Category: Information

I passed by Saso Lounge yesterday for lunch. They are going to be placing a banner on my blog soon so I figured I would pass by and check the place out. The place is located in a strategic location, during lunch while I was there the place was full of business people since its close to many offices. The food was also pretty good and very reasonably priced. Its an Italian Asian menu which although sounds strange made perfect sense to me since while I was in Lebanon I had a habit of ordering Sushi and Pizza for dinner. The dish pictured above is the Shrimp n’ Hammour which was great and a dish I would order again. Check out their website for more details and their location. If you work in Kuwait City you should pass and try it out for lunch. [Link]

Yesterday I passed by Ruby Tuesday to try their burger after some friends had recommended I try it. First off I have to say that I don’t like Ruby Tuesday. I’ve maybe had a good experience there only once and I hadn’t been to the place for maybe a year or more. The place hasn’t changed much since then, the menu has been updated and it seems they make better burgers now.

When I got the menu I knew what I was going to order, the Triple Prime Cheddar Burger which consists of a “blend” of certified Angus beef, lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese and garlic mayonnaise sauce. It comes with fries usually but I told them to swap it for baked potato which they had no problem with.

Since I was there early the place was empty so my burger arrived quickly. At first glance the burger looked pretty good but I quickly found out that the bread was a problem but I will get to that in just a second. The beef patty itself was tasty although I originally found the “blend” word a bit iffy. Its like the fast food place Great Steak and Potato Company who have a large sign that proudly says their burgers are 98% pure beef. Its like o…k.. and whats the other 2% exactly? So that aside lets move on to the biggest problem in this burger, the bun. It looked more like a croissant than a bun which is ok but it was falling apart in my hands and I also found it too thin. That combination resulted in a very messy burger to eat, not good!

Overall though it was a good burger, I wouldn’t mind going back to Ruby Tuesday just for the Triple Prime. The patty had good flavor and the garlic mayonnaise went well with it but their bun left a lot to be desired. Thats why the final score is a 3 out of 5. You have the bun and you have the patty, its simple yet many places can’t seem to get it right.

Ruby Tuesday is located on th Gulf Road, Salmiya and Abu Halifa.
The cost of the Triple Prime Cheddar Burger was KD2.950

Update: I went back to Ruby Tuesday a few days ago and ordered the same burger, this time it was horrible. Presentation wise, taste wise, everything was just terrible. New score is a 1.5 out of 5.

A while back I posted about how I purchased the Sony DSC-W300 from a store in Muthana Complex and how I got a free memory stick with it. Well I don’t know how many readers went and purchased the camera from that store (I know of at least 3) but I just wanted to inform you that there is a very high chance that you ended up with a fake memory stick just like I did.

I first noticed a problem when some photos were turning up distorted. At first I thought it was a defect from the camera and was going to return it for another one when I realized the memory stick was a fake. Here is a link with details on how you can tell its a fake, I found out mine was a fake from the way the packet was sealed.

Anyway another thing you should know is that the camera shutdown speed is effected by the type of memory card in the camera. The shutdown speed is calculated from the moment you press the off button till the lens retracts. I did a test using three different memory cards and here are the results:

Sony 2GB Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo
First try: 1.62
Second try: 1.68
Third try: 1.65
Average is 1.65 seconds to shutdown.

SanDisk 1 GB Ultra II Memory Stick
First try: 2.61
Second try: 2.5
Third try: 2.54
Average is 2.55 seconds to shutdown.

Fake Sony 1GB Memory Stick Duo
First try: 5.25
Second try: 4.67
Third try: 4.92
Average is 4.94 seconds to shutdown.

So if you purchased your camera from Digital World in Muthana Complex and you got a free memory stick my advice is to throw it away and get an original one. Other than the high risk that you might lose an important photo the performance of the camera also suffers greatly.

I am not really a “lets save the world” type of guy but I don’t mind helping out by using less energy as long as it isn’t a hassle for me. With not enough electricity in Kuwait for everyone its even more important to try and save energy just so we don’t end up stuck in a 50 degree heat wave with no AC. Thats why I decided to finally try energy saving light bulbs. I used to hate them because I thought they all emitted white light which I don’t like but I just recently found out their are versions that emit warm colored light which matches regular light bulbs we are all used to. So, I passed by Ace Hardware today and picked up two 20w bulbs to try out. At KD1.050 a pop they are around 10 times more expensive than regular bulbs but they last 6 times longer and use around 4 times less energy. A 20watt energy saving light bulb is equivalent to an 85w Tungsten bulb.

First thing I did was try them out to see if the color of the light is fine and it is. It matches the color of regular light bulbs so I am now going to go back to Ace and buy a whole a bunch of these so I could start replacing all the bulbs in my house. If you’ve held back on buying these light bulbs there really isn’t a reason not to get them anymore unless its because of the price. But even the price shouldn’t be a factor, seriously how many bulbs do you have around the house? 10?

The other day I posted a video of kites being flown in the Kuwaiti desert. According to a reader the kites all belong to Al-Farsi Kites Team who also have the largest kite in the world. They have an official website and a flickr group with a lot of pictures including my favorites the Winnie Poo like bear and the squid like creatures. Here are the links:

Official Al-Farsi Kites Team Site
Al-Farsi Kites Flickr Pool

The beautiful picture above was taken by M.Ashkanani

I’ve had the E71 for a few hours now and so far compared to my previous phone the Nokia E61i, the E71 is better in every aspect. For those of you who own E61i’s you will be glad to know that the E71 is a much much faster phone, MUCH faster. Everything launches in a split second and moving from menu item to menu item and opening or closing an SMS is all instantaneous. The size of the device is also smaller, width wise its around 20% less fat and its also slightly less thick. The camera is finally usable and the keyboard although smaller than the E61i doesn’t feel cramped or strange in any way. I’ve also noticed the phone is a lot more customizable which is a plus and its also smarter. For example in the main screen if you no longer want to display SMS notifications, you just highlight it and press the delete button and it will ask you if you want to hide it from the main screen. The power button has now moved to the top which is a good idea since I had a bad habit of accidentally shutting the phone with my ear, not fun specially if you are in the middle of a conversation.

On the negative side the GPS seems extremely slow and unpractical. The phone also loves finger prints and smudges which is very iPhonish. The case also seems more fragile. I’ve dropped my E61i so many times and I am not sure the E71 can handle as much abuse. Overall though I am really impressed with the phone. I was expecting it to be better than the E61i and it has exceeded my expectation in every way so far. Oh and its no longer showing me MTC on the main screen, its finally showing me Zain KW!

This is my second video post for the day. This one is of a video I found on YouTube showing a project thats supposedly going to built on Failaka. It seems they will be turning Failaka into one large resort but the strangest thing is that they will have a large zoo and amusement park on it. Pretty strange since I would rather they fix up the current zoo before having a new one built and entertainment city needs some new rides as well. [YouTube]

Marks & Spencer in Kuwait is pretty strange. Its been open for a really long time and they seem to be doing pretty well but they’ve yet to open up in a popular mall. I usually pass by Marks & Spencer for their food section, they’ve got a ton of munchies and random items like jams, salad dressings and cornflakes. Their food packaging is also beautifully designed so I just buy random stuff because they look good. If you haven’t been to Marks & Spencer its worth checking out, they’re located right next to Marina Mall, I am not sure they have another branch elsewhere.

There is a cool post on the New York Times blog on 11 food items we should be eating. I am going to start eating more blueberries since supposedly it improves memory and mine needs a lot of improving. [Link]

Ever since PayPal started working with Kuwait based credit cards I haven’t really used it even though I signed up for it and everything… until now that is. I just purchased an item from eBay and I paid using PayPal for the first time and the process was incredibly easy. Before when I used to buy stuff from eBay I had to go through the hassle of sending a money order to the seller. Now payment is instant using my credit card, it felt as if I was buying something from Amazon. Hopefully I won’t start buying random junk from eBay.. [Link]

I found out about this cool trick from SomeContrast back in February and its made my shopping experience on Amazon much more convenient. There is a script that works with FireFox that converts the prices on Amazon from US Dollars to Kuwaiti Dinars and then displays it for you right next to the original price. That saves you the hassle of trying to calculate how much an item costs in Dinars every time you find something.

I got the instructions for installing the script also from SomeContrast. Make sure you are using FireFox then do the following:

1) Install Greasemonkey
2) Install Amazon Local Currency Script

By default it will convert US Dollars to Israeli Shekels… you need to change that from the menu to Kuwaiti Dinars by entering the initials KWD. And thats it, pretty simple but practical.

Thanks SomeContrast!

LoFat now have a dine-in branch open and its located in Kuwait City. I didn’t pass by the place but its supposedly near Holiday Inn next to Burger Bar. I wonder if Burger Bar is still open, I haven’t heard about them in a while and I don’t know anyone who goes to the place. Last time I went I didn’t have a good experience. My burger challenge should hopefully continue this weekend, I think I have like 6 more burgers I need to try!

Thanks Ansam!

Aramex Shop&Ship are following in the foot steps of USWS and are going to start accepting online payments. A few people recently got the following email from Aramex:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for using our SHOP&SHIP service. Our aim is to continuously enhance your shopping experience with us. We are about to launch a new feature on www.aramex.com which would allow you to make online payments for your shipping charges. We would like to offer this feature first to our VIP clients in order to eliminate delays in delivery due to cash unavailability. We hope that this new feature will be to your satisfaction, and we welcome your feedback on the service. We want to assure you that our most important objective is to continue providing you with quality transportation services that meet your needs effectively.

Sincerely,
SHOP&SHIP Customer Account Manager

Since the delivery guys started carrying Knet machines online payment isn’t that important anymore. Personally I would like to see their payment system upgraded where as one user mentioned, instead of charging per half KG they should start charging per 100grams. That way their recent price increase will seem more reasonable.

Thanks K!

This is a video presentation of The Mall of Kuwait which is currently being built. Judging by the video it looks pretty big but the most impressive thing has to be the 750 seat performance hall. The mall was originally scheduled to open this year but I don’t know if thats still the target time. [YouTube]

I just got an email from Aramex regarding their new prices for Shop&Ship. Starting July 1st the new prices are as follows:

First ½ kg K.D. 3.000
Each additional ½ kg K.D. 2.500

Thats nearly a 25% increase! I also noticed Aramex launched a new identity with the prices, perfect timing. Welcome to the new revamped and more expensive Aramex… I am sticking to U Shop We Ship for my packages.