TBK Eats- So much delicious food and so little time

Sticky rice in the shape of a heart with Mango from the Thailand Seafood stall at Zallaq

With the restaurants closed due to COV 19 the food trucks proliferated. As some of the COV 19 restrictions were removed in November 2020 and as the weather cooled two outdoor events caught our eye!

First we visited the Zallaq Food Festival which is next to the FLY residences and Skydive at Zallaq. Thanks to Shawn Lambie, my Canadian ex colleague at work who has an apartment overlooking the site and gave daily updates on Facebook! You drive in , pay your one Bahraini Dinar ( exact cash or Benefit pay) and then the original idea was that you would zig zag your way around the outlets, be shown a Laminated menu or an iPad, and then wait, collect your food and drive off.

That's not how food should be eaten , or chosen , in my book! I had one take away in 12 years in Bahrain. So like many others we parked, walked and chatted to the staff, found about what was selling well, sampled, watched them cook and then ordered. They even changed the seating from a separate area to beside the stalls as over the days many others abandoned their cars and got some exercise strolling around the site. The problem then was the teenagers in high performance cars who wanted to drift, rev their engines, drive at speed and against the one way system and generally endanger lives. Welcome to the Middle East!

On our first visit we loved the guys on the first stall so much that we got out and had their delicious burger and popcorn drink ( "Their best seller") and loved their hospitality ( "If there is anything else you need just ask ?"). When we were done we walked over to the Middle Eastern grills where the lady explained they only used the highest quality meat, which was fresh daily and nothing was cooked in advance. We ordered their mixed grill ( 5.5 bd but big enough to share) and it was amazing. She sneaked in some hummus and Arabic bread and we were full!

We did not have room for the lovely donuts on our first visit but we found some Pinoys selling up market chocolate biscuits so we got Miss Andrea's Christmas present. Another Pinoy tried to sell us a load of stuff we did not need for our car, and we saw some lovely Bahraini crafts ( decorated credit cards and mobile phone holders!) . However all of this was keeping us away from the purpose of our visit and we were drawn like flies to headlights by a bright pink wagon towards the back called Sugar Therapy! Here we had the most amazing waffles from a very high tech wagon which glowed in the dark. My drink also made amazing patterns when Corleen eventually worked out how to use the light on his phone!

There was an even bigger truck at the back of the food festival called "Lord of the Wings". It was huge, brand new and had the most amazingly clean kitchen inside. There was also a stage and amusements but being midweek and early evening none of this was open on our first visit.

A few days later Corleen messaged me a picture of the new FOOD TRUCK DISTRICT at the National Stadium car park at Riffa so we decided to try that. The site was well laid out with free entrance, parking outside, trucks ( real trucks unlike the huts at Zallaq) in a big square. They had Music and they were just setting out tables and chairs across what was once the car park. There were Traffic Police on duty and many more stalls than at Zallaq. We walked around to see what their was . This was a more strategic approach than we used at Zallaq, of which my father would have been proud! Next we found a table , and then we went and ordered what we had selected course by course! This time we started with some amazing Fish and Chips then had some very spicy chicken and ended up with waffles.

In true Bahraini style there were lots of burger vans, cake vans and coffee stalls including Costa Coffee! There was even an app which you could order your food from at your table without even having to get off your ass. That's why so many Bahrainis are obese. I , of course, sat and sent Corleen to collect the food!

Our fish and chips

The other good thing about the Riffa site was that no cars are allowed in with the trucks so it was very safe for the kids who were running around having fun. You can see the whole site from your table so the parents can sit and eat while the children play or go and choose the food they want. There were lots of families there and a really fun atmosphere as everything is in one area ( at Zallaq it was more spread out).

Great to see the kids wearing their masks and having fun

So if you like people watching like me , then Riffa was the better site......but the food quality was better at Zallaq . Of course I had to visit both sites a few more times to confirm that!. Sadly both sites have closed now but new ones are springing up all the time at Bussatein, Al Najma, and several of the Mall car parks had food trucks during Ramadan and beyond.

Our mistake on our first visit to Zallaq was to eat the first food we found and so by the time we got to undoubtedly the best food ( in Bahrain, not only at both sites) we were full! We had to make a second visit to Zallaq, on the day the Prime Minister sadly died, to visit the Thai restaurant- Thai Seafood. This time we drove straight there and parked and the lovely Bahraini lady in charge bought us menus and told us about the specials that were not on the menu . Later she told us about their delicious Mango sticky rice. She asked if we wanted to have everything together or as it came and we opted for the latter as we were hungry.

We were offered the choice of spicy or not and cold drinks and several times during the meal she came to see if there was anything else we needed or if she could remove containers to give us more room. She even asked if we had been to either of their restaurants in Riffa and Bussatein and gave us directions and menus. You don't even get that kind of service in 5 star hotels here in Bahrain!

All that was left of our delicious meal at Thailand Seafood

We had Tom Yum soup ( which was even better than the one Kiti Ki made) and Prawns in Tempura Batter, a Prawn and sweetcorn box with an amazing sauce, Papaya salad and the amazing Mangoes and Sticky Rice. The appropriate PPE ( plastic gloves) was provided to protect Corleen's nails! If I tell you that we forgot to take a photo until we had eaten everything you will know how good the food was! As a result of this visit Thai Seafood became a favourite of mine and I visited their restaurant many times at Bussatein on my own, with Anis and his daughter, and several times with Rew and other friends.

Then we decided to go back to the hot drinks and pastries stall that we missed last time to be Malandi with the gwapo Pinoy with the ear stud !

Mr. Gwapo

We found out that he was another Ilocano and he asked Corleen what was his profession to which he replied "Pok Pok" which means prostitute! Sadly Corleen could not eat my chocolate flake or my hot chocolate. We then moved across the site to the other Pinoy run stall and chatted to the maganda ate there while Corleen selected pastries with big holes in the middle which he took home ( not sure what for!)

I showed off my Tagalog by bidding my Kabayan "Kita Kits, Ingat Palagi and Mahal Kita" and we drove home

But.... we will be back after the three days of Mourning for the Prime Minister of Bahrain ( I tried to take a Pinoy friend to the food truck district on Thursday Night but it was closed.