Our Doha Life: Dinner For Two?

For those of you who know William, you know he is a storyteller. For those who don't, he's a storyteller. Here's an example.

I get an email at home from William, saying that he just finished a parent-teacher conference with one of his students, and that the parents want to have dinner to show their appreciation. I think his exact words were "They're pretty high up." Great. Immediately I'm consumed with a rash of thoughts: Is it at their house? Do we bring our kids? Cause I don't want to bring the kids, they'll only embarrass me. Who's gonna watch Zophia? What if I don't like what they serve? Am I supposed to bring a gift? What do I wear? He tells me that they'll get back to us with the details.

The details were dinner at some restaurant in The Pearl at 6. William didn't know the name of the restaurant, as the guy had a thick accent and they spoke on the phone. He said it sounded like Maze and was supposedly French. At least he got directions. I felt better that we weren't eating at their house. That solved the problem of not liking the food and whether or not to bring a gift.

Throughout the day, William kept texting me that he was nervous, that I would have to talk more, that I needed to find something to wear, blah, blah, blah. He said he talked with some people at school about it and said it was common for Muslims to take their children's teachers to dinner. Luckily, we've made some great friends whom William forced to watch our children for the night. Yes, even Zophia. We did split them up though. Conor, Raini & Kii with one family and Zophia with another.

The next call William got was to tell us that we weren't going to Maze anymore, now we were going to Opal. Looking back, I didn't even question it, but I guess you learn not to question a lot of things in Doha:)

The night of, we made the dropoffs and headed out to meet...hmm, didn't even know their names...should've asked. William got there without a problem. The restaurant was in the St Regis Hotel. As we pulled up, looking for somewhere to park, we realized that valet was the only way to go. So we get out, drop our car off, and in we go. Apparently, we were supposed to get a table and they would find us. Seemed odd that this "high up" Muslim couple wouldn't reserve their own table.

I didn't take this one, but this is the front of the St Regis Hotel.

The hotel was gorgeous of course. We had to ask for directions to the restaurant and the people inside were very welcoming. We walked up to the desk and the lady says, "William?" Hmm. Odd that they knew his name. I honestly thought it was just because they were obviously told by the Muslim couple who their guests were. We walked through the restaurant to an outside dining area. William asked if I wanted to eat outside. It was actually really nice out, now that the weather's cooling down, so we sat outside.

William, with the Doha skyline in the background.

After taking some pictures, we sat down and William handed me a card. He laughs and says, "My student's parents made him write me a card to say thank you." I open it to read what this kid wrote and it says, "SURPRISE! Happy 15th Anniversary! Love, William." Really? So we're not having dinner with some kid's parents? You made the whole thing up? It's been a long time since William has really surprised me. I take after my dad in that I'm very aware and logical. But something about Doha and it's people makes you roll a little more with the flow, rather than question.

So, here we were, at Opal, which William tells me is Chef Gordon Ramsay's restaurant. Here's the front of the menu, in case you were doubtful.

The menu was simple, as one would expect from Gordon Ramsay:) There was a list of pizzas on the back too.

The drink menu was practically a short story! I never thought I'd go to a restaurant that had a 25000 QR bottle of wine (that's about $6800)! I got a Passionate. It was only 35 QR (almost $10). It was yummy. William ate the passion fruit since it looked like a rotten orange.

The bread was served in a little towel bowl so the heat stayed in. Our bread was actually HOT! The butter melted to liquid, even on the last one! The appetizer was tamarind chicken wings. William was in heaven.

William got the tenderloin, I got the fat burger. I don't normally choose a burger when we go out, but I didn't regret it. It was as gooey as it looks:) And believe it or not, I forgot to take a picture of our dessert, that's what happens when you put sweets in front of me!

We got the vanilla profiterole, it's like a cream puff. Very good way to end the meal:p

The bathroom was so nice, I had to take a picture. After I washed my hands, I was looking for the paper towels. Took me a minute to figure out that I was supposed to use the actual cloth towels by the sinks.