An evening in Souq Waqif

I have been hanging out to play some golf since I got here and with an eye firmly on my annual trip away with the boys in March I packed up my clubs and jumped on a plane to Doha for a few days of golf and to see the sights.

Doha itself is only slightly larger in area than Hamilton, according to Wikipedia but from my journey in from the airport, the scale of the development that has taken place over the last few years was mind boggling. Dozens of massive skyscrapers, ultra luxurious hotels, a brand new metro system and no less than 8 world class international football stadiums that were built for the 2022 World Cup.

A colleague of mine used to live in Doha and she gave me a really great list of recommendations of things to do and most importantly places to eat and enjoy a drink, so once I got to the hotel and got settled I headed out to explore the city.

I ended up spending most of the first evening and night wandering through Souq Waqif - a beautiful old market area that has been operating for over 100 years. The streets were wide and filled with people and families out and about, eating dinner, drinking coffee and generally just hanging out. After walking through the market and getting my bearings I stopped at a busy corner coffee shop and enjoyed an excellent coffee and a fresh pomegranate juice before making my way to the first recommended restaurant Danat Al Bahar - a BBQ seafood restaurant which sounded right up my alley.

I had the most incredible charcoal BBQ'd whole sea bass covered in an amazing, spicy marinade. A dozen fat juicy prawns swimming in garlic and butter, a side of rice and washed down with large glass of fresh lemon and min juice. It was stunning - can not recommend this place highly enough if you are into seafood.

After the meal I walked through the market and stopped off for some fresh ginger tea on the way back to the metro station.

10/10 first night in DohaRead more