Best place to go for Traditional Saudi food?

Full Monty wrote:

Nice to meet you, Ibrahim.

I have a question; which, in your opinion, is the best place to go for traditional Saudi food? I'd like to know of a 'go to' place in Riyadh that accepts either single bachelors or families, is reasonably priced and has comfortable seating.

Thanks in advance!

Full Monty, my husband is Saudi and really is not a big fan of any restaurants here.  When he does bring food from outside our go-to is Cabrito.  We typically order the rotisserie style chicken with the plain rice and a side of the potatoes or green beans.  I'm not sure what the actual names are.  The potatoes are cooked in a tomato gravy and are a tad spicy.  Green beans are similar, but a little bit more soupy and not spicy. 

There is a kabob place we actually have liked.  I'll get the name of it and post later. 

IF you are ever in the mood for a burger there is only one burger place we ever go to.  I really dislike the idea of spending money at a restaurant that I can't go into because it's 'singles only', but this is a burger I gladly have him take to go and we can rarely ever get home without eating them in the car.  The place is called Blondom and the spicy beef burger with all the toppings (you'll have to ask for this) is so delicious.  And the location at Exit 5 has seemingly managed to duplicate the ever loved McDonald's french fry.

Thanks!

The only way I can stomach a regular burger is by putting Nando's Extra Hot Peri Peri sauces on it. I usually make my own, using a 'heavy' bread roll - the regular burger rolls just fall apart, toasting the inside surfaces, then a layer of thick onion (raw or fried, depending), a layer of sliced fresh chili, a layer of salad, the burger (bought fresh, grilled/fried very hot), a layer of mature cheddar cheese, some tomato paste and freshly ground pepper. 

Then I try to eat it!

I will definitely try Blondom when I see it. The best take out burger I've had here is from BurgerFuel in Sahara Mall.

That actually sounds very delicious!

Their burgers are pretty sizable.  The beef is very fresh and cooked over fire.  So it has a great taste.  The spicy beef burger has the chilis in the beef patty, so the entire burger is spicy, not just a hot sauce.  I absolutely love this about the burger.  Mine is typically dressed with their Blondom sauce (basically a glorified mixture of mayo and ketchup...but something else is in there), lettuce, tomato, raw onion slices, pickles and mustard.  The cheese is the standard garb cheese you find everywhere.  Cheese here is a sore subject for me.  I typically opt out of the cheese since it's not a nice cheddar or a pepper jack.  The bun isn't a dense bun, but it always hold up for me and is toasted.  I'm sure you could ask them to toss it on the grill to give it an extra toast and a little flamed flavor.  The burger is big so I also ask them to cut it in half.  It can get messy.  I've had the burgerfuel and absolutely prefer the Blondom burger.  I almost want to make friends with the owner so I can bring a Blondom back to the states with me.  They need this burger in America.

As far as any other menu items, I say stick with the spicy beef burger.  The chicken is the same standard as any other restaurant.  The only things that are semi-tasty outside of the burgers are the onion rings (ask for them to be well done, they tend to under fry them and then they're kind of soggy and depressing), the french fries (at the Exit 5 location) and the chicken quesadilla.  I like the flavor, but I really have a hard time looking beyond the cheese factor.  They just really don't have great cheese here.  If I'm in the mood for cheese I pay a premium for Kerry Gold or Sargento.

Ooh, I've been toying with the idea of making my own burgers for a while, and sticking in some chili into the mix is another reason to try it. Thanks!

Blondom sounds very, very good. As soon as I am near one I'll try it and then, maybe, take home some more ideas (I don't get around Riyadh much, and my parents had a catering company so I feel comfortable cooking at home).

Finding good cheeses here is a constant effort. I will go to each supermarket; Carrefour, Danube, Tamimi, at least once a month and head straight for the cheese aisle. If they have some good cheddar then all is good, then I'll go to their meat counters for decent sirloin steaks (I prefer NZ steaks, but only buy if there's no obvious gristle). NZ cattle is brought to Saudi and then the butchers do their thing, Australian is brought over already butchered (maybe frozen, I don't know). Something to do with Halal regulations from each country.

In my fridge I have 2 big 'striploin' (or 'sirloin') NZ steaks that are nicely marbled, tender, bright red, with no distinguishable gristle in them - I tested by sight and giving them a bit of a press, before I bought them. Also they're very well trimmed. I got them in Carrefour, but often I go there and I don't see any good steaks. I've also got a few cheeses, most from Tamimi. Carrefour is a French supermarket but its cheeses are normally quite low quality, although they have some nice Brie. Whenever I see Kerry Gold mature or extra mature anywhere - a real taste impact for a small amount - I'll pick up a pack or two. I also, sometimes, put some blue cheese in a burger, which adds another dimension ;-)

I find cooking at home with ingredients I believe are healthy and wholesome, much better than much of the takeaway foods you can buy. So I try them, see what differences their chefs have tried (but, as a business they will go for cheap ingredients) and then use that information at home to make some tasty dinners. Now I want to make the ultimate burger from ground steak, after the summer break, but I recently got an oven and the numbers of recipes I can now try have increased by hundreds. Fortunately Riyadh has a lot more ingredients that you won't find elsewhere, in Saudi.

Hello

@Full Monty : Please note that a new thread has been created as from your posts on the Riyadh forum so as to better list the different informations received on the forum.

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com Team