Following up on this week's Kuwait story - The Looking Glass - our new Kuwait-based blogger -  reviews the new resto in town that everybody's talking about...

I loved the wide variety of appetizer dishes aptly called “Dips and Bites.”  Go ahead -- dip up creamy Spinach Hummus with warm bits of pillowy, parsley-infused Moroccan kisra bread.  Bite into the crisp, red pepper-spiked Persian Falafel, beautifully served in parchment paper printed with stream-of-consciousness Arabic calligraphy and replete with a side of extra-thick, lemony tahini.  The Turkish-inspired Cheese Boraqs, cigar-shaped, single layer-filo pastries filled with delicately herbed feta, constitute nothing less than a culinary embassy between heaven and earth: a satisfyingly primal blend of butter and salt mingled with the fragrant lightness of Cloud Nine.  Best of all – and this is where a lot of restaurants get it wrong – they were served hot.

If you’re a larger group, make sure to order one or more of the house Tabliyas, elliptical pizzas whose marriage of fresh, brick oven-baked crust and innovative topping schemes are sure to please the crowd.  The simplest versions match cheese and herb – think stretchy Kashkaval cheese dotted with chunks of sujouk, a spicy Lebanese sausage, or black olive paste topped with Halloumi cheese and fresh thyme, or better yet, Turkish-style grilled eggplant and tomoto.  The Chicken Tabliyah is more complex – a three-in-one pie artfully divided into three flavor experiences: the mouth-puckering Lebanese classic, Chicken Musahab – shredded charcoal-broiled chicken marinated in lemon and garlic and garnished with sharp garlic aioli and intensely pickled cucumbers; the Palestinian-inspired Chicken Musakkhan, a winsome mixture of shredded, sumac- and clove-rolled chicken tossed with pinenuts and impossibly delicate fried, caramelized onions; and the dark horse of the taste race, the Moroccan-based Chicken Bastilla, a mild chicken-and-cinnamon mixture as refreshing as it is hearty, whose clear, sweet flavors are brought out by a sprinkling of crushed almonds and icing powder.  Dinner and dessert in a single bite, it’s the perfect comfort food for fall’s cooler weather.

But this was an evening where best came last.  My date for the night (Mom) and I moved to Ayyame’s large outdoor balcony overlooking the marina for shishas.  In fact, the shisha menu – a perfectly-calibrated, customizeable roster of taste archetypes – is where Ayyame’s core identity shines through: a hip meditation on tried-and-true regional favorites with a willingness to take risks.  Mom ordered a combination of black grape and mint; cool and bracing but still soft, it was the perfect nocturnal smoke.  I ordered a blend of rose and orange, and for the next half hour, as I looked out over the glittering bay, I might as well have been the protagonist in a dream of space-age Samarqand.  Next time, I’m ordering the Red Bull shisha.

If I had one complaint, it would be philosophical.  With its micro-calibration of environment and image (how else to unify the neon pink flowers of Central Asian enamelware with 60’s-style space pod seating in metallic leather?) the Ayyame experience at moments risks becoming overwhelmingly “branded.”  Just when I was on the verge of being swallowed up by the platonic ideal of a Mideast-themed boutique restaurant, Floor Manager Eli brought the human dimension back.  When I pointed out that the male staff uniform, a rhapsody in black and pink, was perfectly coordinated with the interior design, he grimaced.  With the sheepishness and resentment of a schoolboy, he complained, “People make fun of our ties.”

In the end, it is Ayyame’s abundant staff of friendly, competent waiters who make the concept work.  Lebanese, Egyptian, Persian, Filipino, they bring the restaurant’s theme to life.  The people at Kout should keep this in mind as they make good on plans to expand the model to London and Dubai.  In the meantime, Viva la shisha Vimto!