RED ONION RESTAURANT - RIYADH

This restaurant was established in 2006 and is situated in the heart of Riyadh city. The first time I visited the restaurant was four years ago with a group of South African friends prior to going to the airport to pick up mom. Whilst the decor in the restaurant does need a little bit of an upgrade, the food is simply divine and very reasonably priced. Whenever my best friend and I feel for true, authentic 'desi' food we usually hop over. Mom also loves the flavour and the aroma of all the dishes and makes it a point of visiting the restaurant whenever she travels to this part of the world. Best friend and I have virtually tried most of the dishes on the menu, however our favourite dishes are usually the chicken tikka, chicken malai boti, chicken samoosas for starters, prawn karai or mutton karai for the main meal along with vegetarian fried rice. During our last visit to the restaurant a few days ago, we decided to try the fried shrimps with chips and tartar sauce. It was absolutely delicious. The shrimps were nicely spiced and fried crisp to perfection. All the meals are served with a choice of naans. Best friend usually likes the plain butter naan whilst I love the garlic naan. The restaurant also offers free home deliveries and a special lunch buffet menu as well. Like most restaurants within the Kingdom, the red onion has a family section as well as a single male only section. The waiters at the restaurant are very efficient and friendly. In fact we now know many of them on a personal level. To find out more on what the restaurant has to offer kindly visit their website http://www.redonionrest.com/

TRAGEDY STRIKES THE KINGDOM

Just a few days ago I posted an article on my blog regarding the celebratory usage of gunfire at weddings whereby the minister of the interior, Prince Ahmed called for a country wide ban on the use of live firearms during wedding celebrations amid public concerns as there has been numerous fatal accidents that have occurred thereby marring what should have been a happy and blissful occasion. The ministers stance was definitely not taken seriously as proven this week. At least 25 people were electrocuted during a wedding ceremony in the Eastern province on Tuesday. According to Abdullah Khashman, an Eastern Province official, celebratory gunfire brought down an electric cable at a house in Ain badr village where the wedding was held on Tuesday night.Thirty others were injured in the incident near Abqaiq, a centre of the Saudi energy industry.

In a separate incident, 25 people have been killed and scores of others injured when a truck carrying flammable liquids crashed in Riyadh city causing a massive explosion yesterday morning. The accident occurred on Khurais road, where the driver of the tanker was trying to steer clear from an accident scene. However, his efforts failed dismally causing the back portion of the tanker to slam into a concrete flyover. Eye witnesses at the scene reported that the driver got out of the vehicle and started running after realizing that there was a gas leak. The explosion was so huge that my friends residing in the Olaya area, approximately 20 km from the epicenter could hear the blast. Apparently the blast measured 2.2 on the richter scale. My colleague Abdulla informed me that his brother resides one km from where the blast occurred. All of the houses in his neighbourhood are damaged with shattered windows and broken doors. Most of the victims were from the National Guard hospital as they were reporting to work in the early hours of the morning. An industrial building, several storeys high was brought to the ground. Various other buildings in the vicinity were also destroyed. In the wake of all the disaster, the Saudi government has stated that it would compensate all the families of the victims that have lost their lives or are critically ill in hospital. Damaged property and vehicles will also be compensated for by the government two fold. Critically injured victims were rushed to the National Guard hospital.

Source:

http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/saudi-arabia-wedding-guests-electrocuted-094239354.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/11/201211152712448325.html

http://www.almuraba.net/news_view_4924.html (For more pictures of the aftermath, click on this link)