TURKNOY: Doha Food Festival 2012

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Doha Food Festival 2012

So off we went today to the first day of Doha Food Festival 2012. We raved about this yesterday and we actually did go - BURP!

Imagine all the posh restaurants in Qatar showcasing their famous dishes at a really cheap prices. QR5 - Qr15 - simply divine! Plus lots of entertainment for kids. The kids area for this year is sponsored by Hyatt Plaza and they are really pro at this. I think during normal days in their mall, they charge QR65 for kids to play in their kids area. For the food festival this year, we get this for F-R-E-E. The kids really had a blast.

the three walking pieces of Mommy's heart

kids enjoying the free kids area - SLIDE, BOUNCE, CLIMB!

We dined in Grand Heritage kiosk simply because we so love their tea. The Turk drink his Du Hammam tea for QR15 - refillable (normally costs QR65 for a teacup in their hotel!) while we brought in food from all other kiosks, pasta from Sheraton Hotel, tempura from Orynx Rotana, and ice cream from Renaissance Hotel. The dining place is really close to Orynx Rotana where there was a bar show and jazz music player entertaining us alternately. What a superb evening it was. I think we are done for Valentine's day. Almost forgot, we were able to find authentic Turkish shawarma which the kids and husband devoured at lightning speed.

We didn't spend more than QR100 for 4 adults and two kids.

The most important highlight of the evening is that the husband was with us. The kids enjoyed the event more. It is really a blessing to have the entire Turknoy family together exploring. The kids (and me!) will definitely cherish these memories. And I bet, he had a fantastic time, too!

Okay, we are here - let's cut the cake and start the festivities!

We're really glad that we went there already today and we enjoyed lots of benefits:

We got to witness the cutting of cake and got free cake (and ate it too at that!) ;)
Being Wednesday night, there were not much people; exploring the place is so comfortable, kids can even run around. I can only imagine how busy and crowded it will be this weekend.
Parking was a breeze before 4PM. So if you are going, make sure to come before this time. We left at around 8PM as it is already bedtime for kids and there are lots of late arrivals looking for parking space - chaos.
We were able to enjoy the magic show quite comfortably - not much crowd.
Kids enjoyed the bouncy castle a lot - few kids, 4 giant bouncy castle - relaxing evening for us while we watch the kids enjoy and use up all their energy (yahoo!)

It has been a lovely evening with family indeed. I get to blog about this because kids are way fast asleep - dead tired from all the activities.

With Pinoy Clown and Pinoy Bunny! ;)

Since we have been attending this festival for two consecutive years, I can say that this year is way better organized. The place they chose this time is before the Qatar Exhibition Centre if you are coming from the Rainbow Roundabout. The location is way bigger than last year, back of the exhibition centre. There are also more participating hotels and restaurant this year. Well, Qatar is booming and more hotels have opened since last year, so we get to enjoy this type of festival more.