Author: Mark

Like every manly man, I have a thing for heavy machinery and I’ve always been kinda been curious to know where one can get lessons. Not only that but I’ve already collected 2 out of 4 possible licenses (check below) and I kinda feel obliged to get the other 2 because I’m OCD like that. Turns out Kuwait Motoring Company (KMC) offer truck driving and heavy equipment operation lessons.

KMC is who ProDrive is partnered up with for their drifting lessons which I posted about a couple of weeks ago. I called them up to get details on their truck/heavy equipment license lessons cost and it’s KD145 and includes 4 lessons (2 hours each), the driving test and the vehicle for the test. Since there is a separate license for truck driving and operating heavy equipment you would have to select which one you’re interested in before hand.

So if you’re interested in getting lessons you can contact KMC on 1878888 or visit their instagram account @KMCKuwait. They also provide regular car driving lessons and motorbike lessons and based on their instagram account seem pretty professional.

PS: That’s not my real birth date on my license. My passport has the correct date of birth, my civil ID has the correct day but the month of birth as September instead of August while my residency has neither the correct day or month. This actually caused me an issue for the first time two weeks ago when I got back from Sofia, the immigration officer was like you have three dates of birth and only allowed me to enter the country after checking with his superior.

The Staged in Kuwait IMPROV Comedy Night is back for a new season and their first show is this weekend. This is by far my favorite comedy show in Kuwait and one I highly recommend checking out if you’ve never done so before. They’ll be introducing a whole bunch of new comedians this year and I’m interested to see how they turn out.

The shows previously used to take place at the Live Theater in Discovery Mall which I liked but the last one and this weekends show is being held at the new Crowne Plaza Auditorium in Farwaniya (pictured above). Nice auditorium just horrible parking outside. Last time I was lucky and since I pulled up in an intimidating yellow Lotus Exige S so managed to convince the valet guy to let me park right at the entrance, don’t think I’m going to be as lucky this time around.

Anyway for more information on the comedy night as well as a link to buy tickets click [Here]

I’m a tea guy, anybody who knows me or anybody who’s been reading my blog for awhile would know that, but recently that changed and I think I am now a coffee guy. I’m still trying to get a grasp on how this is possible since I used to really hate coffee. This all started when Arabica got in touch with me for a quick meeting around a month ago.

Arabica are opening two new locations and wanted to fill me in on them in case I’d be interested to post about them. So I met up with them and during the meeting they asked me why I didn’t drink coffee. I responded telling them I loved the smell of coffee I just couldn’t stand the flavor to which I was then asked when was the last time I had tried coffee? I couldn’t remember, I figured I must have when I was a kid or something. They told me they wanted to turn me into a coffee drinker and the next time we would meet it would be at the Arabica branch for a little tasting. I didn’t think that would be possible but I told them ok since I didn’t want to seem impolite. So a few days later I end up at Arabica trying a bunch of their different coffees and I strangely found myself attracted to their Spanish Latte which is a regular latte but with their secret sweet syrup. I think I liked it the most because it didn’t taste like coffee, it’s what I now call coffee for beginners since its what got me started on coffee.

A couple of days later I popped back in and ordered another Spanish Latte, then I came back again and started ordering their regular latte, then again the day after. I’m now passing by once or twice a day for my fix. Not only that but wherever I go now I order a latte just so I can taste the difference and try to understand the different flavor profiles. I’m still on lattes, haven’t really “leveled up” to straight up coffees yet but thats because I’ve just been enjoying lattes so much. So much so that I’ve started researching bean to cup coffee machines (got my eye on you DeLonghi XS) so I could just start buying beans from Arabica and making my own lattes at home.

Another thing I’m enjoying is social coffee drinking. Previously I used to tag along with friends to Vol.1 and Richards Coffee all the time and just watch them drink their coffees while I sip on my water. But now I can finally go to these places and have coffee like everybody else. What I find super odd though is that since I started drinking coffee I’ve completely stopped drinking tea. I used to average around 6 to 8 cups of tea a day but since I’ve started drinking coffee a month ago, I’ve had just 2 cups. I’ve just lost all interest.

Brands are always trying to connect with me but it rarely ever works. This is one of the very few times where a brand not only has managed to grab my attention, but they’ve turned me into a huge fan and even a self proclaimed brand ambassador. I’ve been dragging friends to Arabica with me and telling everyone how great I think their coffee is. As I’m sitting in Arabica typing this my brother who I introduced to Arabica recently walked in to get coffee for himself and his office. And now I just ordered my second latte and need to end this post so I can head to work. If you haven’t tried Arabica yet you should, they’re located in Kuwait City [Google Maps] and you can find them on instagram @arabicakw

Back in August a new Italian restaurant opened up called Vigonovo and I wrote about it on the blog a couple of days after their opening. I didn’t mention anything about the food back then since they had just opened but now that I’ve been there a bunch of times I can say Vigonovo has become one of my favorite restaurants in Kuwait.

The food first of all is really great, its Italian but its light with simple ingredients so you never leave in a food coma no matter how much you eat. The menu is always changing and the portions are tapas sized which means you get to eat more than one dish (my average is 3 dishes). But, my favorite thing about Vigonovo has to be the chef, Marco. Its become a habit for me and my friends now to just go there and have him whip up whatever he wants for us. Since the cooking is homestyle it just feels natural to let Marco tell us what we are having that night, as if we’re visiting his home. And I don’t think we are the only people who do that, I think most of his regulars let him just decide what they’re having, it’s more fun. Speaking of his regulars, I didn’t realize we had such a large Italian community until I started going to Vigonovo. Every time I’m there at least two or three other tables are filled with Italians.

I don’t really have anything negative to say about the place, I think the lights could be dimmer in the evening and I find the blue walls weird (when you see it you’ll understand) and thats about it. Oh and their instagram account is private which I’ve told Marco I find annoying because it means I need to follow them to find out about new dishes.

If you’re looking for an authentic Italian restaurant in Kuwait then this is it. The place is located in Salmiya next to Gia. They’re right next door to Lorenzo in the shop called “Rose Gathering” (they’ll be changing the sign soon). Vigonovo is currently open daily from 5PM onwards except on Fridays when they close. Definitely worth checking out. Here is their location on [Google Maps] and their instagram account is @vigonovo_kw

Tavola is one of my favorite kitchen related stores since they carry a number of great brands like WMF, Wilton, Zwilling J.A.Henckels, Le Creuset, Cuisine Art, Bodum, Peugeot mills and Joseph Joseph. The only issue I had with them was that they were located in the industrial area of Shuwaikh past highway 60 and so getting there was always a journey.

But, just before the Eid holidays Tavola opened a new much larger location in Tilal Complex, which is also in Shuwaikh but an easier location to get to. The new location is divided into two floors with all their brands located on the lower floor while the top floor is dedicated to their Wilton baking products as well as two large rooms where they hold baking workshops.

If you want to know what brands they carry the full list is available on their website [Here]. On the other hand if you want to know more on their baking workshops they’re posting the schedules up on their instagram account @tavolakuwait

A contact of mine sent me the picture above of a new speeding speeding camera being installed on highway 50. According to my contact the new cameras are able to capture speeding motorists from a kilometer away but I haven’t been able to confirm that. The only thing that I have managed to confirm is the fact that these new cameras are digital and transmit pictures wirelessly, eliminating the need to retrieve film negatives.

I did a bit of research and turns out he new cameras are called the T-Series and produced by a company called Gatso. According to Gatso these are some features of the cameras:

– Violations are captured regardless of whether the vehicle is approaching the speed camera or receding from it and only one camera is required to enforce multiple lanes of traffic.

– Integrated Wi-Fi and a web based user interface provide easy and secure control from any web enabled device.

– The RT4 tracking radar simultaneously measures the speed and position of up to 32 vehicles in the coverage area. This technology allows even the busiest of intersections to be effectively enforced.

– The 20-megapixel CMOS camera is designed exclusively by GATSO, combining 30 frames
per second (fps) full frame image capture with unrivaled photosensitivity.

So basically we’re pretty screwed mostly since these cameras are hard to spot. On the bright side (if you can call it that), because the images are new wirelessly transmitted, this means we should get the fines sooner then before.

Thanks Dragos

Update: Ok, looks like this picture was NOT taken in Kuwait. I usually double check stuff like this but since my contact on two previous occasions sent me speed camera information that was accurate, I didn’t think to verify the image. In this specific case it was a picture sent to him from a friend and after looking up the image it seems to be old and taken in Bahrain. So false alarm sorry.

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape and Grand Cinemas:

New This Week:
Blair Witch (6.0)
Snowden (6.2) ♦

Other Movies Showing:
Antboy 3 (5.5)
Ben-Hur (5.6)
Blood Father (7.0)
Don’t Breathe (8.3) ♦
Kickboxer: Vengeance (5.2) ★ ♦
Kill Zone 2 (6.7)
Lights Out (6.7)
Mechanic: Resurrection (6.5)
Pete’s Dragon (7.3)
Sully (7.9)
The Secret Life of Pets (6.8)

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

The Onam Festival is back and will be taking place tomorrow Wednesday the 14th of September. Onam is the biggest and most important festival of the state of Kerala in India and it’s also celebrated here in Kuwait. A few Southern Indian restaurants in Kuwait offer the traditional vegetarian dish the Onasadya during the festival and below are some of those restaurants.

Caesar’s Dakshin Restaurant – Jeleeb Al-Shuyoukh – Al Jawhara Building
Price: KD3.500
Telephone: 24319191, 24310303 [Map]

Udupi Restaurant – Fahaheel – Green Tower
Price: KD2.250
Telephone: 25456565 [Map]

Saravanaa Bhavan – Fahaheel – Humoud Towers
Price: KD2.750
Telephone: 23929099 [Map]

If you know of any more places serving Onam please let me know.

Over the weekend, Kuwaiti athlete Ahmad Al-Mutairi came first in the men’s 100m athletics race at the Rio 2016 Paralympics. Not only did he come first but he also broke the Paralympics record while doing so. This means Ahmad Al-Mutairi currently holds both the Paralympics and world record for the Men’s 100m – T33 event.

Ahmed broke the world record last year in Doha during the IPC Athletics World Championships and at the age of 22, is currently the youngest Kuwaiti athlete taking part in the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

In total there are currently 6 Kuwaitis taking part in the Rio 2016 Paralympics:

Abdullah Al Saif (Athletics)
Ahmad Al Mutairi (Athletics)
Atef Aldousari (Shooting)
Hamad Aladwani (Athletics)
Mohammad Nasser (Athletics)
Naser Saleh (Athletics)

You can get more details as well as their full event schedule from the Rio Paralympics website [Here]

I “conveniently” just got back today, right before Eid.

[poll id=”7″]

If yes, let me know where in the comments below.

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape and Grand Cinemas:

New This Week:
Antboy 3 (5.5)
Ben-Hur (5.6)
Hands of Stone (6.6) ★ ♦
Kickboxer: Vengeance (5.2) ★ ♦
Kill Zone 2 (6.7)
Pete’s Dragon (7.3)
Sully (7.9)

Other Movies Showing:
Blood Father (7.0)
Don’t Breathe (8.3) ♦
Kubo and the Two Strings (8.4)
Mechanic: Resurrection (6.5)
Morgan (6.5)
Skiptrace (6.5)
The Secret Life of Pets (6.8)
War Dogs (7.3) ★ ♦

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

The local Korean Embassy along with HanKut Diwaniya are organizing a cultural tourist trip to South Korea during the cherry blossom season. The trip is taking place from March 31st to April 15th 2but the last day to register is this coming September the 17th.

This is not a free trip. If you’re interested to get more details including the cost then send an email to [email protected]

Here is another activity to add to the list of things to do in Kuwait. ProDrive Academy recently soft launched and are offering drifting and manual transmission driving courses.

Drifting Courses
They have four stages of drifting courses with each stage being more advanced. You learn to drift in a Nissan 370z and the prices are as follows:

Stage One: 3 hours long, costs KD130 and includes 2 new fresh tires
Stage Two: 1 1/2 hours long, costs KD100 and includes 2 new fresh tires
Stage Three: 3 hours long, costs KD130 and includes 2 new fresh tires
Stage Four: 3 hours long, costs KD100 and includes 2 new fresh tires

They have a package deal where if you decide to go with all four stages then the total cost would be KD400 instead of KD460.

Every Tuesday from 5PM to 11PM is an open drift day in which anyone can bring their car to the ProDrive circuit and drift. The cost to take part in that is KD30.

Manual Transmission Courses
With manual transmission courses they charge by the hour and depending on how quickly you learn the less time you need. They offer lessons with three different car options:

Nissan Pick Up: KD15/hour
Jeep Wrangler: KD20/hour
Nissan 370z: KD30/hour

If you’re interested in the above you can call them on 60049000 or 60604418.
For more information on ProDrive including a map of their location, check out their instagram account @prodrivekw

I’m always trying to find new and interesting things to do in Kuwait and since I like baking I found this interesting. Local company FAME are offering pastry classes taught by a French pastry chef and chocolatier. They have a bunch of classes from how to make Macaroons to puff pastry, truffles and other desserts.

The classes are one on one, are 4 hours long each and cost KD80. The classes can be maximum two students if the students know each other so say you and a friend want to take the class together. If you want to find out more you can check out their classes [Here]

The hockey season is going to start soon and the Kuwait Mooseheads Ice Hockey Team are looking for new members. If you can ice skate and play hockey then this is for you:

“Looking for something fun, active and social? Miss those days at the rink? Well you’re in luck, the Kuwait Mooseheads hockey club is looking for new members to join us for our weekly scrimmages. We play twice a week at the ice rink next to Discovery Mall. The club also takes part in international tournaments throughout the year. Full equipment is required, and experience is necessary. Please contact Graham at [email protected]