The shack beside the Newspaper factory

There seems to be a pattern over our lunch habit now, specifically the venue for lunch really. We'll walk over from the government building to a nearby dingy cold store cum cafeteria which is known as 'Al Ayam'. I believe it translates literally to "The Day". There, they have this so called menu of the day which actually comprises of either fish/chicken briyani, fried fish with dhal and rice, curry chicken with rice and I guess that's about it. Price for a plate is 500 Fils and the amount is exhorbitant for the first time I saw it. Soon, I have had adapted to the volume.

Being a patron there on a daily basis, I begin to notice the very few same faces of the other customers. Their cliques are usually the same and also their choices of food and tables. Occasionally, there will be some sort of Mafia type meeting at one of the tables. And one of the notorious members will persistently try to sell Rolex and perfumes to you using a sales pitch that only consist of one word. "Gift? Gift! Gift?"

Besides the obvious convenience and economical factor, the food is actually quite good which also contributes to what that make us regulars. Currently, I would rate their briyani being the best so far even beating few other major popular restaurants in Manama.

Besides the Mazda 323, I've been driving a Peugeot 206 here. It's somehow strange that all cars here do not have alarm or remote controls to unlock and lock the car. And as for this Peugeot, another downside is that it doesn't have central locking which is a nuisance because I need to manually lock and unlock each and every doors for the passengers. However, I have had fun with this car. I like the handling and the ease of driving at 5-6k RPM especially when I turn on the 'S' button for sports mode and tweaking with the radio control piece located just behind the steering wheel. Still a lot way back from a turbo's performance but it's pretty fulfilling for here considering the amount of traffic lights in this city.