Shopping
Food shopping in Bahrain is easy. A whole range of supermarkets, from Waitrose to Carrefour, will pretty much cater for all your needs.
Specialist Asian supermarkets cater to the large Asian expat community, local bakeries make delicious Arabic flatbread and the ubiquitous cold stores (corner shops) have an amazing supply of goodies. If you cannot see what you want, ask, and they can inevitably produce it from under the counter somewhere. Most will also deliver small items to your house if you call them – handy if you have forgotten that pint of milk.
Supply problems sometimes arise, with certain items suddenly not being available for weeks on end and reasonably priced organic products are few and far between, particularly organic meat. You can buy alcohol from special outlets, whose number is diminishing as local MPs continue to resist its sale. Online purchasing is available for alcohol but not for groceries and nearly all shops take debit and credit cards.
The large malls offer a familiar range of western clothes stores, sports shops and media shops. For a more authentic shopping experience, you can head to the suq. Remember to dress appropriately and prepare to be hassled into buying several mosque alarm clocks and a herd of singing camels. Most expats only head down occasionally, but it is an excellent place to have jewellery made or mended or to buy fabric. It is also worth checking out the pottery at A’Ali for special Bahraini pots and lamps and keeping an eye on the active local art scene.
