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.

Hunting for high-quality Arabic grilling? Then look no further than the Kingdom’s Ennabi Grill, which specializes in fresh beef and lamb meat and other grilled delicacies to assure an amazing dining experience for all. Cast your eyes across the menu and you will notice the variety of kebabs: Iraqi, eggplant, khashkhash, orfali and halabi kebabs are all available. Each kabab is different from the others and the consistency of the dishes is supreme, with each meal tasting just as good as your first time. When it comes to chops, consider their Ennabi chops — a personal favorite — with the lamb cooked in a rich pomegranate sauce that gives it a distinct flavor. For chicken lovers, Ennabi did not forget about you, as it has a collection of chicken dishes like boneless chicken (mosahab), kebab and shish tawook. If you like your food spicy, chicken tandoori is the dish for you. The red-hot heat is tamed by a yogurt dip. The meat arayes are thin slices of bread stuffed with beef flesh and served as a sandwich, crispy on the outside juicy on the inside, with french fries on the side. Tabbouleh, fattoush, baba ghanouj, hummus and a variety of other Lebanese foods are served as appetizers. When you walk inside the modern restaurant, you will discover that there is no waiter escorting you to your seat. You can sit anywhere you like and order immediately online. Each table has a unique barcode that allows you to view the menu without having to wait for a waiter and pay the bill on your phone before the food arrives. You can find Ennabi Grill restaurants in Riyadh, Jeddah and Alkhobar. For more information visit their Instagram @ennabigrill.

ABHA: The aroma of freshly baked bread emanating from local bakeries and homes fills the cool air in an Asir district.

Arab News met Elham Asiri, a mother and an expert baker, who attracts visitors and locals from around the Asir region with her fresh traditional breads known as mifa and hali, among others.

Located at Al-Sawda mountain peak, about 3,133 meters above sea level on the way back to Abha, Asiri’s shop can be found on the side of a route leading to Rijal Alma, a historical village.

Dressed in traditional Asir attire, including a burqa and tafsha, and a straw boater hat to protect her from the sun, Asiri opens her shop every day at 2 p.m. with customers already lined up to give their day’s orders.

She prepares large batches of dough overnight, and in the afternoon she puts them in the oven for baking. The breads are primarily made of white or brown flour, salt, yeast and water. Mifa is an oval-shaped bread that is made of brown flour without any filling, with sesame or nigella seeds on top, which gives the bread a distinct taste and flavor when baked.

• Dressed in traditional Asir attire, including a burqa and tafsha, and a straw boater hat to protect her from the sun, Asiri opens her shop every day at 2 p.m. with customers already lined up to give their day’s orders.

• Located at Al-Sawda mountain peak, about 3,133 meters above sea level on the way back to Abha, Asiri’s shop can be found on the side of a route leading to Rijal Alma, a historical village. 

“I offer it with many fillings such as labneh, za’atar or cream cheese and then I add a drizzle of honey to give it a twist of sweetness to those who do not prefer it the traditional way,” said Asiri, who single-handedly runs the shop.

To give the breads an authentic feel and flavor, Asiri switched to outdoor baking — like her ancestors — from using a conventional indoor oven. The outdoor traditional oven, called mwassm, is typically used by most villages in the Asir region.

“Most visitors here also order a bread called hali, which translates to ‘sugary.’ It is a brown bread made without yeast and kneaded with ghee, which gives it a strong taste. It gives the body energy and warmth in cold weather,” she said.

One of the visitors, Mohammed Asiri, told Arab News that he visits this bread shop every weekend while going to his home in Rijal Almaa. “I discovered Elham Asiri’s bread shop three years ago, and since then I pass by to pick up my favorite order on my way back to and from Rijal Alma. We love the bread she offers; it is so fresh and tasty. I usually order hali with cheese filling, extra roasted, and a cup of red tea; and I enjoy it so much during the ride,” he said.

Another visitor, Bodour Aggad, who is originally from Jeddah but lives in Abha for work, said that she found out about Asiri’s shop while she was looking for a good mountain view in Ramadan on her way back from Al-Sawda. “Some cars were crowded at a place and it caught my attention; I stopped out of curiosity to find Asiri baking fresh bread on order. I tried it and fell in love with it,” she said.

Aggad said that whenever her family or friends visit Abha, she makes sure to introduce them to this rural bread shop to complete their experience. “Asiri’s shop is unique as she kneads and bakes the bread and serves it hot to her visitors once she receives an order, unlike other food booths who offer you the bread ready-made at home.”

Asiri also offers her customers pastries with different kinds of fillings, in addition to hot milk, Saudi coffee, and karak tea. She laughingly said that in the past, women of the region had to master the art of bread making to be able to get married.

From international hotspots to homegrown eateries, these restaurants in Saudi Arabia are so much more than your basic fast food joints. 

Besides their juicy burgers, foodies in Riyadh can dig into the signature fat and skinny fries alongside Fatburger’s beef that is freshly ground and grilled to perfection.

Hamburgini has sharing packages at affordable prices that will make for a great after-pool meal with your family and friends this summer.

Hungry fans can choose from toppings galore at this burger joint. It is also known for its colored, flavored buns like the black garlic and pink spicy bread. 

For all the vegans out there, Section-B has got you covered with their vegan patties and array of plant-based topping options. 

It’s popular for a reason — the well-known US eatery offers everything from angus beef burgers and tender chicken sandwiches to loaded hotdogs.

Love chicken wings? This restaurant boasts traditional and boneless wings slathered in an array of sauces, from honey garlic to Asian sesame and fired up BBQ sauce. 

        View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by جان برجر (@janburger_gcc)

A post shared by جان برجر (@janburger_gcc)

Crispy tenders, curly fries, grilled burgers and delicious sauces – Jan Burger has it all. Whether you are on a health kick or in the mood for fried goodies, this spot has something for everyone. 

While different diets work for different people, I found that I feel my best when I am on the paleo diet, also known as the caveman diet. Taking you back to the Paleolithic era before processed food, the paleo diet follows a “hunt and gather” concept as it includes lean meats, fruits, vegetables, seafood and different types of nuts and seeds. On my journey to look for delicious paleo recipes, I found the mobile application-only available on the App Store — Paleo Plate, which taught me so many amazing dishes that made it easy for me to let go of bread, rice, and any other type of refined carbohydrates.  It has recipes by sections; beef, vegetarian, seafood poultry, breakfast, side dishes and dessert. Diving into the seafood section, I tried the app’s tuna and grilled zucchini salad, and paleo fish sticks (the breading is made with dried vegetable chips and almonds after using a food processor). I love how organized the application is as it has a clear instruction guide and ingredients list with estimated preparation time and number of servings.  With Paleo Plate, I found that you can substitute your refined carbs with much healthier alternatives such as cauliflower, which I have seen used as a pizza base, bread crumb substitute and more, throughout the app. They also have an “Is it Paleo?” section where you can type in any ingredient for the app to filter whether it is paleo or not. It already has a long list of what is paleo such as almond butter, extract and flour, bamboo shoots, avocado oil, applesauce and more, and what is not paleo such as apricot kernels, barley, buckwheat, canola oil and other examples. This makes grocery shopping easier and more time-efficient as I know exactly what to buy and what to avoid.

If you’re looking to try out a completely brand new culinary experience, then Praze the Taste will provide that for you with its US-Lebanese concept.

Their cross-cultural menu has everything from fattoush (a typical Levantine salad usually made with tomatoes, toasted pita bread chips, lettuce, and radish), to buffalo wings served with many sauces: Korean BBQ, dynamite, maple sriracha, I Dare You, honey glazed, buffalo, or simply plain fried.

Praze the Taste’s salad options make healthy eating much more fun with flavorful dishes. My favorite is the chicken kale salad. It contains fresh kale, Lollo Verde, cherry tomatoes, grilled chicken, and cranberry dressing. The sweetness of the cranberry dressing combined with the fresh flavor of the leafy greens made it such a refreshing option.

And who doesn’t love good garlic bread? The restaurant makes its own garlic aioli sauce, mixes it with cheese, and spreads it on a baguette. This option is great for sharing because the baguette is cut into squares. It is my favorite appetizer.  

I like the flexibility and variety of the menu as there is something for everyone, whether you are in the mood for a tasty burger like their flavor-packed maple sriracha burger or a lighter option such as the grilled chicken with Lebanese bread and fattoush. Praze the Taste has flavors worth praise.

Praze the Taste is located at the Suheili Center on Prince Sultan Road in Al-Nahda in Jeddah. Its interior design colors match its logo, red and yellow.

Keep up with the restaurant on its Instagram @prazethetaste.