Gourmet Burger Kitchen Review

Gourmet Burger Kitchen is newly opened fancy dine in burger joint that opened exactly where Hamburger Nation used to once be in Muscat City Center. Wednesday 1st of July marked as their first opening day, and with the seriously attractive teaser advertisement they had on their spot before opening, things looked very promising from back then so you can imagine how busy would they be on the peak hours of they're first business days.



When i went to GBK, it was around 2.30 pm and that place was completely packed with people and there were a couple of others waiting outside to grab a table. At lunch time it's a long shot for you to walk in and directly find an empty table. We waited for around 15 mins outside and then got a table for three. The interior design of the place is pretty good, not over the edge special, but i like it. Things were a bit messy though around cause the place was just way too packed, but still fun to be within the crowd.



The menu is not short on variety, there are some unique starters, plenty of chicken and beef burger options, salads, veggie burgers and cold along with hot drinks. The prices of the starters vary between 2.250 Rials to 3.000 Rials, and the Fries start from 2.100 Rials. The burgers are pretty pricey starting at around 2.900 Rials for the burger only with nothing on the side. What i liked about the menu is that there is and item from each category marked as recommended by GBK, it really makes it easy to enjoy the best of their line even if its your first time and you blindly walked in.



We first ordered two Lemon Mint drinks (they were marked as recommended), each was for 1.650 Rials, they weren't anything special, i would have rather tried something else honestly.



We ordered Skin On Fries for 1.250 Rials and starters in the beginning and then ordered our burgers. The fries came around pretty quick, and then we waited for a pretty long while and the burgers actually came to the table before the starters. We ordered Baby Grilled Burgers for starters, those were for 2.550, and ordered Grilled Chicken Cajun for 3.250 Rials, Blue Cheese Burger for 3.550 Rials with extra Mushrooms (0.500 Rials) and Bacon (1.000 Rial) for a total of 5.005 Rials and a BBQ Burger with extra Bacon and Mushrooms as well for a total of 4.900 Rials.



No doubt about it, the burgers are more than delicious as I expected when i walked in, my Blue Cheese burger was just huge, juicy and tasted so good! I used to always say that B+F RoadSide Diner has the best burgers in town, but now that i have tried this burger at GBK i must say that i enjoyed it better here even though things got really messy with me and i had to use a crap load of tissues. My brother had the BBQ Burger and said that it was very good, tasted really nice and it was juicy and mouthful. It does go up to and above the average tasting burger from the ones he ever tried but can't say that it's better than the burger he went for at B+F RoadSide Diner, they're almost the same, can't pick out the better one.



After we went half way through our burgers, we asked the waiter to see what happened to the starters we ordered, 5 minutes later he comes over and gets us Baby Beef Burgers instead of the Grilled Chicken ones we ordered. We didn't feel like complaining nor wait any longer since we waited enough for everything to be served anyway, so we passed on it and just had them. They were nothing special at all, even though they were recommended by the place itself, perhaps it would've been a different story if we actually started off with the starters instead of having them between the main course and the end.



Now for the big shocker, when we were done and asked for the bill (it took them a REALLY long while to get it too), we got it and we took a look at the blue cheese and BBQ burger's prices, and they were around 10 rials each! They actually charged us 7 rials for extra mushrooms and bacon for each burger, thats twice the price of the actual burger! We asked to see the guy who took our order (Took him a good literal 7 mins to come to our table too) and asked him to revise with his manager about the problem we had. In the end they changed everything and charged 500 Bizas for the mushrooms and 1 Rial for the bacon, the final total came out to be 22.180 Rials.



As a conclusion, the whole experience was heroically saved by the sweet taste of the food because everything else was a disaster, there was no music around, the service we pretty slow, we got wrong orders coming to our table twice asking if we ordered this, we didn't get what we exactly ordered and we were charged triple the price of a normal burger. Would i go there again? Perhaps, as long as they sort their mess out and raise their service quality a bunch, otherwise i'm only in for a take away.

Omanternity Forums

Omanternity is a web design slash slight development project plus VBulletin Style construction that i'm currently working on with BLING. Omanternity is planned to be a big website that features plenty of local hand made articles and some other diverse content. The forum was launched in the beginning to have the community kick off and grow. I'm taking care of the entire visiuals for the site, ya'll should check it out over here. Hope you like it!

Your IT Fix @ Amideast

I joined Amideast like three weeks ago to work with and help out the IT Assistant with Asset Management where i get to go through all IT equipment, tag them with a label and enter them into the system along with all their specs, the IT Assistant is pregnant and can't go around much cause she's due in two weeks and they needed someone else to handle this project and it was me! I continued for three weeks, one of those weeks was where the IT Assistant had to leave for a whole week so i took care of all her responsibilities around and i managed everything pretty well and everyone around liked it, so now that the IT Assistant left, i took her position and am working here till further notice till they find someone to stay for the long run, cause i'll leave when college starts and thats around mid September, so yay for me making total use of myself this summer and not being useless. Oh and btw, doing three jobs at one time just kills lol, can't wait till i'm done with my Omanternity's project so that i can have a life again, not that i dont have one now, sort of..
...
Whtever..
lol

Omani Pepsi

I really was surprised when i saw the Omani brand on a can of Pepsi in MQ at Al Ziyara, how can Pepsi ever be a local Omani product?
Natasha shed a light on this and told us that these giant franchises are all produced locally because of the crazy mass amount of demand around the country, so shipping in Pepsi cans for every supermarket and shop from states or any original factory is impossible, so everything is formulated here from scratch. That’s why Mountain Dew and these other fizzy drinks taste differently around the world.
That was interesting to know lol

Got Mugged

There's a first time for everything, and a last for this one i really hope. Back on Friday the 22nd of June or lets say it was exactly at 12.32 am on Saturday 23rd of June, i came back from the beach around Jawharat Al Shatti and looked at the back window of my car and saw tht it was slightly opened or lowered down a bit, i freaked out and thought that i forgot it lowered for some reason, i entered the car n turned the lights on to find out tht my laptop that was previously in the car is completely gone along with my bag, i went back to the back window n saw how smudged it was and figured out tht it was broken, pretty lose and is falling inside the door. I couldn't believe such a thing could happen here, and i never saw this coming, my laptop is now gone along with all of my important files on it, tht includes three years worth of college work, my entire portfolio of designs and projects (including two undergoing projects i was working on for clients) and all of my pictures of different trips i went to, all gone just like tht. I have never felt so angry, lost, upset and devastated in my whole life for such a loss, it was just ugly and all of tht bursted out in one shot on me, i actually got muscle strain in the bottom of my throat that got knotted for around three days after this from the amount of stress. The whole theft was done so professionally that these guys didn't even scratch the window through the process, just tore the rubber around the window's bed glass.



Anyway, its gonna almost be two weeks since the incident, 7amdellah things are getting a bit brighter now, i managed to start the two on going project all over again and considerably progress in them, (one of them is Omanternity btw, check it out) i also got a job as an IT Assistant over at Amideast, so i can pretty much work to pay off for another laptop since my whole life depends on me having one. As for my old laptop, im still trying to get its serial number and work on tracing the device and report back to the police since i confirmed the possibilities of us approaching such practice and there is a possibility of my getting my laptop back, i wonder if anyone tried tracking a stolen laptop before?

I don't know how much of an accident this is for me to be one of the very few unlucky people who had their cars broken into (According to the Bousher Police Station, no such incident like mine has been heard of since real ages around that area =/), but seems like now that kids are outta school and are free forming gangs and messing around as i saw from the Ghubra car damages that were reported on Wednesday 24th of June. ROP should really take action against those who they claimed have caught stealing cars or practicing vandalism around and make an example of them by locking them up and spreading their pictures and information to lower this arising crime burst tht's going on here.

Lesson to be learned here? Stay away from parking in dark areas really late at night and NEVER keep pricey possessions in your car and leave it like that, and oh, seriously, for your sake, if you have something important that your life depends on on your laptop or something, back it up, cause you won't handle losing forever easily.

PS, dunno if it would really matter if i install a really sensetive alarm on my car now or not lol

What Has She Done to Me?

Everyone has a story, the story of their life and memory. When you walked into my life, you picked me up from how far i have fallen and took me into the warmth of your heart and made me feel like i was where i haven't been anywhere with anyone, it was home. Can you believe that during all of that time it was me and you pushing the truth aside and just waiting to find a bridge to take us to the bright side that our deep inner sense felt? When you tell me that you saw me coming, it makes me feel even more right about what i feel, its like magic to enchant my being, singing a seductive melody attracting me closer and closer. Even though we weren't as close back when you were indecisive, i knew for myself that i was close enough to be shattered when being put in such a situation, i couldn't fight wht my inner-self felt cause it was reflecting what it truly is shaped as. You were already so dear and precious, and without you in my life is like a withering rose petal without its light that makes it bloom. I can never forget the moment where i gazed upon your eyes and got to see the intense amount of love that your desire burns with, it was as strong as the heat of a thousand suns, it filled my heart with feather soft pureness and had it beat life into my essence as if it was keeping me alive only to live another moment in the world you took me into. I held your hand and just watched the striking beauty that your face enchants and your innocence that makes my heart smile, we both felt how strong it was, none of our souls can deny it, it was out there, it was all around, it was unspoken of but heard by our hearts, it was love as pure as it can be. I don't work magic nor am i the one for all, but i know that my days with you along by my side made me go to the top of the world, proud and high, and it was bliss that came upon my life, it was you, that person i thought would never exist. I loved all the time we spent, you were my everything, my friend, my lover and everyone else i would need along the way, i have went to a whole different universe with you, that i always stop to think of how this is too good to be true. Your beautiful, gorgeous, cute, adorable, stunning, fascinating, amazing, incredible, caring, loving, understanding, wise, sweet, lovely and much more. You know how to treat me right and on top of all, you feel me all the way and are with me the whole time even when i don't know it. I know it hasn't been too long since we felt this way, but take my word for this, what we developed in ourselves and between us is beyond anything i have ever imagined or experienced before. You hear them all talk of love and how crazy it drives you and how intense it could get, but all you think in your mind is that its just talk and its just to give someone that sense of self security and give others the strong sense of commitment. But when i go through what i felt with you, i believe every word of what people describe true love as, its far beyond mere words of description, its a deep devotion that makes me feel you my love and flips my world upside down everytime i hear your voice or feel your touch when your near. In all of my life i have never came to understanding such a feeling, and i know for a fact that no one will ever understand unless they go through what i have for you. As far as mountains go high, oceans go deep, skies go blue and two innocent souls find each other to make a single perfect, thats of how much i have love for you. With you i felt complete, with you i felt powerful, with you i felt like nothing in this world matters, with you i felt home, with you i felt what i have never before thought i could feel and with i now know what it is like to be truly in love. When i see people walking around, they all look average and normal, but if i portray me and you walking in between, we'd be like a glittering gem between grains of sand, standing out between the crowd and shinning out for the world to see. I just wrote alot and i still feel that i couldn't tell what i really wanted you to know, maybe its meant to stay only as a unique feeling that i indescribable with just words, thats why the world will run out of written papers before i could completely tell you how much in love I have fallen into with you.

What have you done to me? What has she done to me?
It's simple, she has taken to me into heaven that i will always find in my heart for eternity

This is my chapter of me, this is a chapter of my life, this is my chapter of you, because your my life, so this one goes out to you my love. I'm not dreaming, we're real, stay with me a while and listen to my story, because this tale doesn't end, today is just a chapter and tomorrow is another story to be written of your and me. I love you ever so much and thats why our story will always go on till the day we sleep where there is no tomorrow.

<3

McDonald's Al-Khuwair Now Open 24 Hours

McDonald's Al-Khuwair is now open 24 hours round the clock at their drive thru only (Dinning-in probably closes after 12 am and opens back again at 11 am). I wonder which of the McDonalds' outlets out here gets the biggest crowd.

Update, McDonald's Al Authiba now opens 24/7 and the one in Sarooj will soon join them. The one in Qurm won't though, cause all of these branches that opened 24/7 so far are ones with petrol stations next to them, so i heard from the people working in the Qurm branch.