Month: January 2011

Yesterday I got served with a court order, Benihana are suing me because of my post about my experience at their restaurant. If you haven’t read that post yet you can check it out by clicking [Here]

I’m currently getting legal advice from my lawyer Khaled Al Shamali who is actually a fan of my blog (that’s important) and I will be fighting this case in court. Originally my lawyer told me not to discuss this case with anyone but I feel it is important to share this with everyone since it doesn’t just effect me but the whole blogging community be it in Kuwait, UAE or anywhere else in the region. So after talking to my lawyer again, he’s now given me the green light to be transparent and open with everyone regarding this case.

I’ve uploaded the court order I received yesterday and you can download it from [Here]

The court order is in Arabic but if someone ends up translating it to English I will post it up as well. Benihana have the right to sue me but I don’t believe I said or did anything wrong and I stand behind everything I said and wrote in that post.

I’ve personally been threatened with lawsuits a number of times before, I know another popular blog recently got threatened with a lawsuit from a restaurant as well and I am sure there must be other bloggers who at one point in time have also been threatened. If blogs were recognized like newspapers or magazines we would all be protected from lawsuits like this but at the moment we aren’t. I find this unfair and if I end up losing this case what will it mean to all the other bloggers? Should bloggers be afraid to say anything negative about a company? Should all our posts just be happy happy joy joy?

I’m hopefully not going to lose this case and will try my best to win it and set an example so that other companies understand that if they don’t like something they read on a blog they can’t just sue the blogger.

I’ve been receiving an overwhelming amount of support on twitter. Honestly as much as I am a geek I never really understood or realized how powerful twitter can be until now. I literally have over 50 pages filled with tweets from people all over the region offering support. It’s really unbelievable and a lot and I mean A LOT of people from UAE have also been rallying behind me on this and according to one twitterer (is that the right word?) the Benihana topic is currently trending in the UAE at #8 at #3. A lot of people have also been leaving comments on the Benihana’s twitter account @benihana__ and on their Facebook page. But a few moments ago they deleted ALL the comments from their Facebook page but luckily I saved a pdf with some which you can download [Here]. They were actually a lot more than that before they were deleted. a reader saved a screenshot of all the comments which you can see [Here]

So thank you everyone for your support, I will try my best to keep everyone posted along the way on everything that takes place regarding this case.

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Update: I just finished an interview with the Dubai Abu Dhabi based newspaper The National. I will also be on air live tomorrow at 11AM Dubai time on the DubaiEye 103.8FM.

Update2: An amazing reader translated the court order to English. You can download it [Here]

Update3: Please no one call and harass Benihanna or their employees. You can show your support in other ways. Thank you.

Update4: The National article on this lawsuit is up and you can read it [Here]

Update5: I’m now on Gulf News [Here] CNN iReport [Here] and TNW Social Media [Here]

Sheeel.com have a deal right now on the latest iPod Shuffles, they’re selling them for just KD10 which is cheaper than the retail price in the US! [Link]

Update: Looks like the link is dead and so is the offer

Here are the internet prices for Qualitynet and KEMS from InfoConnect. They’re basically exactly the same except the 1Mbps one year price for Qualitynet is slightly more expensive than KEMS. Also with KEMS you have a setup and router fee with Qualitynet you don’t.

Annual subscribers will be eligible to:
1. Winner of the draw will get four round trip tickets to any destination in the world.
2. A draw on a trip to attend Real Madrid FC vs FC Barcelona match Prize includes two round trip tickets to Madrid, 3 nights hotel accommodation, and two match tickets
3. A draw on a trip to attend Manchester United vs. Chelsea FC matc: Prize includes two round trip tickets to Manchester, 3 nights hotel accommodation, and two match tickets

Every annual subscription is eligible for one scratch and win card:
1. 4 Mbps Annual Subscription
2. Second place: 1Mbps Annual Subscription
3. Third place: 512Kbps Annual Subscription

Scratch and win coupon for the following prizes:
1. 1TB External HD
2. iPads
3. Cash of 100 to 1000KD
4. Money back

If there is a mistake above please tell me about it. Also I don’t have the Fasttelco prices so if someone has them please share them with me.

Update: Here are the Fasttelco prices

Update2: A reader set me the following email

Regarding the ISP prices… I’ve been a Mini-DSL QNet (4 Mbps) last year.. Now its 357 or something like that. I got a call from them today (expiry today), and they gave me an offer I couldn’t resist (258 for 4mbps). I took it.

From the cover of the tape, this film “explores the rapid social evolution and economic transformation of Kuwait from a small pearling and trading community in the 1940s, to a country now occupying a pivotal position in world affairs.”

Kuwait a Dream Suspended is a rare documentary film about Kuwait in the 80s. I haven’t had the chance to watch it all yet but from what I saw it looks interesting. [YouTube]

Thanks om3ali

Last night I noticed that they’ve decorated the Gulf Road palm trees with lights which looks pretty cool. [YouTube]

Today is the first day of the InfoConnect exhibition. If you’re looking to get a new Internet subscription or to renew one, InfoConnect is usually the best time to do it since they usually have the best deals going on. I still don’t have details on any of the offers taking place but as soon as I get them will post them here.

Location: Kuwait International Fair Grounds, Hall 6
Date: January 30th, 2011 to February 5th, 2011
Time: 9am – 1pm and 5pm – 9pm

The entrance is free. For more information click [Here]

The Kuwait Riders are holding their first bike show ever this coming Friday at the Marina Crescent parking lot. There will also be a competition between 19 categories of custom, classic and sport motorbikes, here are the details:

Date: February 4th, 2011
Location: Marina Crescent
Time: 1pm to 5pm

There will be plenty of activities as well. For more information visit their Facebook page [Here]

The Choowy Goowy restaurant is currently open this week at 52 Degrees with a small menu as a pre-soft launch kind of thing. They will be closing again next week before opening up once again but with a fully featured menu but for now you can pass by and get a taste of some of their dishes. I just got back from Bahrain today so I still haven’t had the chance to pass by but Fahad did and he loved the food. They’re open after 5:30PM and you can check out their current trial menu [Here]

Some pretty creative ideas there. [YouTube]

Today was the first day of GulfRun6 and it was exhausting. This year I’m helping them out with the video so I spent all day with a camera man walking around the track and setting up the framing for him. NegativEffect will be editing the video like last year so should turn out really good. Anyway I did manage to take some still shots with my camera, 3 of my favorite I’ve shared in this post.

This video isn’t new but I just saw it for the first time today. The comedian Kathy Griffin came to Kuwait and thought it smelled like crap so she put it in her monologue. Do you find it offensive or funny? [YouTube]

Thanks Cajie

Awtar at Marina Mall got shot down by the ministry of trade and commerce which is I guess not a big deal with all the recent places that were shutdown at the free trade zone.

But one thing did grab my attention and that is the fact the closure sign says they were shut down due to cheating (if I translated it right). I wonder what they were caught doing…

Thanks Alain

Update: I got an email from the owners of Awtar explaining the reason behind the closure, turns out it’s just a technicality, here is what they had to say:

Hi mark,
Regarding your Awtar post i would like to clear it out if possible. since we as part owners were extremely surprised by the closing down of the restaurant (it will open up again any day now as soon as the paper work is done).

Turns out back in November the purchasing manager decided to purchase Sadia chicken (not kuwaiti) instead of the Kuwaiti chicken which was declared on the certificate for the ministry. A representative showed up and gave the restaurant a warning regarding this matter. Awtar took care of the issue and informed the purchaser to stick to the Kuwaiti brand of chicken as declared in the certificate. Management thought the issue was over. The right thing to do (we had to learn the hard way) was to not only switch back to the declared chicken but also go back and follow up with the ministry and get a representative to inspect this change again and clear the restaurant from any penalties. Because we didn’t do that the ministry acts only on paper work and based on their paper work Awtar didnt switch back (which is our fault we should have followed up with them) and in that case they had to shut down the store for cheating in the kind of chicken we use.
The lawyers are sorting it out i hope this was helpful

Thanks

According to recent figures published in the Arab League’s annual economic and social report, Kuwait has the second highest life expectancy in the region. Kuwait came second with a rate of 77.4 while Qatar came first with 78 years. That’s not bad at all considering our eating habits. [Link]

Radisson Blu have posted pictures on Facebook of the demolition of the Peacock Chinese Restaurant. Looks pretty sad.

I also read online that Radisson Blu will be documenting the whole revamp of the hotel online via YouTube, Facebook and other social tools which is pretty cool. Other than the Peacock pictures they’ve also started posting pictures up of the rest of the hotel being dismantled like the picture above of one of their rooms with all the furniture removed. Check out their Facebook gallery for more pictures. [Facebook Gallery]

Thanks Jay

Back in December I posted about a rumor that Alshaya was signing a deal to bring The Cheesecake Factory to Kuwait and the Middle East and today it became offical. Alshaya got the rights to franchise The Cheesecake Factory in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe. They will be opening up 22 restaurants within the next 5 years. Arabian Business has more details [Here]

via 2:48pm