Author: Mark

Khaled Al Baker, or KB for short is the brand manager and head chef at Meem Cafe. He’s also a good friend of mine and I’ve been wanting to post about him and his transformation of Meem Cafe since I’ve been watching it happen from the very beginning. Just over a year ago, Khaled moved back to Kuwait after studying culinary arts at the Johnson & Wales University in Miami. He started looking for work and decided he wanted to join MMC Catering who had a bunch of popular restaurants including LeNotre, Meem Cafe, Over Jar and Three & Barista. When he applied, one of the tasks they gave him was to pass by Meem Cafe, try their food out and let them know what he thought of it. So he invited me along with a bunch of our other foodie friends (including Hind from PantryBee) and we passed by Meem Cafe and tried out as much food as we could. My overall impression wasn’t that positive with items on the menu that didn’t make sense to be there, and what was there wasn’t that great either. But Khaled was busy taking down notes, he saw a lot of potential and so he went back to MMC with his feedback and they hired him, giving him the task to revamp and upgrade the Meem Cafe menu.

Khaled wasn’t always a chef. He originally studied accounting and finance at the University of Central Florida and then worked 6 years as an accountant in the oil and gas industry. Things started to change right after his cousin opened up the upscale butcher shop Prime Cuts. They started grilling non-stop 5-6 times a week and Khaled would have his home cook put together the sides while he did all the grilling. But his cook kept making the same sides all the time which eventually got boring, so Khaled decided he’d also do the sides himself. He started reading up a lot and experimenting and the more and more he cooked the more and more he was loving it. So he started taking cooking lessons whenever he found any and he cooked for his friends whenever he could before he eventually decided to go back to university to study culinary arts.

Over the past year Khaled has been super busy reorganizing and reinventing the Meem Cafe menu. Because I keep popping over to Meem Cafe to see him whenever I can, the whole thing to me has felt like I’ve been watching a food reality show where the chef goes into a restaurant and just overhauls the menu. The first thing Khaled did was remove all the items that didn’t fit in with the theme of Middle Eastern comfort food. After refocusing the menu under the main theme, he started experimenting with modernizing Arabic classics while also fusing others with different cuisines. He loves cooking and he’s been generally just having fun trying to come up with new dishes like zaatar fries, Lebanese nachos, burrata mana’eesh and braised short ribs hummus. The end result is a lot of good food with a lot of unique flavors. Even his chef coat is infused with Arabic by being designed like a dishdasha while incorporating the shemagh pattern.

While sitting with Khaled and interviewing him for this post I realized where all this passion with Arabic food was stemming from. He thinks that as Arabs we’re losing the food marketing war with items like hummus and pita being considered Israeli and not Arab, while Greek yogurt becoming trendy but not labneh. He thinks that if we don’t start modernizing and refining Arabic cuisine, we’re going to eventually lose it all. I never thought about it in that way but now that I do I’ve started appreciating what his doing a lot more.

If you haven’t been to Meem Cafe for awhile now then I’d recommend you pass by and try it out again. They’ve got four locations, one at the Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Center, another in Hamra Tower, another in 360 Mall and the last one in The View in Salmiya. You can also follow Khaled on his instagram account @chefkb

This is completely unconfirmed but yesterday I heard that a Kuwaiti company got the rights for Eggslut in the Middle East. Eggslut is an LA-based gourmet food concept where all the items on their menu feature eggs. I had mentioned Eggslut under my “L.A. Eats” post a few months ago as a place to try out if you’re ever in L.A. If anyone has any information on this rumor please let me know!

Update: It’s confirmed!

This new terminal is currently being constructed to the left of the existing airport and is expected to be completed sometime next year. This terminal is completely different from the new airport/terminal that is being constructed near the Sheikh Saad Airport.

The Jazeera Airways Airport Terminal aims to both alleviate the current overcrowding at Kuwait International Airport and meet the requirements of travelers in Kuwait for many more years to come.

One of the largest-scale and most important infrastructure projects currently under construction in Kuwait, the new terminal will divert 1.5 million passengers a year from the extremely busy airport once it opens in early 2018. This will increase to over 2.5 million travelers per year in the next few years.

I couldn’t find any more pictures but you could read more about the design over [Here]

If you’re looking for space for meetups, a place to hold your book club meetings, workshops or even movie nights, then this post might appeal to you. Elevation Burger in Al Bida’a have a top floor which is available to book for your get togethers. It’s a community space that Elevation Burger provide for free as a way of giving back to the local community. You could even book the space to watch football games, F1 races or any other sports games since Elevation have a BeIN sports receiver you could borrow. Depending on how you arrange the seating the space can hold around 40 people easily.

Most importantly, there are no strings attached. You aren’t required to order 100 burgers or anything of the sort, the space is yours to use for free as long as you let them know ahead of time. So if you’re interested in this location, contact the Elevation Burger team on [email protected]

Staged in Kuwait, the local community theatre group are looking for singers and actors to take part in their upcoming productions over the next two months. Their auditions are very informal and friendly so if this is something you think you might be interested in, their first audition is this coming Tuesday. For more information, click [Here]

A few days ago, Heathrow released its latest “Fly Quiet and Clean” report which shows which airlines are using the quietest and cleanest aircrafts at their airport. The report also shows which airlines are using the noisiest and dirtiest (pollution wise) aircrafts and Kuwait Airways topped that list.

At first I thought it was because Kuwait Airways was flying their old planes to London but I just checked the route while writing up this post and they’re actually flying their new 777 planes. Since this report is for Q2 of this year which runs from April to June, I figured Kuwait Airways might have been running their older 747 planes back then. So I asked a friend of mine who’s a flight attendant with Kuwait Airways and flies the Kuwait London route and I was right. Kuwait Airways has only been using their new 777 plane on that route for just the past two months. This means Kuwait Airways should end up much higher on the list in the next report because of their quieter and less polluting new planes.

Anyway you can see the full rankings over [Here]

A few different events taking place this weekend from musical performances to a ladies rugby match. Check out all the events taking place below:

Thursday
Consumer Gifts Exhibition
RAF Red Arrows Airshow
Music: The Ashes

Friday
Consumer Gifts Exhibition
Good Game: Magic – The Gathering
Fairouz Musical Night
Kuwait Scorpions Ladies Team vs Doha Team

Saturday
Consumer Gifts Exhibition
Yoga with the 3
Guided Tour: Arab Organization Headquarters
MARKETSPACE by ARTSPACE
Book Club: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double check with the organizers.

The movies below are now showing at either Cinescape, Grand Cinemas or Sky Cinemas:

New This Week:
Home Again (5.7) ♦
Flatliners (5.7) ♦
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (6.3)
Nick Off Duty (4.1)
Open Water 3: Cage Dive (4.2)
Personal Shopper (6.2) ♦
Stronger (7.6) ♦

Other Movies Showing:
American Made (7.5) ★ ♦
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (7.6) ★ ♦
IT (8.5) ★ ♦
It Comes at Night (6.3)
The Hitman’s Bodyguard (7.3)
The LEGO Ninjago Movie (6.8)
Wind River (8.0) ♦

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Humpback Whales 3D (7.2)
Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Secret Ocean 3D (N/A)
Tiny Giants 3D (8.0)
Watermelon Magic 3D (7.4)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

Arby’s is officially opening their first location in Kuwait tomorrow (Thursday) from 11AM to 4AM. I dropped by today and got to try a bunch of things but really all I wanted was a Roast Beef ‘n Cheddar and it was worth it! They’re located in Jabriya where Fuddruckers used to be. Here is their location on [Google Maps]

Just a random tidbit. If you’re ever taking an official airport taxi back home keep a lookout for taxi car #1 (they’re marked on the side). The cab is easy to spot and you’ve probably already seen it before since its the only one with a satellite dish on the roof. The cab is driven by Abou Ali who is currently the longest working taxi driver at the airport. He originally started picking up passengers from the airport back in 1964, before the current airport even existed. That’s more than 50 years ago if you can’t do the math.

I actually used to dislike taking airport cabs back home since they seemed to always avoid highways. But most of the drivers are actually pretty interesting to talk to since they’ve all been working at the airport for many years and have tons of interesting stories to share. So next time you take an airport taxi, don’t be shy to strike up a conversation with the driver.

The Royal Air Force aerobatic team, the Red Arrows are back in Kuwait for the third time and will be performing tomorrow along the Gulf Road. The RAF Red Arrows are considered to be one of the world’s premier aerobatic teams so if you’re interested in watching the show below are the details:

Date: Thursday 28th September, 2017
Time: 4PM
Location: Gulf Road from Kuwait Towers to Marina Crescent

The show will be 22 minutes long and you can get more details by clicking [Here]

Mr Karak is a karak tea business run by the two Danish brothers Simon and Adrian Nelbom. I first met them at a Secret Garden brunch and was intrigued by their story, so much so that I actually sat down with them and got their whole story which I posted about on my blog [Here]. After years of serving karak from a kiosk which they moved from one event to another, they’ve finally opened up their own permanent location in Kuwait City.

The first Mr Karak location opened up on the same street as Vol.1 Coffee in Kuwait City. It’s a small cozy place and their timing couldn’t have been more perfect with winter just around the corner (I love karak in the winter). Karak by the way if you aren’t aware is tea mixed with spices like saffron and cardamom and the two brothers have a variety of different interpretations on the classic drink. So pass by if you can, today is their first day officially open. Here is their approximate location on [Google Maps] and their instagram account is @mrkarak

Note: At the time of this post they’re in a soft opening phase and so only open from 5PM to 10PM.

I’ve been getting emails from readers letting me know that my iPhone app no longer works on their phones after updating to iOS 11. The thing is, I’m surprised people actually still have the app on their phone. Apple removed my iPhone app from the store around 5 years ago (maybe longer?) and I haven’t it had on my phone ever since. Yet somehow it managed to survive on other peoples phones and now I’m getting complaints that it isn’t working.

So in case you still have the app and you aren’t aware:

1) The app doesn’t exist anymore, if you have it you’re lucky, I don’t even have it
2) If you upgrade to iOS 11 the app will no longer work

There are no plans for another 248AM app in the foreseeable future, but what I’d like to do is eventually have a mobile friendly version of the website. But I don’t have a timeframe for when that will happen.

Sintoho, the Pan-Asian restaurant at the new Four Seasons is now officially open. It was the last remaining restaurant to open up at the Four Seasons and it’s located on the top floor adjacent to their Italian restaurant, Dai Forni.

If you do decide to head to the Four Seasons make sure you also pass by Al Bandar, their poolside lounge. It’s probably gonna be the spot to be once the weather cools down.

Over the years I’ve posted about different things to do in Lebanon and different places to go, but I’ve never really posted about any outdoor activities you could do (well except for paragliding and ATVing, but that was ages ago). I tend to like doing one outdoor activity whenever I go down to Lebanon, usually camping, but if I don’t have enough time then hiking. Hiking is actually something thats really easy to do in Lebanon and doesn’t require much in terms of prep, you just need transportation and a good pair of hiking shoes (or old sneakers). If you’re interested in hiking the next time you’re in Lebanon, below are two places I highly recommend.

Tannourine Cedars Forest Nature Reserve
The Tannourine reserve is a really great place to go hike and for a number of reasons. Firstly if you enjoy driving then you’ll enjoy the drive to the Tannourine village. The roads are long and winding with beautiful views so I’d highly recommend you rent a convertible for it. Secondly because the reserve is so high up the mountain, even during hot summer months the weather up there is bearable. Finally and most importantly, the reserve is beautiful and filled with huge cedar trees throughout the trail.

The reserve is also pretty well organized. The website isn’t that great but once you get to the reserve you get handed a map at the entrance along with a explanation of all the trails available. There are three trails available with the shortest lasting an hour and the longest nearly three hours. The hike isn’t that difficult although there are some areas that are steep, so you need to be a bit fit or else you’re gonna keep stopping for breaks. The trails are also clearly marked with wide paths and various signs at various intersections so it’s really difficult to get lost. The entrance fee is just 5,000LL (KD1) and the reserve is on Google Maps so it’s really easy to find. For more information you can check out the reserve website [Here]

Shouf Biosphere Reserve
The Shouf reserve is really easy to get to if you’re staying in the Beirut area. If you try to head to the Tannourine reserve during the middle of the week it could easily take you up to 3 hours while the Shouf reserve would take you half that. Like the Tannourine reserve, there are 3 main hiking trails with the shortest lasting just 20 minutes and the longest over 3 hours. But the trails are pretty tough due to the fact that the first half involves a very steep uphill climb to get to the top of the mountain. The trail is actually so tough that you really don’t get to enjoy the beautiful forest until you start making your way back down. The trails also aren’t clearly marked and there are barely any signs. Most of the time you’ll wonder if you’re heading in the right direction or if you’ve veered off the trail and are heading into the middle of nowhere. But its because of that I like this trail, it’s more exciting and feels like a proper adventure. You’ll spend a lot of time on the trail second guessing yourself, wondering if you should have gone left instead of right or right instead of left.

The biosphere’s website is also pretty well put together with a lot of information on all the different trails available as well as information on where to stay or where to eat in the area. The entrance fee to the reserve is 7,000LL and its also easy to find on Google Maps. For more information you can check out the biosphere website [Here]

If you’re really into hiking and camping, and have a bit of time then you could attempt one of the official Lebanese Mountain Trail hikes. The LMT trail is 470km long and divided up into 26 sections. You can get more information on the LMT by clicking [Here]

Like I mentioned at the start of the post, whats great about the two reserves I shared is that they’re easy to get to and very doable if you’re in Lebanon for the just the weekend. It’s a perfect escape from the city and great stress reliever. And best of all, both reserves are close enough that you’ll still have enough time to get back to the city and party after sundown.