Author: Mark

After my last post on watching AC/DC live, I ended up watching Nine Inch Nails the following day, they were actually why I ended up in Berlin. This was the second time I booked for NIN in Berlin, first time was back in 2018 but never ended up going (I don’t remember why now), but I’m so glad I went this time.

I knew going to the NIN concert I had good tickets since I got them within the first 15 minutes of the tickets going on sale. They were 3rd row seated and near the stage off to the side, but not too much to the side. When NIN started their tour a couple of weeks ago, they revealed they’d also have a second smaller stage in the middle of the arena. I was hoping we’d get that as well since my seats would turn out to be perfect, and we did. My seats turned out to be between both stages so I couldn’t have asked for better tickets.

The concert itself might be the best one I’ve ever been to. The only reason I’m not sure is because I did Foo Fighters in a stadium and I was like front row middle standing in front of the stage which is hard to beat. Also I had to get to that concert 5 hours before the gates opened to stand in line and then run to the stage to get that done so there was quite a bit of work involved. I also watched Smashing Pumpkins with Marlyn Manson live in LA, and Smashing Pumpkins have always been my #1 band. So I guess this NIN concert is my top 3.

Performance wise, I think they were than Foo Fighters and Smashing Pumpkins and I had such a great time. I was actually so upset when the show finished since it felt too short. I just checked how long it was based on the first and last photo I took and turns out the concert was 2 hours and 35 minutes long. That’s crazy because I was just going to type the concert was 1:30-2 hours long max but figured I’d double check. I can’t believe it was two and half hours long, time flew by so quickly. The crowd was great, the lighting and sound was great, and the band were just incredible.

Anyway, I’m mostly posting this for me, as a personal diary note. But, if you’re a fan of Nine Inch Nails I highly recommend you try and watch one of their shows. This was my second time watching them, first time was at a festival, but it’s so much more personal when it’s the bands tour and in a much smaller arena and everyone there is a super fan and knows all the lyrics.

Between Kuwait Towers and JŌN on the Gulf Road are three abandoned restaurants that have been sitting empty for years (Google Maps). They’re clustered together in an area that was called “Dhiafa Village.” Back in 2008, three restaurants opened there: Trader Vic’s, Letter D’amour, and Don Mario’s. I always thought the area had a lot of potential, and it looks like it’s finally going to be put to good use.

Dhow Hospitality won the bid for the location and will be opening three major concepts there:

La Petite Maison
3Fils
Matbakhi by Sawsan

LPM is a high-end French Mediterranean restaurant that most people are already familiar with. 3Fils is a Japanese concept that started in the UAE and was recently voted the No. 1 restaurant in the MENA region. Finally, Matbakhi is a local concept by chef @sawsansmatbakhi and is my favorite (and a favorite for many others) when it comes to authentic Palestinian food.

The new name for the village will be “Peninsula,” which makes sense since the property stretches into the sea and is surrounded by water on three sides. I saw renderings of the area and can confidently say there’s nothing else like it in Kuwait right now. The three concepts will have both indoor and outdoor seating, and together should create a very cool vibe.

LPM will take over the first building on the left, Matbakhi the second one on the right, and 3Fils will occupy the third building, which is the closest to the sea.

Construction on the project will start this summer, with openings expected by the end of the year.

Nonstop Dan has uploaded one last video related to his experience flying Kuwait Airways, this time the video is regarding the responses he got from Kuwait Airways (and a member of the royal family?). Video thankfully isn’t 30 minutes long but if you want to skip the intro just jump to minute 3:30.

In summary if you don’t want to watch the videos. He got three emails, 2 from Kuwait Airways, and 1 supposedly from a member of the royal family. The emails were apologetic, friendly and wanted to make it up to Dan. So the saga is over, Dan and Kuwait Airways are friends again.

Dan just published part two of his review where he goes into details about what happened with Kuwait Airways.

I don’t watch his videos so not sure if they’re all like this but god he drags things for sooo long. This video could easily have been 5-10mins long instead of 26mins.

In short, nothing surprising for anyone living in Kuwait. Basically he was told he can’t record video onboard and publish it without permission from Kuwait Airways. Obviously that’s not true and the people involved were most likely all old school crew. He was threatened that he would be sued if he did which again is such a normal thing for us to hear, or at least I’m used to this. Eventually when he landed the cops came and spoke to him and obviously nothing came out of it because he hadn’t done anything wrong. Just normal Kuwait drama.

Anyway, that was all of it. It didn’t need a part 2 video, and definitely didn’t need to be longer than an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

I’m in Berlin for a week because of a Nine Inch Nails concert, but yesterday while out shopping I started noticing a lot of people wearing AC/DC t-shirts. It seemed odd seeing so many people with the same band shirt, so I went up to one guy and asked if AC/DC were playing in Berlin. Turns out they were, and the concert was starting in less than three hours.

So I told my wife we had to go. I quickly found two tickets still available online, no idea how, and they were good seats too. I figured someone must have decided last minute not to go and put them up for resale. We ended up rushing back to the hotel, dropping everything, and then heading straight to the historic Olympic Stadium, the same one built for and used during the controversial 1936 Olympics.

The experience was epic. I’ve only ever been to a stadium concert once before, and that was for Foo Fighters, which was a completely different experience. The AC/DC crowd was so different, a lot older thats for sure but you can tell they used to be party animals when they were a lot younger. Basically the same as the band who I have no idea how they can still perform live with so much energy and passion.

I first heard AC/DC when I was a kid in the mid 80s. My older cousin was a fan, along with bands like Iron Maiden and The Rolling Stones. I never imagined that 40 years later I’d be watching them live. It’s crazy.

Condé Nast Traveler just published their list of “The 11 Best Restaurants in Kuwait” on their website. Here’s what they picked, in no particular order:

• B+F
• Dandoosh Restaurant
• Better Diner
• Milk Bun
• Freej Swaileh
• Lï Beirut
• Selera Kita Restaurant
• Midar
• Cocoa Room
• Amiti Noura
• Shawarma Mishref

Seems like an odd list. I definitely would’ve included Phet Phet, Matbakhi, and Oak & Smoke. Having two burger spots and two shawarma places also feels repetitive for such a short list.

Pictured up top is Li Beirut.

The airline YouTuber Nonstop Dan recently flew Kuwait Airways and just published his part 1 of 2 review. The review goes as expected, nice first class seats, but subpar service and poor amenities. But, supposedly he was threatened not to publish the review and police got involved once he landed in Kuwait. He’s publishing the dramatic second half of the review after tomorrow so we will have to see what happens.

Nowadays I don’t believe anything I watch online since everyone is just trying to grab headlines. I don’t know anything really about Dan’s credibility so I don’t know how dramatic he usually is. I’ll have to watch his second video to see if things were lost in translation, or if the police did get involved etc. I guess he’ll be getting my views.

I don’t know how I only recently realized this but turns out there is a pretty big difference between the first gen Apple TV 4K and the 3rd generation one, even though they look pretty much the same.

I only found out after I installed tvOS 26 developer beta on my AppleTV. I didn’t notice any visual differences and then a few days later I read an article about how some of the new visual changes would only show on the gen 3 AppleTV. So I checked my model and realized it was the first generation from 2017. I didn’t really realize because at one point in time I upgraded my remote to the new one and so my AppleTV in my hands resembled the latest gen.

What I also didn’t realize was that there was a considerable upgrade to the Apple TV CPU from the 1st gen to the 3rd. So I went out and bought the latest AppleTV which is over 2 years old now and damn, the difference in experience is pretty big.

All the streaming apps start and run faster now, and even the streams start quicker. Not only that but Peacock for example seems to be streaming in 4K now when it previously wasn’t. Or maybe it was but the app processes the stream better now resulting in sharper footage? No idea but the whole AppleTV experience had just been a huge upgrade for me.

Usually I’m on top of everything Apple so quite surprised at how I was so unaware of this. I actually shouldn’t have bought the AppleTV now since it’s due for an upgrade soon, but figured I’d just sell it again once the new one comes out.

Not a lot happening this weekend, but I did manage to find some activities that look pretty fun.

Here are my favorite things happening this weekend. As always, double check the event details with the organizers.

Thursday, June 26
Chapter Three: Literary Open Mic

Friday, June 27
Early Birds Book Club Meeting

Saturday, June 28
Second Chance Thrift Sale
Treasure Hunt Challenge
Girls Only Open Board Gaming
Lego Printmaking Workshop

Keeta, the giant Chinese food delivery service, is coming to Kuwait to compete with the likes of Talabat, Deliveroo, Jahez, and Cari. I hadn’t heard of Keeta until recently, but they’re the world’s largest food delivery platform, with over 770 million users, 98 million daily orders, and more than 7 million drivers.

I don’t think there is room for another delivery service in Kuwait, but they were able to do really well in Saudi, and quickly. It took them just four months after launching to become the third-largest food delivery platform there. So they might do the same here and push someone else out of the top three.

To capture such a large chunk of the Saudi market so quickly, Keeta replicated the strategy they used in China: ultra-low prices and no delivery fees. From what I’ve been told, they’ll be waiving delivery fees in Kuwait as well, at least for the first 12 months.

Their delivery speed roadmap for Kuwait is also ambitious. The initial plan is a consistent 25–30 minute delivery time across Kuwait, with phase two targeting under 20 minutes in dense areas. The long-term goal is a 15-minute “hyper-local” service.

Another cool feature they’ll have is Keeta points which you earn with every order. You’ll be able to convert those points into airline miles, hotel loyalty programs, or lifestyle memberships.

Being a Chinese company, they’re obviously very tech-focused. This past December, they launched a small-scale drone delivery service in Dubai, using drones to deliver food and medical supplies to Keeta delivery stations around the city. In China they’ve also been experimenting with autonomous vehicles and delivery robots. Not sure if we’ll ever get any of these here, but even if we don’t, their app and restaurant software system is supposedly one of the best.

They’re planning to officially launch in Kuwait this coming September, with a soft launch before with select restaurants.

If you’ve passed by Harvey Nichols recently, you probably noticed part of the ground floor was closed off. That’s because the store is getting a facelift. A couple of days ago, they opened up the renovated section and closed off a new area to continue the revamp.

Although the revamped area is pretty small, it’s enough to give you an idea of the direction they’re heading in (some elements have a bit of a 60s vibe). I like the new look but don’t judge it based on my photos alone. My colors are a bit off and the place was busy, so I had limited angles to shoot from without people in the frame.

Harvey has been open since November, 2012.

I had a really hard time finding a Pro Controller 2 for my Switch 2 since they were sold out everywhere. But this morning I picked one up from Game Store. I saw on their instagram story they had a few in store but were not available online. So I got in touch with them by WhatsApp and they told me it was only available at Game Store Avenues and Kout Mall.

Thankfully I was able to purchase it and pay for it through WhatsApp yesterday, and just headed there this morning to pick it up.

As of this post they still have a few in stock and they’re selling them for KD32.9

I actually have the original Pro Controller 1 but Nintendo being Nintendo are only allowing the new Pro Controller 2 to wake up the Switch 2 from sleep mode. That means every time I want to play I need to reach behind my TV where I have my Switch 2 dock and turn it on before turning my controller on. Super annoying. With the new controller I’ll be able to turn it on from the controller itself like a normal gaming system.

Russell Peters, the popular stand-up comedian, is coming back to Kuwait as part of his Relax World Tour. This isn’t his first time performing in Kuwait, but the last time he was scheduled to come was in October 2023 and that show was canceled.

Fame Entertainment (@fame.entmt), the same company that recently brought Fluffy, Craig David and Blue to Kuwait are the ones who are bringing Russell Peters back. There will take place on October 20th so I expect tickets to go on sale at the end of summer. Link

Aseer Time, the largest juice shop franchise in Kuwait, just opened in China – yes, China. The new branch in the city of Quanzhou marks their 501st branch overall. Aseer Time now operates over 500 branches across 23 countries, with more locations launching soon in Australia, the Netherlands, and a 14th U.S. branch in Los Angeles.

Aseer Time opening in China was definitely not on my 2025 bingo card.

If you’re interested in owning a Aseer Time franchise, you can contact them by WhatsApp on +965 6709 0966

@39ertime

Just over 15 years ago, I posted a review of a then-newly opened restaurant in the city called Little Ruby’s. The place had a very cozy interior, and I loved the food as well as the atmosphere. But Little Ruby’s has grown up, which is why they decided it was time to drop the “Little” from the name and refresh the menu. Little Ruby’s is now just Ruby’s.

The two things I always loved most at Ruby’s were their salads and sandwiches. Thankfully, my favorites are still on the menu, including the Bronte Burger, which now has a new name. Their Mango Chicken Salad and one of the best Philly Cheesesteaks in Kuwait are also still available. But the majority of the menu has been updated to fit the new, more mature Ruby’s.

Kuwaiti chef Khaled AlBaker (@chefkb) really elevated the menu, starting with the pastas, which are now all freshly made in house. He also introduced new appetizers like Cacio Pepe Fries, Steak Skewers, and Chimi Arrayes. The biggest changes are in the mains, with new items like the Soho Cut made with sliced tenderloin in porcini mushroom sauce, the Club Sandwich which I need to try, and a Parma Chicken I’m saving for a cheat day.

Even the kids now have their own dedicated menu, with options like Little Tenders and Sliders.

The new branding and menu have only been rolled out at their flagship location in Assima Mall. The remaining five locations will be revamped throughout the year. So if you want to try the new menu, the Assima location is open daily from 12PM to 11PM. @littlerubys