Once again we were pressed for time to get dinner in between pick-ups and drop-offs for dear daughter. I had passed by a new Japanese take-out place recently, so suggested we try it for dinner.

We placed our order and while waiting for our food I noticed across the hallway a Caribou Coffee, which is the brand of coffee I buy for our house. I’m aware of only two Caribou’s in Doha so far and both are reasonably close to where we live. All of the Starbucks here are, more often than not, out of coffee for sale so I decided a couple months ago to go elsewhere for our supply. Hence, Caribou became my coffee provider of choice!

I picked up 2 packages of their Caribou Blend and while waiting for them to grind the beans I noticed what looked like a drive-through window. I asked the cashier if that’s what it was and sure enough….. the… first….. known…… drive-through ……coffee place in Doha was found! Hallelujah!

The cashier must have been thinking I was somewhat of a lunatic over my excitement, so I immediately tried to justify my behaviour. Thank goodness the kids weren’t nearby as they truly would have been embarrassed. I explained that picking up a coffee from a drive-through window while on the road was a tradition I missed from home. Not even just a tradition so much these days, as a Canadian institution!

Tim Horton’s is probably the most popular coffee drive-though in Canada these days and is always the first place we search out when touching down on Canadian soil. Coffee and a bagel…… nothing better to start the day!

The cashier asked me to spell Tim Horton’s for her and also wondered if they had a website, which I said I presumed there would be. I told her the business started out by serving coffee and donuts. I was going to explain about the addition of bagels, soups, etc. but figured it was probably too much information. Deciding that I needed to take a picture of the drive-through, I asked her to step into the shot.

When I told my husband he seemed none so thrilled and commented that “there are all kinds of drive-through’s in Qatar”. Which there are. All the fast food places have your typical drive-throughs…. McDonalds, Burger King, Dairy Queen. He then went on to say “…all you have to do is drive up anywhere, honk your horn and the staff come out to serve you,….. so it’s just like a drive through.”

Yes, here in Doha you can pretty much drive up to any small grocery store, dry cleaners, restaurant, or take-away place and rather than get out of your car, just honk the horn and someone will come and serve you.

Fellow Canadians who have since moved back home, called one of their frequented meals from this type of place “Honk Chicken”. You drive up, honk and a couple minutes later out comes your dinner of a whole roasted chicken and all the fixings that you take home.

Now that I know Caribou has this available I’ll have to remember to stop in. It’s somewhat close to the kids’ school so on those days when I’m early picking them up, I’ll drive up to the window, place my order and grab a cup of coffee for the road. What a concept!

Maybe driving the streets of Doha just got a little more tolerable…..