{Breakfast Banter} New York Coffee : Restaurant Review

It is no secret how much I adore this first meal of the day. Breakfast was and shall remain the single most important meal for me. I plan my breakfast carefully and take time to enjoy my breakfast, however meagre  because that sets the mood for the rest of the day. Weekend breakfasts are even more important because that is the time I take out to spend with the family while having my favourite meal of the day. For this very reason, I was extremely excited to visit the New York Coffee outlet with my family at The Walk in Riffa. To begin with, I have to say, this newish New York Coffee outlet is impressive – full of sunshine, large, spacious, and airy – it gives you a feeling of a relaxed setting.

 

Within one quick glance several things caught my eye with regards to the decor. Modern and contemporary with an easy vibe is how I can describe the decor of the cafe. I was overcome with a sudden urge to sit down with my laptop and start writing a new novel or a blog post such as this whilst enjoying a nice cup of cappuccino. My thoughts were interrupted by the cheerful staff at the Cafe who welcomed me with great enthusiasm. The smiling server explained to us our breakfast and brunch options and also made explicit mentions of the offers of the day. We settled for a sumptuous American breakfast and an omelette (my way) while my daughter ordered for a sugary crepe along with a carrot cake.

While our orders were being prepared in the kitchen, I took the opportunity to walk around the cafe. They have a small outdoor seating area which was dappled in the mid – morning sun. I also loitered around the shelves that housed different coffee and tea selections. The aroma of coffee was so inviting that I was half tempted to ask for an espresso instead of the orange juice I had ordered.

 

I also happened to have a quick chat the General Manager of the outlet who filled me in with all the details about the outlet.  The New York Coffee outlet at the Walk in Riffa is open 24 hours. I was also told that it is the only coffee outlet in Bahrain that roasts and grinds their own coffee locally. Armed with this interesting trivia, I went back to my seat as the server had brought our piping, hot breakfast.

My husband had the omelette (my way) with brown toast and a large glass of fresh orange juice. He was enjoying his breakfast so much that I did not feel like interrupting him to ask how he found the fare. My daughter tucked into her sugary crepe on which there was  a pool of melted butter. Light and mildly sweet, the crepe was just perfect.  As for my breakfast platter – two fried eggs (runny), chicken sausages, salad, brown toast and fresh orange juice – was sumptuous!  I have an aversion towards sausages but these were done so well that they seemed like a treat. Later when my husband finished his breakfast and was sipping his orange juice he mentioned that he wouldn’t mind coming in here for this very plate of omelette every weekend. My daughter enjoyed her slice of the carrot cake mumbling “mmmm, mmmm” in between. That itself was a good indicator of how much she was enjoying her treat.

 

 

 

Finally, when we were patting our warm bellies the server asked us to try their special drink. We couldn’t fathom eating or drinking anything more but he insisted and we thought ‘why not! It’s the weekend!” . He brought in two icy-looking drinks called Honey dew and Mango -tango. While placing these drinks, the server informed that these drinks are special because they are ‘low cal. In my experience, I know of many drinks that are supposedly low cal but are full of sugar. So I challenged him, “ How low?”  ”

“Only 7 cals!!“, he replied

That was ridiculous. I couldn’t believe it. We went to the counter and he showed me his premix and described to me the method of preparation and I realized it was true. I enjoyed my drink with a greater gusto. The honey-dew was refreshing and I have a feeling its is going to be hugely popular this summer. 

All in all, it was a wonderful morning spent savouring one gastronomic delight after the other. Bahrain!! Chuck your usual breakfast dos and go to New York Coffee. I dare say, you won’t regret it!

*This is a sponsored post but all the views and opinions expressed are my own.

The Breakfast Post – Poached eggs in baked beans

A few days back I tweeted about my love for breakfasts.

It indeed is the most important meal for me and that love has been sown and nurtured by my mother who made sure we had amazing home-made breakfast on our table every day. I looked back to my archives and found what little love I have actually shown through my blog posts – very few breakfast recipes that showcase not even an ounce of what this meal of the day means to me.

So to bring that a balance back I thought I really need to put out some breakfast dishes that are not only easy to put together but also sumptuous. Most of the times, you will notice that eggs feature prominently. That is because I LOVE EGGS. I find that they are filling, tasty and oh-so versatile to use.

This egg recipe is the easiest of them all and can be whipped up in no time. I didn’t bother with making the baked beans from the scratch. Breakfast preparation is a hurried affair and there’s only time to flip open a can and pour the contents out on certain days. Not the method I usually prefer but at times I do pick convenience over ideology [ about eating healthy, less sugar, less salt, less processed food and all that]

It also struck me that I want as many breakfast recipes I can lay my hands on. Especially the tried and the tested ones. So I call out to all the foodies and breakfast lovers to share their recipes either as  a guest post on my blog or on your own  blog with a link back or simply a recipe or even a photograph depicting why they love breakfast and what breakfast means to them.

Come join the BREAKFAST BANTER AT SLICE OF MY LYFE

Grab a badge and tell me all your breakfast stories which may be laced with memories old and new. How a certain kind of breakfast brings out the best in you for the rest of the day.  Hope to hear from all the breakfast lovers soon. You can email me your recipes  and pictures at dazzler29 [at] gmail [dot] com

Now back to the recipe.

This baked beans can be made as spicy or as sweet as you want it to be.  With crisp brown toast they are a match made in heaven.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW THE RECIPE BETTER

In other news, I am on Instagram now and you can follow me at sliceofmylyfe. I am a late entrant no doubt but I am quite enjoying keeping in touch with all the other lovers of life in pictures. This late entry gives me the opportunity of going back to my older posts and life and enjoy those pictures once again. I hope you do too!

Here’s a sample!

Spinach and Mushroom scrambled eggs

I have no agenda today.

No stories to share.

Just a simple spinach and mushroom egg scramble  recipe which is the answer to the ‘rumbly in my tumbly’ on most days.

The most I do is to add a few more vegetables that I fancy on certain days or which seem to be lurking in the corners of my vegetable tray, never getting used.

The seasoning is something I do not mess with. I like to stick to the basics – salt and pepper. Only.

The preparation takes 10 minutes which includes the rough chopping of vegetables – onions, spinach and mushrooms & beating of the eggs.  The next 5 minutes is all about witnessing the scrambled goodness come together.

These pictures are from our visit to Nice. We chose service apartments for the access they provide to little kitchenettes. It is important when you travel with a toddler. They need they regular grub once a while. I made this scrambled eggs with vegetables more than once which turned out to be one of the many fulfilling meals on our trip to France.

So here is the story in pictures + a recipe card that tells you (unnecessarily) what you need to do to make this dish.

 It is yummy and it is quick to whip up.  Take it from me, you will be making this every other day tweaking it to your taste buds.

Build your Halloumi event at McDonalds, Bahrain

Last Sunday I did something  different. I took a detour from the routine and headed to the McDonalds outlet on Exhibition Road. When I stepped in, I was greeted by some heavily suited gentlemen with wide smiles. I was directed to their first floor by the McDonalds’s staff where I met Dunia from Obai and Hill (@Obaiandhill). Okay, let me just start from the beginning.

I was invited by a PR team in Bahrain called Obai and Hill to attend McDonalds’s “Build your Halloumi” promotional event. Since it was happening on a working day, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to a make it. But finally, all the stars aligned and I got a few hours off from work and accepted their invite.

Halloumi is a typical middle eastern cheese that is semi hard, brined and has a high melting point. This makes it easy to grill or fry it.  This is one of the cheeses that I love and regularly use at home in salads and sandwiches.  McDonalds struck a chord here and I wanted to see what they do with one of my favourite ingredients.  The event included a kitchen tour and breakfast at McDs.

McD’s ground floor

Armed with my camera I took the flight of stairs to reach the first floor. I was quite apprehensive because expected a swarm of media to be there with their flashing cameras and such. But I was immediately put to ease by Dunia of the PR team Obai and Hill and the McDonalds’s General Manager Mr. Ahmad.  The staff served me some coffee and I perked up to capture the event on my blog.

They took a batch of 4-5 people for the McDs kitchen tour ( on the ground floor), at a time. I must assume that I was the only food blogger there or maybe I missed meeting them. The tour was being guided by Mr. Ali who is McDs incharge of quality control and supply chain.

Mr. Ali taking us through the McDonalds kitchen tour

He told us about the high standard of quality control that McDs adheres to in storing its frozen and dry ingredients. He took us to the cold storage and showed us around. He also asserted about the highest standard of hygiene maintained and asked us to wash our hands before we embarked on our Halloumi sandwich building expedition.

He first, introduced us to the ingredients of the muffin sandwich which included my favourite – Halloumi cheese, olive paste, shredded lettuce, tomato slices and the muffin slices. 5 ingredients were too little, I thought. It was quite similar to what I made at home for my family. I wondered if it would have the McD addictive magic to it. In a line we parked ourselves with our plastic gloves against the counter, ready to make our sandwiches.

As per the staff’s directions we plied the already toasted muffin sides with 1 tsp of olive paste, a handful of shredded lettuce, thick slice of tomato and grilled Halloumi ( grilled to perfection for 45 seconds each on both sides, stressed Mr. Ali). We assembled our mini tower of ingredients on our sandwich as hustled to go back to the first floor where our respective tags with toothpicks  were waiting to be pinned on the Halloumi sandwich.

It was heart warming to see my blog’s name on one of the tags along with several other media tags. Watching my “Slice of my lyfe” tagged halloumi sandwich standing  proudly among others, made me smile.

Soon Dunia whisked us away to take photos with our sandwiches at the Halloumi photo booth. It was as funny as it was memorable. People made funny faces whilst pretending to eat their sandwiches.

The staff then served us our choice of breakfast of egg McMuffin and hash browns and orange juice. I had a ball photographing the venue, the ingredients, listening to the media chattering among themselves and biting into my Halloumi sandwich. I must say, I was in for a surprise. It did taste absolutely wonderful inspite of using just 5 ingredients.

It felt like home made sandwich with a sprinkling of McDs magic. 

sumptuous breakfast

I have to admit that I was quite nervous going on my own to a promotional event but the PR team of Dunia and Zara put me at ease and I found myself enjoying the flurry of activities. My hearty congratulations to McDonalds for having launched such a healthy breakfast option with my very favourite halloumi and a big thumbs up to Obai and Hill team for putting together a fab event with exciting activities that engaged everybody. I had a wonderful time and when i went back to work with my goody bag, I spent the rest of the day musing to myself – I am lovin’ it!