Al Baik. Saudi Arabia’s fried chicken fast-food chain. Ever since I saw the Saudi Arabia episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations I have been trying to get to Al Baik.
Getting into Saudi Arabia is nearly impossible as an
American. There are no tourists visas and even if you are lucky enough to get in on a business visa,
there is no guarantee you will be able to get into Al Baik – as a woman. When
my female coworker was sent to Riyadh on business she was forbidden from
entering Al Baik because they didn’t have a “family section,” which is a
segregated section of the restaurant for women and families. As a single woman,
she was not allowed to walk on the streets of Riyadh alone, and most of the
restaurants in Riyadh were men-only, so she couldn’t join her male colleagues
in those establishments either. She ate
every meal in the hotel.
Based on what she told me, I had all but given up on
visiting Al Baik.
Flash forward a few years. I'm walking around the streets of
Kuala Lumpur and what do I find? Al Baik! The chain has gone global and now the
rest of the world, including women, can know the joy of this fried chicken.
The restaurant itself was pretty abysmal. A few Saudi
families quietly dined on their homeland feasts. The bathrooms were appalling.
There were only four items on the menu: 5-piece shrimp meal. 10-piece shrimp
meal. 2-piece chicken meal. 4-piece chicken meal. At least that makes things
easy. Once you order a meal all you need to do is request “original” or
“spicy.” They were out of “original” chicken when we went, so that left
“spicy.” Then you pick your drink. I chose Strawberry Mirinda. I got my meal to
go since the thought of eating there depressed me.
At home, the feast was extraordinary. The chicken itself is
just like KFC or Popeye’s, but the sauces are a local concoction of awesomness.
One garlic sauce, and another is their “cocktail sauce” which is like a
spicy-sweet mayo.
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