Elna Cafe looks like it has been taken out of a fairytale book and placed in the Saudi capital.
The cafe, located in Riyadh’s Al-Mohammadiya district, is decorated with lush flowers and colors that represent spring.
Flowers cover everything inside the cafe, the walls, the lamps, and even the unique decorations like a giant pink teddy bear, a car, and telephone booth. From anywhere within the cafe, customers can snap pictures that will turn out to be a masterpiece for their social media.
The food doesn’t just look good but tastes amazing as well. Their sweets are sophisticated and perfectly well-balanced in their flavor and sweetness.
Their coffee is always picture-perfect. It is made with high-quality coffee beans to elevate the experience of this dream-like place. It is a perfect place for ladies to hang out with their friends and take time out of their busy schedules to sit and relax among the thousands of flowers.
Check their Instagram @elna.cafe for more details.
Where We Are Going Today: Elna Cafe
https://arab.news/4h8rp
Where We Are Going Today: Elna Cafe
- From anywhere within the cafe, customers can snap pictures that will turn out to be a masterpiece for their social media
Chef serves up a taste of Spain at Ithra Cultural Days in Saudi Arabia
DHAHRAN: Among the attractions of the Ithra Cultural Days: Spain at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), visitors can try a tantalizing selection of Spanish foods — none more renowned than its famous paella.
Arab News spoke with chef Jose Zafra at the event, which runs until Jan. 31, who flew in from Spain to offer a taste of his homeland to the people of Saudi Arabia.
A “master rice cook, paella researcher and promoter,” according to his business card, his logo is even designed around the recognizable cooking pan and the phrase “Pasion por la paella,” or “Passion for paella.”
“That's why the pan is round because people get around and eat all together — to share culture and passion and life,” Zafra told Arab News as foodies lined up behind him, eager to try a plateful.
“It’s not just a food. It’s a link, a connection. Paella is the symbol of unity and sharing. And people now are going to try it — authentic Spanish paella in Saudi Arabia.”
The word “paella” comes from the Latin “patella,” meaning pan.
In Spanish, it refers both to the rice dish itself and the pan in which it is cooked.
Paella was introduced to Spain during Moorish rule. It originated in Valencia, on the country’s eastern coast, as a rural peasant dish that was cooked by farm workers over open fires using local ingredients. Over time, the dish’s popularity spread and other versions evolved, for example featuring seafood and meat.
It is different to Saudi Arabia’s kabsa, a communal dish which similarly uses rice and meat. Kabsa is cooked in a deep pot to ensure the rice stays soft and aromatic from the meaty broth, whereas paella uses a wide, shallow pan to fully absorb flavors evenly, often creating a prized crispy layer at the bottom.
Visitors to Ithra’s Culture Days can enjoy the flavors of Spain made with a sprinkling of local love — true to the origins of the dish.
Find the scoops of Spanish joy near the food truck area and try chicken paella, seafood paella —or both! You will see the signs offering a plate, at SR35 ($9) for chicken and SR40 for seafood, or let your nose lead you there.
Zafra concluded: “The chicken is from here, the seafood is from here — and the passion, well, that is from Spain.”
