Smokehouse, Shibuya

Daniel and I always walked past the Smokehouse on our way to either Shibuya or Harajuku and we always said, "One day we'll try it out." This afternoon we decided that today was finally the day to finally see what the buzz was about. 

Anxious and hungry

Mushroom Soup and Homemade Bread Lunch Set
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950 yen

 Looking back at what I ordered I'm ashamed of myself. Who the heck orders a vegetarian soup at a BBQ restaurant?! Not that it was bad, I'm just wondering what came over me when I chose the soup set over a stack of ribs. It wasn't like me at all. The soup was creamy and the bread was toasted and warm. It's filling and great to order if you're not so hungry. -Mari

Barbeque Plate (with Coleslaw and Cornbread) Lunch Set
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1700 yen

Unlike Mari I went for the whole sha-bang. BBQ Chicken, Kansas City style ribs, cornbread, and coleslaw. It was awesome. The tomato-based sauce on the ribs and chicken was delicious. It was sweet, spicy and tangy. The meat was fall of the bone tender and the four additional side sauces made it even better. My personal favorite sauce for the ribs was the Voodoo Hot (sweet, tomato-based, with habanero peppers). -Daniel

OVERALL

The food was good, atmosphere was cozy, and the waiters were really nice. We'd definitely go back to eat there again.

Wafi Gourmet at Dubai Mall

If you weren't aware, Daniel and I are currently spending our Spring Break in Dubai! This morning I woke up with a strong craving for hummus (and I mean the lust kind of craving) so we headed to Wafi Gourmet in Dubai Mall for lunch. I personally love the entrance of Wafi Gourmet, it has a Arabic style market feel to it. All the nuts, meats and vegetables are laid out as if we had visited the Souq instead. This is what we ended up chowing down on:

The Salad Mix including Hummus, Tabbouleh, Baba Ghanoush, and Dolma
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70Dhs/ 19 USD/ ± 2000 yen

The Salad Mix came out first and we were glad that we only ordered one even though the waiter said it wouldn't be enough for both of us. The proportions were giant compared to the ones in Japan. We dug in with the freshly baked (and still puffy) pita bread. The hummus was a little too oily and neither of us were too fond of dolma (stuffed vine leaves), so the baba ghanoush (mashed eggplant) was both of our favorites. The pomegranate seeds on the baba ghanoush accented the overall taste perfectly.

The Gourmet Grill including Arayes, Lamb dices, Shesh Tawouq, Kofta and a Lamb Chop.
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90Dhs/ 24 USD/ ±2500 yen

 The Arayes (meat stuffed pita) was delicious and the lamb chop wasn't bad. The rest of the meat, especially the lamb dices, on the other hand had a pungent taste and was chewy and hard to swallow. If anything the garlic butter and pita bread helped us eat the rest of the platter.

Doing what I do best.

The location of the restaurant is great. It's by the famous water fountain and has a great view of the Burj Khalifa if you sit outside (You might even get lucky and catch one of the water shows). The service wasn't as great as the view though. The waiters sat us down and handed us menus, but then they forget about us until we flagged one down.  If you go to Wafi Gourmet in the future, tell the Filipino waiter named Junji hello! He was friendly and willing to service us better when we made small talk with him. (We asked him if he was Japanese because of his name but he kept replying "No, Filipino. Filipino.")