Category: Kuwait

Lola et moi emailed me to tell me that Discovery Mall has now officially opened. The mall is located next to the ice skating ring rink in Kuwait City and caters to kids. One thing I don’t like about the place is the fact there are only three restaurants and they are Nathan’s, KFC and Chili’s. With obesity being such a major issue here in Kuwait you would think that the restaurants at a kids mall would be more healthy. The picture above is from the new Lola et moi store at Discovery but if you want to see pictures of the mall check out the Kuwait Black Market blog by clicking [Here]

It seems my eating habits have caught up to me because it turns out I’ve been diagnosed with acid reflux. What this basically means is I have to change my eating habits and the biggest change will be no fatty or fried foods which currently makes the big chunk of my diet.

This doesn’t mean I won’t have burgers anymore, it just means I need to cut down on my daily intake of junk food. Now thing is I don’t like a lot of dishes and the dishes I do like aren’t usually healthy and I am sure many of you will relate to that. But, I’ve decided to try my best and work on a new healthier lifestyle and with that I am going to start looking for alternatives that hopefully won’t be breaking my bank. Kei for lunch is healthy but if I am going to have it everyday its going to be one expensive lifestyle.

As a start to this new lifestyle I passed by Salad Creations for lunch. I passed by before and had a chicken wrap but I didn’t like it simply because I find cold chicken gross. Today I had the Turkey BLT wrap and combined with the thousand island dressing it wasn’t that bad. I still would prefer a quarter pounder with cheese over it but that wasn’t really an option. Salad Creations has a bunch of ready to order salads and wraps but you can also create your own. They are located in Baitak Tower which is in the same building as KFH and X-Cite Electronics in Kuwait City.

From now on every time I find a new tasty healthier alternative to my regular junk food lunches and dinners I will post about it here in hopes that other people will benefit from my post. I like flavor and sauces and I am not trying to lose any weight here but just trying not to have the common fast food meals. Recommendations for me to try out are welcomed of course!

Last month I reviewed the Smoke House burger and gave it the highest rating so far which is a 4.5 out of 5. Thing is I went back to Smoke House this weekend and had the burger again but noticed something was different. Other than the presentation the burger looked like it didn’t have the signature BBQ sauce that I thought made the burger the last time. I didn’t think of this much but I just read the post by SOME contrast on Smoke House and it seems I am not the only one who noticed the burger has changed. What the hell happened? Why would anyone mess with that burger?? I thought about changing the score but I am going to try the burger again next week and see if it was just a one time thing or a permanent change.

Oh and you need to check out the argument SOME contrast had with the manager, priceless! [Link]

A lot of new Lebanese restaurants have opened up in Kuwait and so far I’ve tried two and they both had good things about them.

The first one I tried which I could swear I thought I had posted about was Abdel Wahab, the Lebanese restaurant that opened up in place of Fuddruckers on the Gulf Road. The interior looks nice and their taouk is one of the best in Kuwait. Their prices aren’t bad, cheaper than Al Mayas and maybe a bit cheaper than Villa Fayrouz. The worst thing about sitting and eating at Abdel Wahab for me was the fact that the whole time I was expecting to pick up chocolate chip cookies on my way out, something I used to do when the place was Fuddruckers.

The second place I got to try today was Karam Cafe which is located at the Avenues. Although at first I was annoyed by the fact they had shisha indoors their kebab turned out to be really juicy and one that I would go back for again. Price wise their main courses were very cheap, taouk dish was like KD2.550 (but wasn’t as good as Abdel Wahab) while the Kebab dish was for KD2.500.

I still need to try Leil Nhar which is right next to Karam and Snowbar which opened up where Zorba used to be on the Gulf Road.

The Abdel Wahab picture above was taken by SOME contrast who has a ton more pictures [Here]

I have a confession to make, when I see a KFC ad on the street I feel like having KFC, when I see a Hardees flier in the newspaper I feel like having Hardees, when I read about food I want to have whatever I am reading about and thats what happened to me earlier tonight. Although I had a Smoke House burger for lunch, I was reading my favorite hamburger blog called Hamburger America when I read about how ketchup in burgers is for kids and how mustard is the way to go. I am a big fan of ketchup in my burgers but I wanted to try it with just mustard so I decided to pass by Johnny Rockets and ordered a cheese burger with just mustard. Turned out it was really good and I think I might be having my burgers like this more often. No lettuce, no tomato, no onions, just cheese and mustard. If you’re a burger fan check out Hamburger America, he’s got tons of nice burger shots all over the blog. [Link]

I don’t go to the movies here much because of the censorship but yesterday I ended up going to watch Star Trek at the Avenues cinema with Marzouq, Nibaq, k.thekuwaiti and some other friends. It was my first time trying out the VIP theater and I think I might start going to the movies more often because of it. The theater fits around 20 seats all of which can be electronically controlled to recline. The VIP section also has its own munchies bar which means you don’t have to wait in the long lines outside with everyone else. It feels like sitting and watching a movie at home on a very huge screen. All that for just KD6 which is a steal!

Star Trek was a great movie, definitely the best Star Trek yet.

I passed by the Salmiya clinic in the morning to get the H1N1 flu paper I got from the airport signed. It was my first time there and I have to say the place is disgusting. Can’t believe that’s actually a medical center, it looks more like a big kitchen or bathroom. I even found a big dead bug on a dirty and stained floor, gross!

Anyway went to the proper department where this woman with a really large book took down my name and travel information. She asked me if I was sick, I told her no so she told me to come back on Sunday and that was it.

Someone in Kuwait is selling a bear, isn’t that illegal? Where are the authorities, I can understand they don’t care about dogs or cats but at least when it comes to bears you would think they would give a damn. [Link]

Thanks GeordieLass!

I got back to Kuwait just over an hour ago and got a shock when I was told I had to fill and sign some medical forms and then be tested for signs of the H1N1 flu! As we exited the plane there was a medical staff waiting for us with infrared thermometers along with some officials and they took a reading of all our temperatures before letting us pass through. Then, before getting to immigration, we had to sign documents and get them stamped stating that within the next 72 hours I would pass by a clinic to be examined or else I could face a 1 month prison sentence or a KD50 fine!

Not everyone coming to Kuwait has to go through this, only selected countries and I am guessing its countries that have had confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu like the Netherlands.

Kuweet.com is like KuwaitBlogs.com except instead of tracking local blogs it tracks local tweeters. A lot of people in Kuwait have recently jumped onto the Twitter bandwagon including politicians so Kuweet is a nice site to be able to keep track of all their tweets without needing to have your own twitter account.

What is twitter? I think the easiest explanation is that its like blogs except every post is limited to just 140 characters.. perfect for people who don’t enjoy or have the time to read a lot of long posts. [Link]

Note: If you have a twitter account and want to be added to Kuwait just follow @Kuweet

I’ve been having such an incredible lucky streak with mangoes recently. The last two boxes I got from Sultan Center turned out to be INCREDIBLE but tonight I might have discovered the “ultimate” mangoes. A friend of mine dropped off a fresh box of Indian Alphonso Mangoes and I just had some… wow they just melted in my mouth. Turns out a friend of his imports these premium mangoes directly from India and has a delivery service here in Kuwait. Its called “Gourmet Mangoes” and you just call them up and order a box of mangoes and get them delivered to you.

They’ve got two kinds of mangoes, a box of regular sized ones is for KD8 while the jumbo sized mangoes are for KD9. That’s just slightly more expensive than Sultan Center which go for KD7.450 and these guys deliver so its worth trying out.

If you’re interested contact them on 99880008

Just got back from the Slider Station two year anniversary party and I am completely stuffed. I just love the place, Happy Anniversary!

Is it only me or does anyone else also think are there a lot of mosquitoes this year?

The building above looks like its getting demolished which sucks. What would be the harm in refurbishing it? I think the blue pattern is really funky. [Link]

Picture taken by Italian in Q8

There was a small fire in the basement of my office building and I managed to capture the whole excitement live on my twitter account. You can check out all the posts by clicking [Here] to go to my twitter account or click on the direct links below:

There is smoke!
More smoke it’s getting worse
Fire truck is here!
Firemen seem to be taking their time
Cops r here now
Lots of shouting fireman getting ready to go in
They just went in
I think the fire is nearly out
The crowd watching
More crowds
The cause of the fire, cigarette in the trash bin
Smoke still coming out
Soaking the garbage bin with water
More cops arrived

Note: Once you follow the links you will need to follow the image links on those pages to see the pictures.