The Rise of Local Eateries

We experience the rise and fall of food trends regularly. But here is one that looks like it’s going to get comfortable, and stay. 

I have, for most of my adult life, been eating fast food. It tastes good, I get it fast and I had no dearth of choice. I’ve grown up thinking that it was the stuff that cool kids ate. Local dishes such as Machboos, Saloona and Mahyawa did not get any of my attention the time.

Yet, as the years went by, I felt too saturated with all the junk food (gaining weight played a part here too) but I found myself longing for local dishes more and more. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. No longer did the synthetic flavor of the umpteenth burger entice me. I wanted local dishes with local taste, and I wanted it now.

The conundrum was that you had very few choices and come to think of it, there really weren’t that many joints for authentic local food that catered to the individual or small family while I was growing up. It was just a handful of Ghoozi places that would only be convenient in Eid or if you’re capable of wiping out a whole lamb by yourself.

Recently though, local establishments over here picked up on this and started catering to the customer that craves authentic Bahraini food, quick, good, and fast. But alas, most have hired workers from the subcontinent. The food was more Indian than Bahraini (they’re similar but for me, the Bahraini dishes trump the Indian ones every single time).

“But with today’s young Bahrainis’ active and fast-paced lifestyle, local comfort food is getting harder and harder to come by.”

Most of the restaurants now offer lunch only. It is assumed that breakfast and dinner are usually easier to prepare at home. But with today’s young Bahrainis’ active and fast-paced lifestyle, local comfort food is getting harder and harder to come by.

Enter Bahrain’s new breed of modern local restaurants. This is a trend that I wholeheartedly embrace and judging by their popularity, is here to stay.

Eating local food has become popular again. I now find that more and more of my family and friends are ditching the old staples like Starbucks croissants and coffee for something with more of a mother’s touch, like ‘balaleet’ and the ever-popular ‘karak’ from new local establishments like ‘Zafaran’ and ‘Villa Mama’s’.

These and others have taken the local food concept and have really run with it. I can only speak for people from my generation when I say that this trend is a really welcomed addition and I hope it outlasts the Bahraini cupcake phase (enough with the red velvet already and scary mutated SpongeBob cupcakes!).

I recently had breakfast at ‘Basta 23’, a local startup by a Bahraini couple. They managed to capture the essence of what I personally want in a restaurant. It wasn’t just the food that did it though. It was the place’s ambience. Whenever you have ‘Captain Majid’ and ‘Faten Hamama’ gracing your décor and ‘Darb Al Zalag’ playing on infinite loop on your screens, I think anyone born in the 80s is sold on the idea.

“Enter Bahrain’s new breed of modern local restaurants. This is a trend that I wholeheartedly embrace and judging by their popularity, is here to stay.”

This retro-feel has been implemented well in Kuwait with the most famous example being ‘Fireej Swaileh’. Eating there is like travelling back in time to a place where perhaps your grandparents would feel at home. It’s cozy, the food is good, not to mentioned completely retro-tastic.

In conclusion, dear Bahrain, please embrace this new trend and keep improving on it. The market wants it, your mom has all the recipes and Tamkeen is just sitting there, waiting to toss cash at your face (and project). Take advantage of it and please, set up shop in Riffa, East Riffa to be precise, I don’t want to drive too far for breakfast.

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