Kuwait’s portal carries a table called “restaurants of Kuwait”, in which the state sets out what it calls “the most important restaurants in Kuwait”, sorted by cuisine. Reading it is not a search for somewhere to have dinner but a look at how the official body sees the country’s table.
The first figure
The section for “Kuwaiti and Gulf restaurants” carries twenty-five names. The section for “Lebanese restaurants” carries forty-three. So on the official list the Lebanese kitchen is close to double the local and Gulf kitchens put together.
After that: Iranian with twenty-seven, Chinese with twenty-four, Turkish with six, French with six, Thai with four, Egyptian with four.
The Kuwaiti names on the list
From the twenty-five: Al Tabaq Al Kuwaiti, Al Matbakh Al Kuwaiti, Majboos Daggus, Aish w Daggus, Majabees Al Deera, Balaleet, Al Fanar, Al Zafarani, Ra’eeha, Shati Al Watiya, Al Matbakh Al Watani, Al Matbakh Al Khaleeji, and Matbakh Al Ajdad for Kuwaiti food and mandi.
Three things that show up when you count
A restaurant in two sections
“Marina Thai” appears under Chinese restaurants and under Thai restaurants at once, with the same number.
Classifications that do not hold
Under “Chinese restaurants” appear “Taj Mahal Royal”, “Pasta” and “Al Shamiya”. Under grills appears “Kababji Lebanon”, with a number different from the one it carries in the Lebanese section.
A repeated heading
The list carries the heading “sweets, ice cream and juice” twice in a row over two different tables: the first for juices and ice cream, the second for eastern sweets and pastries.
Numbers from another era
Some numbers in the table have seven digits rather than eight: 2527300 for the Gardenia and Darbar restaurants, 2861616 for Kababji Lebanon, and 14813656 for Al Nasr Sweets. Those are formats no longer dialled as they stand, so the reader needs to check before calling.
And the hotel restaurants
The table actually opens with hotel restaurants sorted by hotel rather than by cuisine: the Crowne Plaza alone carries seven restaurants on the list, Hawthorn Hawally six, the Sheraton five, Safir Fintas five. All under a single hotel telephone number.
Photo: an empty restaurant room before opening. By Wilfredor, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: Kuwait’s e-government portal, the “restaurants of Kuwait” page in the visitors section.
Kuwait One, once a week.
The most useful stories we published this week, in your inbox.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
