Exploring Doha: Fish Market and Fruits and Vegetable Souq

To get fresh ingredients for our Turkish Dishes blog, off we went to the Fish Market along Salwa Road and since the Fruits and Vegetable Souq is nearby, we explored the market as well. "Souq" in Arabic means market or marketplace.
 
It is  a great sight to see wheelbarrows full of fish, fruits and vegetables towards the buyer's cars. We didn't need wheelbarrows as we explored the souq as a team of Turknoys.

our explorer team - inside the fish market!

love the classic market wheelbarrows!

Although a bit fish-smelly and the place is packed with lots of consumer wanting to get fresh produce, buying fish, fruits and vegetables are here is a way cheaper than in the supermarket. Not to mention,  higher quality as these produce are really fresh.

The Turknoys enjoyed running and jumping around the fruit and vegetable souq, not so much in the fish market. It was very crowded and floor is understandably very wet.Yes, it is not a good idea to bring kids in these places, but hey, we are the explorers. One very good thing is that , the kids are good way to haggle. We always get freebies from the very kind vendors. All of them just adore kids.

healthy food, healthy kids

With the fish, vegetable and fruits we got today, we are looking forward to a week of healthy meals.

Keep exploring!

Dining Out in Doha: Fish Market (Intercontinental Hotel)

We love seafood! We were aiming for lobster after the long journey to Al Shamal Park, Al Shamal Sports Club and Al Ruwais, so off we passed by Intercontinental Hotel for dinner. Since we are members in the club, we get to explore and play some more at the beach and at the playground while waiting for the Fish Market to open at 6AM. Arrghh hunger pains!

while waiting, resting at one of the Arabian inspired tent

playground in sand!

can't get enough of slide!

Was it worth the wait? Hhhmmm, we had high expectations which were not met.  We've had better and the value for money is not that high. Would we come back again? Maybe, if someone else would be paying. (Volunteers, anyone?)

Definitely, there are other alternatives here in Doha for a restaurant with similar concept - pick fresh seafood, cook and eat. We'll make it a mission to explore...

wanted the lobsters much but way too expensive - 15USD per 100 grams

The kids definitely love the ambiance, the almost-fancy decors and the aquariums. They were fascinated by the fishes swimming while we wait for our fish meal. The service is five-star standard but they lack the consistency all throughout the meal. There was a corporate dinner and all the kitchen staff and attendants were focused on their satisfaction. They served the meal and service was over; we even had to wait for such a long time in order to get our bill and pay. Hey, we were paying the same price (even more) , so why the discrimination of service, I wonder. Most probably their dinner was booked anyways the restaurant manager should have at least managed the manpower to be able to serve other customers! A big fat bummer and minus service star points!

The food? Yes, the fish was fresh but how they cooked it was way too salty! We would have complained but, duh, they didn't come to our table.

All in all, we had a good time in the restaurant just because the kids loved it. As for us parents, hey, whatever makes the kids not cranky.