I panic because I get the huge, red, ugly (and papansin) kind of pimples. So yeah, my face is miles away from being perfect.

Last month, I decided to change my facial wash and toner... what a mistake! I had four huge pimples popping out in my cheeks and jaw overnight. (Wow, sensitive ang skin! Lol!) Since I haven't been to a derma in a long time, I clicked one of the Kaya advertisements when I encountered it in one website and signed up for a free consultation. After a few days, I received a call from one of their agents in Jeddah. I told her I'm in Riyadh. She told me to wait for a call from their Riyadh branch. I received a text message two days after. It says that I will only have to show the text message to their receptionist in their clinic in Oruba Road to get my free consultation. I didn't took a chance of showing up in their doorstep without an appointment so I called the branch in Oruba Road and booked.

It was a Thursday afternoon when I visited the Kaya clinic. Their reception is a little bit small but it's directly in front of the door. The two receptionists didn't seem to know what they'll do with me at first. Lol. One gave me an information sheet which I answered in their female waiting area. The interiors of the clinic is clean, bright, and sleek. After a while, I gave back the sheet and I waited in the lounge again. Someone offered me drinks but I declined. After a few minutes, they called me and I entered the office of their resident dermatologist, Dr. Wael Abou Diab. He's known as one of the best dermatologists in the Middle East.

The consultation lasted 10 minutes. He looked at me, asked what my skin problem was, and took out his prescription pad. He asked me to buy a new facial wash and toner. And I should come back after a month. He also told me that I can book for a facial if I wanted but that it wasn't that necessary. When I was out the door, I'm relieved that there's no major thing to be done but I kept on thinking "That was it?!" I didn't come to Oruba alone on a Thursday afternoon without some thing done to my face pronto! (I lack EQ!) I signed up for their Kaya Advance Facial just because. Ayun, dahil sa lack of EQ ko, I paid SR300 for it! Expensive! 

Mataray ang kagandahan n'ya! (One of the models in a Kaya ad.)

The Kaya Advanced Facial includes microdermabrasion to give your skin a radiant look that regular facials cannot achieve. Microdermabrasion exfoliates away the dead skin cells. Next, a Viennese facial massage is performed, to both relax and rejuvenate the skin. Blackheads and/or whiteheads are then removed with the aid of a comedone extractor. Finally, a lightening face mask is applied to brighten your skin.

I didn't wait long. A Filipino nurse ushered me in a well-lit room with a few machines around a medical bed. The process was straightforward, nothing too fancy. The Filipino (hello Louis if you're reading this!) told me that Kaya actually started in India. The biggest branch is in Mumbai. The services are rather expensive because they use the latest in skin technology and they use imported skin products (made in France and USA). They only get nurses as skin practitioners and they were trained for three months in Mumbai, India. O diba, bongga! (Hindi daw nila nakita ang Taj Mahal kasi malayo ang Agra sa Mumbai, hehe. Talagang tinanong ko daw!) The comedone extraction was a little bit painful but I already expected that. (Nateary-eyed ako habang inaalis ang mga blackheads and whiteheads! Ugh!) After the 1-hour procedure, I had a rosy glow (sabi ko nga baka dahil namamaga lang ang mukha ko, haha!). I didn't expect much from my first facial but my face feels cleaner and brighter. This is good if you want a radiant face for an event happening asap. 

To really see the long-term effect of a facial, it should be done on a monthly (or twice) basis. But with the price, hindi ko carry ang maging habit ang facial. Lol. But I might be back to try their painless hair removal laser. Kaya is known for that service and they have a lot of customers. They have a wide array of anti-aging, acne and hair loss treatments. The clinics are also open for men. Even princes and princesses visit Kaya for their result-oriented skincare. 

So, you don't have something better to do on a Thursday? Here's a suggestion:

If you've visited Kaya, share your experience in our comment box.

Strawberries + Chocolate Dip = LOVE

On one of our shopping/bonding trips, my sister and I decided to try Dippingo's choco dip plate... I personally preferred the strawberries over the marshmallow because it was not overwhelmingly sweet when dipped in chocolate.

We normally see these in fancy parties and weddings but it was nice to see that we could get them on a normal bonding day. One time, I waited out the magrib prayer just I could bring this treat on one of our game nights at Eyecandy's place. Yes, I like it that much! ^_^

You can go to Hyatt Mall, Panorama Mall and Khurais Mall and grab a plate of choco goodness. <3

Walang diet diet,

Sampaguita Pride

Dans Le Coin Français

There was once a time when a corner in Dabab Street, Sulaimania attracted the attention of diners. In there you'll find one of the best French bakeshop and restaurant in Riyadh. People flock to eat authentic French dishes and buy French pastries and bread too. Nowadays, it's mostly ignored because it's overtaken by the more known French restaurants in the city. But for me, I couldn't ignore this place because 1. it's near our flat and this is my landmark when I ride the taxi (Saddiq, malloum French Corner?), 2. I actually like the food, and 3. I get to enjoy the solitude of eating in a place na parang akin lang yung lugar.

French Corner is a French restaurant and bakeshop that sits in a busy but small intersection in Suleimania. At first, you wouldn't really notice it unless you're looking for the blue and red sign reminiscent of the flag of France. But of course! I usually go there for the bread and pastries. I like their cheesecake but its rather dry pero pwede na. I also like their muffins and marjolaine, a dessert cake. I've tried their chocolates too but they're too sweet for my taste. The handmade caramel ice cream is good and I was tempted to try the sorbets. I even tried their sandwich. Anyway, it's the restaurant that I visited recently so...

The dining place for families is located on the second floor. Once there, you'll feel that the place was somewhat abandoned. There are no regular patrons and the decorations are sparse. The tables were set-up though. During the time I went with friends, I felt like we own the place. 

All by ourselves... :)

Well, at least the tables are ready.

We were alone and we have a butler waiter waiting for our orders. Just ours. We took the table by the window and perused their menu with excitement. I mean, I don't know anything about French dishes aside from the fact that they're hard to read and pronounce. Lol.

Free bread and butter

The bread comes to the table warm but a little bit hard. When eaten with butter alone, it doesn't have any astounding difference to other bread we've had in steakhouses. It's a better pair to the soup.

Bisque de langouste a' notre facon (lobster bisque), SR16

Soupe a L'oignon Parisienne (french onion soup with cheese toast), SR16

Sige, kayo na ang mahirap i-pronounce! :P We enjoyed the bisque more because the onion soup was runny and bland.

Croustillant de saumon et crevettes beurre de vanille, SR42

We're not sure how the French eat but this is part of their appetizer menu. This is salmon and shrimps in crispy paste pan-fried vanilla butter sauce. Looks good enough for dinner to me, especially with that rice. This is good. It's creamy and the shrimps are nicely plump. However, I haven't tasted this hard to pronounce dish anywhere else so I have no comparison.

Ravioli Amandine, SR38

This is ravioli stuffed with salmon and shrimps served with lobster bisque gratined. It's delicious but order this keeping "sharing" in mind. Nakakasuya (cloying) s'ya when you finish this on your own. It has huge chunks of salmon, which is different from other restos scrimping on them.

French Corner Mixed Grilled, SR48

Consisting of chicken, steak, lamb chops, sausages, we enjoyed their huge plate of mixed grilled meats plus fries... even if we're not sure how French this is. Lol. The meats are juicy but a little bit torched much.

Overall, the dinner experience in French Corner is fine. Nothing elaborate or fancy. It's a good place if you value your privacy so much and you just want to talk with your friends. A good wine will be welcome, lol. Just kidding. While its true that you won't really go out your way to dine here, it might be worth it if you want to enjoy the French cuisine without the usual fanfare of restaurants with too many waiters and diners. This is one simple, private dinner you'll probably enjoy once in a while.

French Corner

Dabab St., Suleimania

Riyadh, KSA

T: 01-4645322