Breakfast at Souq Waqif

To step outside at this time of year, is to be immediately enfolded in a blanket of oppressive heat. Heavy, intense, unrelenting. And it’s only spring in Doha, Qatar.

The mercury will soon rise to over 50 degrees. Some days it will be even hotter.  To make the most of the scant time remaining before its impossible to venture out, it’s best  to go for an early breakfast.  Souq Waqif beckons…

Souq Waqif is an intriguing place and a must see if you visit. It’s located in the district of Al Souq, the equivalent of the old town, and in the centre of Doha.

It’s name means ‘standing Souq’ as the trading market used to be located immediately adjoining the shore to allow for boats to access it.  With a tidal ebb and flow underfoot, merchants were literally standing and trading.

 Nowadays there’s a busy main road cutting off the water access, but it is still very charming, full of character and authenticity. However like most things in the Middle East you can’t take things at face value, there is more to discover about the Souq than meets the eye. 

For centuries; the Bedu, Bedouin nomads who historically inhabited the Arabian and Syrian Deserts, would bring sheep, goats and wool here to trade for essentials.  

In the 1990’s the market became very run down and then a fire in 2004 nearly destroyed it. After many complaints from the Qatari people that an important part of heritage was being lost, a massive re-development began.

So the secret of Souq Waqif is, that it’s not really old at all.   

The entire market area has been cleverly redeveloped to look like a 19th-century souq, with mud-rendered shops, exposed timber beams and some beautifully restored original Qatari buildings. All by using traditional Qatari architectural techniques.

Besides the main street, with cafes, antiques and bric-a-brack, pearls, beads, art, musical instruments and more…don’t forget to explore the labyrinth  of back alleyways to find more stores.

Here, you will find fabrics and scarves,  striped canvas and garden equipment, shoes, and gigantic cooking pots large enough to simmer a whole sack of rice.

We enjoy the warm spice and fragrance that lingers in the breeze and make a point to pass by the nuts and spices as we look for perfumes and oud (an exotic incense made from agarwood).

Always busy, the alhmalah (porters in numbered maroon waistcoats who transport shoppers’ purchases in wheelbarrows) – are an essential element in the souq’s story.

Even the souq’s Heritage Police Station lends charm with its mounted officers dressed in uniforms from the 1940s while they keep an eye out for trouble atop of their Arabian steeds.

Ahhh but breakfast awaits and we are now famished…  a simple Yemen cafe fits the bill.

 Beans with salty cheese in a rich tomato sauce arrive, so scalding hot it’s bubbling furiously in the pot!! 

Just tear off a chunk of break and eat with onion and lemon. The hand hewn pot adds to the flavour… 

The bread is so fresh. 

Followed by doughy bread awash with famous Yemeni honey… sticky and chewy….washed down with tea. No frills here.

On the bottom plate, the drizzled and honeyed gold collects in large pools that must of course be mopped up with fresh bread and send the taste buds into orbit. 

Replete and ready to roll home.  Have a creative and relaxing week.
PS. Don’t forget to enter the new Competition to WIN a gorgeous Liberty Scarf and Liberatti Collection Lacquer Scarf Rings. Good luck.  Nicola