Da Bao is an upscale casual dining restaurant that serves East Asian fusion dishes including noodles, rice bowls, sando, bao buns, dim sum, and onigiri.

The restaurant’s motto is “Eat Bao Have Fun!” and it specializes in freshly made bao buns, served the traditional way in a bamboo steamer. Top options for fillings include brisket; Nashville-style fried chicken tender; six-hour-braised black Angus ribs with caramelized onion; and crispy fried duck with onion slices and hoisin sauce.

The restaurant’s signature cheese bao bun comes with an Arabic twist. Baos are usually steamed  to get that warm fluffy white dough, but this one is deep fried after steaming, so the dough color shifts to golden brown, leaving a crispy outer layer over the fluffy inside. It is then filled with three different types of cheeses and zaatar, then glazed with truffle honey.

Da Bao offers a good range of dishes, all presented in a modern-but-authentic way to ensure a fun experience for customers.

There are seven choices of mojito at Da Bao, with refreshing summer flavors including mint and strawberry, mixed berries, and watermelon lemon peel. The passion fruit option is our recommendation, though. Made with fresh passion fruit, passion-fruit syrup, sparkling water and yuzu juice — the Japanese lemon that tastes like a mix of lemon, grapefruit, and mandarin and is a common feature of Japanese Mojitos — it’s a delight.

Da Bao’s interior is inspired by cyberpunk culture, with flashy neon lighting and a dark, though relaxing atmosphere aided by chillout lounge music.

The restaurant is located in Rovan Tower in Jeddah’s Al-Salamah district. For more information, visit @dabao.sa on Instagram.

A visit to The Waterfront Kitchen in Jeddah is like boarding a luxury yacht serving up the most delicious food along with a lively ambiance and high-end service.

The restaurant is decorated in a modern and extravagant yacht style, and diners can enjoy an intimate evening with friends and family, relishing the eclectic flavors from the extensive menu.

The highly trained team of chefs is on board to create a wealth of dishes, from hearty bowls to healthy plates. The restaurant has an upper-deck style interior kitchen with live cooking stations.

It offers buffet options for breakfast and an a la carte menu for lunch and dinner.

Bringing global favorites to Jeddah at an affordable price, the breakfast menu includes classic American fare or a plate of eggs benedict or manakish (a flatbread kind of pizza), as well as a special selection of drinks, juices, fruits, cold meats and delicious baked goods.

Diners are spoilt for choice with cuisines from all over the world available for lunch and dinner.

For starters, diners have various options for salads but the must-try is crispy quinoa salad, torched yellowfin tuna tataki, or vegan tostadas. There are different pizza options cooked in the wooden oven. The pizza is made of specially fermented sourdough, which is prepared for more than 36 hours.

There is a range of pastas, as well as a selection of grills cooked on charcoal. The highlight of the grill station is the design of the grill stand, which is in the form of a captain’s wheel, adding a nautical touch. Mashawi, consisting of mixed grill kebabs, chicken shish tawouk, lamb chops, lamb shoqaf served with saffron rice and a mixed vegetable skewer, is a great deal for two people.

The restaurant also serves one of the best black Angus T-bone and sirloin steaks, but an option not to be missed is the grilled tuna steaks.

Striking the right balance on the grill with the right amount of spices, the Indian tandoori station provides the best-flavored dishes, whether it is the chicken malai tikka, the tandoori roasted rack of lamb or the jhinga tiger prawns. The restaurant also serves vegetable seekh kebabs, which take up to two days to prepare and are perfected by the chef to create a delicious texture.

For vegetarians, there is also a wide selection of salads, as well as delicious options such as cauliflower steak, vegetarian “meat” pizza, and different types of smoothies.

Be sure to leave a space for desserts, as a dedicated cake corner and 16 different types of desserts and ice cream are prepared by international dessert chefs.

This restaurant in the Ritz Carlton offers mouthwatering, authentic Indonesian Nusantara Cuisine, which is a gastronomic journey into the heart of Asia.

There is a buffet every Thursday from 7 p.m. featuring classic dishes from Java, Padang, Bali and Sumatra including Nasi Goreng, Mie Ayam and Satay.

The food is made under the supervision of an expert Indonesian chef, and there is clearly a great deal of care taken with flavors and textures.

A welcome attraction is the chefs available to prepare dishes at live stations. For example, you can construct your flavor profile for Mie Goreng on the spot with wonderous results.

There is a wide variety of Indonesian desserts including coconut cakes, rice pudding and grass jelly cubes. There are other options from around the world such as macaroons, kunafa and much more.

The ambience is as magical as the food, with each table decorated with bamboo placemats, a leaf, and rocks to pay homage to the cuisine being served.

In addition, you can have your mojitos prepared and topped up at your table.

To enhance the mood even further, a saxophone player waltzes around customers playing some delightful music.

Overall it is a highly recommended experience if you have an appetite for Asian food with some room for experimentation.

JEDDAH: Sustainability and the environment have been placed top of the menu at a new Saudi restaurant.

Established three months ago by Saudi nationals Mohammed Mosalli and Abdulelah Al-Hadidi, Jeddah-based Nawa Patio offers a range of organic international fusion cuisine.

But it is not just the eatery’s food that is designed to nourish — customers can also take part in yoga and meditation classes or grow their own vegetables.

Mosalli told Arab News: “It’s an experience. We like to call ourselves a conscious patio because we support sustainability practices.

“We offer yoga and meditation classes here, and we invite our customers to come and learn and sow seeds in our planting zone. We ask them to make an intention and plant,” he said.

• It is not just the eatery’s food that is designed to nourish — customers can also take part in yoga and meditation classes or grow their own vegetables.

• Diners are also encouraged to take home their excess food or give it to local food banks, charity organizations, and humanitarian programs.

• The restaurant’s music playlist has been customized to deliver a comfortable, calming effect.

The restaurant’s design theme has been inspired by ancient civilizations such as the Sumerians, Thamud, Lihyan, and Nabataeans.

“Regarding the look and feel of the place, the fit out and furniture are made up of all natural elements, like wood, stones, clay, plants, and so on,” Mosalli added.

And the use of plastic is avoided wherever possible. “We use recyclable or compostable materials when it comes to plastic or paper.

“In the kitchen, we have a plan first to educate our staff and our customers, when it comes to sustainability practices, how to manage food waste … it’s about how to order less food and how to manage waste,” he said.

A compost machine in the kitchen is used to handle leftover food from customers’ plates.

“We give them the option of giving it to us to utilize in the compost machine. And then we can use the end product as soil for plants,” he added.

Diners are also encouraged to take home their excess food or give it to local food banks, charity organizations, and humanitarian programs.

Al-Hadidi said: “Nawa Patio is all about impact, and we recruit people who share our values, people who want to contribute to the enrichment of our guests and customers.

“That’s why even though some of them might not have the experience, we just focus on their attitudes and the values they share with Nawa, and we recruit accordingly.”

The restaurant’s music playlist has been customized to deliver a comfortable, calming effect.

“People want to go to places that really meet their expectations in terms of the vibe, look, and feel of the place.

“Therefore, we pay very special attention to our music, and ensure we play music that fits the mood for the morning, afternoon, and evening — we have customized our playlist to mimic the brainwave frequency that best suits people at a particular part or time of the day,” Al-Hadidi added.

South African head chef, Abdullah Abrahams, said the restaurant used unwanted offcuts so that no food went to waste.

“We have a dish that we are still working on, which is the sweet potato Wagyu taco. Using the offcuts of sweet potato from a main dish, we try to transform it into a sweet potato dough and then use it as the base or the bread.

“And recently, we have discussed using offcuts for our soup of the day. There is so much that can be produced from food waste. Mohammed and Abdulelah inspired me and caught my attention with regards to the whole concept of trying to be more sustainable, eco-friendly, and lessen our carbon footprint on Earth.

“We don’t have a fryer in the kitchen. The whole restaurant is on the same wavelength of thinking about how to help Earth,” he added.

Abrahams noted that it was important to develop a kitchen culture surrounding the need to avoid discarding food.

He said: “I’m big on sustainability with regards to thinking about how not to throw food away, and I look to change the thinking patterns of my chefs too.”

Expand your palate with a lavish, internationally acclaimed culinary experience during a two-hour food adventure with the world’s smallest chef.

Le Petit Chef has returned to the Ritz-Carlton Jeddah to share another gourmet adventure with guests by traveling in the footsteps of Marco Polo.

The tiny chef animation greets guests, introduces the dining concept and features food from the continents he travels through. This is accompanied by themed music, props and a six-course menu.

The visual storytelling is done through a mix of overhead projection using 3D mapping technology and projection around the walls of the restaurant, with changing scenery for each location the chef travels to. The restaurant’s four-wall projection is a world first and gives diners more of a feel for the story.

The adventure starts with a bright white tabletop transforming into an interactive animated storybook and a culinary theater.

The show highlights Le Petit Chef’s stopovers in France, Arabia, India, the Himalayas and China, inspired by Marco Polo’s voyage to the East via the Silk Road.

During the meal, guests will be served asparagus velouté and crème de volaille with crispy beef bacon (soup) from France. Moving on to Arabia, diners will be served avocado mint hummus with tomato and feta cheese salad. The next trip is to India, where diners are treated to savory-spice tandoori lamb chops or wagyu beef tandoori kebab, accompanied by salad, mango pickle, mint chutney and papadams.

During Le Petit Chef’s visit to the snow-capped Himalayas, lemon sorbet is served to cleanse the palate. The journey continues to China, where guests will feast on salmon or lobster with yuzu marinade, bok choy and black pepper sauce. The food experience ends with a dessert created using ingredients from the places the chef has visited on his culinary journey — a three-layer apple crumble rice pudding topped with raspberry jam is served to guests.

For more information and reservations, visit https://lepetitchef.com/ritz-carlton-jeddah

DUBAI: The Michelin Guide is coming to Abu Dhabi, it was confirmed on Tuesday night in the UAE’s capital.

The awards ceremony is slated to happen in November, hot on the heels of Dubai’s first-ever Michelin Guide that was unveiled in June.

In Dubai, 11 eateries earned the coveted stars — with 9 spots earning one star and two restaurants earning two stars.

The Dubai list included the world’s first unlicensed restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star and one of the rare Indian eateries to get a nod.

One star went to Al-Muntaha, 11 Woodfire, Armani/Ristorante, Hakkasan, Hoseki, Ossiano, Tasca by Jose Avillez, Torno Subito and Tresind Studio.

Meanwhile Il Ristorante - Niko Romito, with its Italian fare, and French cuisine-based Stay by Yannick Alleno received two stars.

No restaurants received the extremely rare three star award.