2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Nova Cafe & Eatery is a new local concept that hopes to be your favorite destination for healthy, homemade goodness.

The cafe is located in Burj Jasim, right on the outskirts of the city (google maps). Nova is actually two different spaces with two different vibes. They have the cafe, which is located in the center of the complex and gets lots of daylight from the glass dome above it. But they also have the eatery, which is located adjacent to the cafe and is more secluded and private.

One of the things the owner wants is for people to spend a lot of time at Nova, so she made sure every table has a power socket as well as USB ports so that customers can plug in and not worry about battery levels. That way, if students or people in general want a space to sit and get work done, they’d feel comfortable doing so. She even made sure the seating was comfortable, creating cozy nooks with comfy bench seating, but even the regular tables have softly padded seats.

In addition to the coffee and pastries, the owner created a menu that focuses on organic and wholesome ingredients. There is a small grab-and-go menu for people in a hurry, but also a full-fledged breakfast and all-day dining menu.

Nova’s opening hours are also great, opening from 6:30 AM to 11:30 PM. Burj Jasim has plenty of parking, so if you’re looking for a spot to work from that has good coffee and food, Nova Cafe & Eatery is worth checking out. @nova.cafe.eatery

Ghazi Sultan (1941–2007) was a Kuwaiti architect and urban planner. He was regarded as one of the key figures in Kuwait’s modernization and is best known for the Gulf Road waterfront project, including Green Island. The project also included a number of smaller artificial islands along the coast with my favorite being Turtle Island (Google Maps).

Turtle Island is a small artificial island located behind the Italian restaurant Johnny Carino’s. It has a children’s play area featuring a giant fish structure in the middle, while the rest of the island is filled with large turtle sculptures.

Part of the Ghazi Sultan photography archive includes photos he took when the project was completed. Although the photos aren’t dated, I’d assume they were taken in the late 80s. The island looked so different back then compared to today!

First off, what happened to all the colors? The island used to be so much more vibrant — a bright orange frame structure, colorful toys, and the giant fish even had a crawl space for kids. Even the turtles that surround the island were painted olive green with brown accents. Today, the island feels monotone. The orange frame is now white, the fish lost its crawl space and just looks like a grey blob, and the colorful toys were swapped out for dark red ones that are now in bad shape. As for the turtles, they’re now just dull grey concrete color.

To find out more about Ghazi Sultan, visit ghazisultan.com or @ghazihamadsultan

Bite Club, my favorite local cheesesteak concept, just launched three brand-new sandwiches today.

If you haven’t heard of Bite Club before, it’s a local creation started by a group of friends who are passionate about food. One of the reasons I love their cheesesteaks—besides the flavor—is the high-quality meat they use. Their commitment to quality ingredients extends across the whole menu; they even make their sauces in-house from scratch so they can control every ingredient.

Today they’re launching three new cheesesteaks:

The OG Cheesesteak – Sliced premium beef, grilled onions, cheese sauce, and mayo

The Pepper Pop Cheesesteak – Sliced premium beef, grilled onions, banana & cherry peppers, cheese sauce, and mayo

The Truffle Cheesesteak – Sliced premium beef, crispy onions, mushrooms, white cheese, and truffle mayo

I don’t like peppers so I didn’t try the Pepper Pop but I did try the OG and Truffle Cheesesteaks yesterday. The OG is one I’ll be ordering the most often since it’s similar to their classic cheesesteak except it uses grilled onions and cheese sauce instead of caramelized onions and sliced cheese. The Truffle Cheesesteak I also liked and I appreciated the fact that they hadn’t gone overboard with the truffle flavor.

They also sent over their chicken bites (Chickies) which I hadn’t tried before with their “Bite me” sauce. Those were unexpectedly good as well.

If you want to try my favorite cheesesteak in Kuwait, they’re available on Talabat, Deliveroo, Jahez and Cari. They also offer V-Thru pick up from their location in Hawally. Check them out @eatatbiteclub

One of the most frustrating things about Instagram is that once I upload an image, that’s it, you can’t swap it out with another one or edit it. Due to the pace I work with, I tend to make a lot of mistakes. I’m constantly editing my posts after publishing to fix grammatical or spelling mistakes, or even to improve readability.

On Instagram I sometimes make mistakes with the headline which I write on the main image, and once I make a mistake the only way to fix it is to remove the post and upload it again. If I catch the mistake right after publishing that’s not a big deal, but just now I caught a mistake on yesterday’s post and I can’t do anything about it.

Last night I published the Kuwait Pavilion post on Instagram and I accidentally used the promoted icon for the post, even though it wasn’t a paid post. I know how I made the mistake, I was working on a paid post in parallel and so used the same template when working on the pavilion post. I can’t edit it now and the post already has over 1,600 likes so I can’t delete it and publish it again.

What’s even more frustrating is that I had two main images I was deciding on for the post, the second one (above) which I didn’t use didn’t have the “promoted” icon. So frustrating!

Expo 2025 officially opened yesterday in Osaka, Japan under the theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.” The event will focus on innovation, sustainability, and global collaboration, featuring pavilions from countries and organizations from around the world.

The Kuwait Pavilion is one of the most anticipated ones, designed by the architectural firm LAVA (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture). The structure is envisioned as a “Visionary Lighthouse,” symbolizing Kuwait’s embrace of Arab culture, arts, and social initiatives.

Kuwaiti chef Khaled AlBaker (@chefkb) is currently in Japan as the head chef for the Kuwait Pavilion, and he just sent me some photos he took. Khaled helped set up the menu for the pavilion’s restaurant, Sidra, which features classic Kuwaiti dishes like machboos and mourabian among other things. The restaurant is open to all visitors who want to try Kuwaiti food. According to him, getting everything ready wasn’t easy since most of the chefs there aren’t trained in Arabic cuisine, and sourcing the right ingredients was a challenge. But in the end, they managed to make it work.

The Kuwait Pavilion has four exhibition rooms that take you on a multi-sensory journey through Kuwait’s past, present, and future. The experience ends with a massive dome projection that’s supposedly pretty epic. Expo 2025 runs until October 13, so if you’re in Japan over the next six months, you can pass by and check it out.

For more details on the Kuwait Pavilion, you can head over to their Instagram @kuwait_expo2025

Expats will now be able to get a physical copy of their driving license. Sounds weird that this is something new but until recently the Ministry of Interior had stopped printing driving licenses for expats, we only had access to a digital copy. Not a big deal if you just drive in Kuwait but the digital copy wouldn’t be accepted anywhere else in the world. This means if you traveled you wouldn’t be able to rent a car which sucks.

Thankfully the MOI has now changed their mind and allowing us to get printed driving licenses again. Mine expires next month which is perfect timing. The only caveat is that we now have to pay 10KD to get a physical copy which I don’t think is an issue. Source

Service Hero recently revealed the results of its 2024 Customer Satisfaction Index, and the top brands in Kuwait have been named (based entirely on you).

If you’re not familiar with Service Hero, it’s the region’s only consumer-powered index, measuring how happy people are with the service they receive across different industries. It’s been running in Kuwait since 2010 and follows strict international research standards, so the results are credible and transparent.

Over 28,000 assessments were collected from customers across Kuwait, rating brands in categories like satisfaction, complaint resolution, loyalty, and more. This isn’t a popularity contest, it’s a data-driven reflection of how brands are actually performing. Here are the winners:

Entertainment: Vox Cinema
Islamic Banks: Boubyan Bank
Retail Banks: National Bank of Kuwait
New Car Sales: Toyota
Car Service: Chevrolet
Private Hospitals: Royal Hayat Hospital
Delivery Apps: Jahez
Restaurants: Mais Alghanim
Fast Food: Pick Yo!
Clothes: Centrepoint
Electronics: X-Cite
Health Clubs: Oxygen Health Club
Home Furniture: Home Centre
ISPs: Zain
Mobile Operators: Zain
Cafes: The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Airlines: Qatar Airways
Supermarkets: City Hypermarket

I don’t think there is anything on the list above that felt out of place, it’s not like Aramex won best delivery courier or anything controversial like that. Link

Sealed is a new Kuwaiti dessert brand that specializes in molten cakes. When they sent the desserts over, the first thing that caught my attention was the ridiculously cool packaging. The desserts all arrived inside silver metallic boxes that were sealed in silver pouches that mimic air freight. The whole look fit right into my space, which has concrete floors and silver aluminum furniture. It’s a very futuristic look.

Once you open the boxes, the molten cakes are packed inside sealed containers with detailed instructions on how to heat them up. Sealed offers three main items:

Chocolate Molten
Cookie Molten
Chocolate Chip Cookies

The molten cakes come in two sizes: large and small. Instead of just writing “Chocolate” or “Cookie Molten” on the packaging, they use hand signs, which is a fun touch. The peace sign (✌🏻) is for the Original Molten, while the shaka sign (🤙🏻) is for the Cookie Molten.

I tried the desserts and they were actually really good, with the Chocolate Molten being my favorite. One of the boxes they sent over had a dozen small molten cakes in it, and I took them to family lunch yesterday—it was a hit. Heating up the cakes is super easy: you just unseal the packaging and then pop it into the microwave for 60 seconds. Really convenient.

Because of how cool the packaging looks and how good the molten cakes were, it’s going to be one of my new favorite desserts to take to gatherings. If you want to place an order, Sealed are available on delivery platforms like @jahezkuwait.

Last week I passed by SLO, the new spa at SVN. SLO is a grounding spa sanctuary designed to restore mind, body, and spirit. Until now, SLO had been reserved exclusively for SVN members, but starting last week, they officially opened its doors to the public (Ladies only).

SVN is already a calm and serene place, and SLO builds on that feeling even further. From the moment you step inside, you’re met with a space designed for tranquility. Warm tones, soft lines, and rock-like surfaces inspired by the Mediterranean come together to create an atmosphere of instant peace.

The entire experience is guided by mindfulness, intentional design, and a curated selection of premium treatments rooted in holistic wellness. Their offerings include lymphatic drainage, wood therapy, sculpting massages, and rejuvenating facials, all designed to support long-term wellbeing over short-term fixes.

To further elevate the experience, SLO partnered with Seed to Skin, a luxury skincare brand from Tuscany, Italy. Known for blending ancient herbal wisdom with cutting-edge biotechnology, their products deliver deep, lasting results through a molecular delivery system that transforms skin from within. For more on the brand, visit @seedtoskintuscany on Instagram.

SLO is located inside SVN but has its own access from the side. For bookings and inquiries, you can contact SLO Spa at 97369304 or visit @svn_kw for more information.

This past week I started watching two new shows. David Blaine: Do Not Attempt and Deli Boys. Not sure why the David Blaine show has a 7.8 on IMDB. I didn’t think it was that interesting. There isn’t any of his usual illusions/magic, and instead it’s more him performing stunts. Just feels to me like someone with a lot of money hiring the best people to help him accomplish a stunt which isn’t as dangerous anymore since he’s hired the best people to overlook the whole thing. Like when Tom Cruise does his own stunts in movies, you know he’s not in danger.

Deli Boys on the other hand is fun and silly, I’m like it.

The new season of The Handmaid’s Tale also just started. It’s been so long since the last season I forgot what the storyline was and so found the first episode boring. Not gonna continue watching it unless it’s background TV.

Need to start watching The Studio as well as the new season of Hacks. Black Mirror is out today. Oh and I watched the finale of The Kardashians and White Lotus. White Lotus was great, The Kardashians, not so much. This season of The Kardashians was just super boring and not as funny as the previous seasons. All the scenes that involved Lamar or anything dealing with that story line was just incredibly boring. Then they brought it back again for the last episode? CRINGE

Anyway, have you watched anything interesting lately? Let us know in the comments.

Movies at the Cinemas
The English movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
Bloat (3.8)
Inheritance (5.6)
Mickey 17 (6.9)
Queen of Bones (5.2)
Screamboat (4.0)
The Amateur (6.7)

Other Movies Showing:
A Minecraft Movie (6.0)
A Working Man (6.8)
Aladdin (classic) (8.0)
Locked (6.1)
Night at The Zoo (5.8)
Novocaine (5.8)
The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (6.3)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

Lots to do this weekend, check them out below. Always double check the event details by visiting the organizers account, I make mistakes sometimes!

Thursday, April 10
TTD by Jaune Pizza Popup
The Improv Show
GR Yaris Cup – Kuwait vs Qatar
Palestinian Poetry Night

Friday, April 11
TTD by Jaune Pizza Popup
GR Yaris Cup – Kuwait vs Qatar
Starlight Jazz and Buffet
Chadirji’s Hawally Workshop
Full Moon Women’s Circle
Kuwait Jiu-Jitsu Championship

Saturday, April 12
TTD by Jaune Pizza Popup
Chadirji’s Hawally Workshop
DAI Story Time
DAI Chess Fest
NORAEBANG – K-POP Together

Yesterday, the Ministry of Interior deployed new mobile speed cameras across Kuwait. These battery-powered cameras will pop up in various locations and are really easy to miss!

I’ve come across similar cameras in Saudi on my road trips, and because they’re painted the same color as sand, they’re easy to miss until the very last minute. Also, depending on the road, it’s sometimes hard to tell if the camera is pointed at your lane or the opposite one.

These new cameras are being introduced ahead of the new traffic laws, which go into effect on April 22. The new laws include increased speeding fines, ranging from KD70 to KD150.

A couple of weeks ago, Kuwait Flour Mills introduced coffee at some of their branches, and it’s been causing quite a bit of drama. Why? Because of the prices. KFM is selling espresso and Americano for 500 fils, and a latte for just 750 fils. That’s around half the price, or even less, compared to most coffee shops.

They aren’t skimping on quality either. KFM are using proper grinders (Eureka) and coffee machines (IBERITAL) to pull the shots, and their beans are from 48 East who also provided the training.

I passed by the Yarmouk branch this morning to see what the fuss was about, but the line was so long I decided to drive to their Fahad Al Ahmad branch instead. It also had a line, but a much shorter one. I tried both the hot and iced latte and although they weren’t better than the coffee I make at home, it definitely was better than most coffees in that price range.

Some coffee shop owners are upset about the pricing and have been voicing their frustration online. Since Kuwait Flour Mills is government-owned, they feel it’s unfair for them to sell coffee this cheap.

It costs me around 360 fils to make an espresso at home using beans from %Arabica, so it definitely costs coffee shops and KFM even less with wholesale pricing. So are coffee shops being greedy, or is KFM undercharging?

Personally, I think the hype might hurt some coffee shops for now, but eventually people will go back to buying coffee from their favorite (and usually most convenient) spots.

Stockroom Coffee recently opened their new location in KIPCO Tower, and I think it looks really great. Their Murouj branch is one of my favorite looking coffee spots, and this new branch was also designed by the same architects, FORM. The space has a sophisticated yet cool aesthetic. It’s minimal, but not simple since there are interesting little details everywhere you look.

It doesn’t show in these photos, but there is a seating area. And although this Stockroom is probably catering to the tower and surrounding office buildings during the day, it feels like it could be a chill place to hang out in the afternoon and evenings once the office crowd clears out. The new location is on the ground floor of KIPCO Tower and is open from 7AM to 10PM. Google Maps

If you want to check out more photos of the place, head to @formkw

Photos above taken by @mashkanani

I have both MyUS and Shop&Ship accounts but I tend to use my Shop&Ship the most since the prices were always cheaper than MyUS. MyUS only used to make sense for me when an item was expensive but not that heavy since I don’t pay tax when shipping to my MyUS address. But, a few days ago I was ordering some parts for my car and I realized it would be much cheaper shipping to MyUS.

Item Cost Shipped to MyUS: $256
Item Cost Shipped to Shop&Ship: $278.71 (includes 8.87% tax)

Item Weight: 10.95 lb
MyUS Shipping Cost (using DHL Express): KD14.278
Shop&Ship Shipping Cost: KD22.3 (because I get the 31% S&S FLEX discount) or KD31.1 (if you don’t have S&S FLEX)

So just by choosing to ship this one item to MyUS I saved a total of KD15. Even if I paid tax it would still be cheaper to use MyUS. It wasn’t like this before so now I’m curious to know if their prices became cheaper. I think I’m just going to straight up use MyUS from now on. The package also arrived super quick, shipped April 3, got delivered to me April 6. Oh I have to mention, Shop&Ship charge KD1.5 for custom clearance, DHL charge KD4. But I still save more with DHL.