For those of you who have been regulars at my blog, you probably have seen my previous restaurant reviews, the Gaucho Grill and Le Notre breakfast. Some of you have enjoyed them and I promised to make it a regular thing, but unfortunately didnt have time to do that.

Today, I did have a chance to go to a restaurant and review it too! The restaurant of choice today is Edo, in Alsha’eb, near Villa Fairouz. Before I do the review, I have to give a background on the whole situation. I got an email from Purgatory72, saying he was coming to Kuwait and that, as promised, we should meet for dinner sometime. So when he got back to Kuwait, I got an sms from him, and we decided to go for dinner and sheesha, and nibaq will be joining us. Since I personally knew nibaq, I figured it will be safe, and I wont be killed by Purg, who always has terror and death on his own blog!

Turns out Purg is a really nice guy! Same with nibaq of course, who really doesnt get enough credit for the amazing work he does at kuwaitblogs and how he has contributed in making this whole blogging thing alot easier and more of a community! We met up for sheesha first to watch the game at Layaly Al7ilmiya, the game sucked, we lost, it ended, we left to Edo.

We got there at around 10:30, and to my surprise there were actually 2 other tables. The place is one of the better designed restaurants in Kuwait. It is basically a lounge/bar waiting to be legalized. Very contemporary and simple designs and colors, very relaxing, and the Japanese touches were evident only in the outside garden (which was full of stones or gravel Japanese style), and the sushi bar that you see once you enter. The music is also very loungy and is a very nice diversion from the usual crap music in every other restaurant in Kuwait!

The main difference between this restaurant and most others is the table distribution. My theory on why Edo is mostly empty is because of their table distribution. The people in charge of the restaurant seem to forget an important factor in dining experiences in Kuwait, which is the fact that many people pick their destination depending on how likely they are too see and be seen by others (ala maki, nino….etc). In Edo, the setup is obviously more intimate and not aiming at the Kuwaiti youth market, and it shows with the crowd, the two tables were a table of Lebanese, and another with a French group. I personally enjoy the seating (and the crowd), you honestly dont feel like you’re in a restaurant in Kuwait.

Anyway, to the food…..please note, if you are not a sushi eater, this review is useless to you, we only had sushi along with appetizers.

We started with starters consisting of a chicken yakatori, seafood dumplings, and beef tataki. The dumplings were good, the tataki (thinly sliced raw beef) is excellent and highly recommended, and I didnt try the yakatori (chicken skewers), Im not a big fan of getting cooked food in Japanese restaurants.

For our main, we ordered 7 different kinds of maki, and to be honest they were all excellent! I cant recall everything we ordered but ill take a shot -

  • Tokyo roll
  • Dragon roll
  • Lady Salmon
  • Edo Crispy maki
  • Sapporo roll
  • Salmon scallop maki
  • Osaka roll

The sushi was nearly flawless! I have been to Edo on many occassions before, but yesterday’s was the best by far. I say nearly flawless only because they were out of tuna, but then again, it isn’t just them, most sushi restaurants in Kuwait seem to be out of tuna for prolonged periods of time!

The service was very prompt and was very good, except for the part were something was spilt on the table, and the fact that it took the waitress about 3 centuries to pour my diet pepsi into my glass! But other than those two very minor things, the service was very good.

As for the price, I have to admit the place is above average in its prices. Not crazy expensive, but still more expensive than other sushi restaurants in Kuwait (trust me, I’m an expert and a sushi addict).

Overall….I would definitely recommend Edo. Its not the most active place in town, but its a nice intimate place, and probably would be perfect for business lunches or dinners. The ambiance and the food are both excellent, The service is very good, and the price is average to say the best.

Final grade - 81/100