Category: Kuwait

I spend all week on a very strict diet that includes the likes of grilled chicken, tuna, lots of salad and boiled eggs, but when the weekend comes, the fat person inside me takes over and it’s not a pretty sight. Yesterday I had lunch at Elevation Burger as I said I would last week. But this time, instead of the double patty I went for the triple patty which I realized is the right way to do it and would highly recommend going that route over the double.

Today on the other hand I passed by Cocoa Room to test out their new burger. Every time I fall asleep and dream of burgers and unicorns, the burgers always have one thing in common, they’re thick and juicy. Ever since I’ve know Basil I’ve been asking him to make a thick burger and it seems my wish has finally come true. It’s still in the concept stage but he’s got the most important ingredient perfect right now which is the patty and what a patty… I already told him it’s magical. He’s going to end up having only one burger on the Cocoa Room menu but he’s still deciding between two different kinds although I think he’s leaning towards my favorite which is the one in the picture at the very top of this post. It’s a super thick wagyu patty with aged cheddar cheese and charred onion brought together with a hard crust bun. The second burger above has a similar patty but contains Swiss cheese, onion marmalade and a soft bun instead. When the burger is complete, it’s easily going to be the holy grail of all burgers.

There’s so much good burgers in Kuwait right now that someone needs to officially slap the Burger Land moniker on us. AHT are you listening?

The watch store “Write.Time” at The Avenues are now the official dealers for Nixon watches in Kuwait. Problem is they’re selling the watches for nearly double the price they sell for on Amazon. For example the Time Teller P series watches similar to the pink and blue one above cost around KD14 on Amazon while they’re selling them for KD28 in Kuwait. The Rubber Player series similar to the green, blue and black watches on the bottom left of the picture below sell for around KD38 on Amazon but KD72 in Kuwait. So the good news is we now have Nixon watches in Kuwait, the bad news is they’re over priced.

This logo seems familiar…

I wonder how easy it would be for the authorities to track down the uploader. I am a huge fan of graffiti but not on public property like highway underpasses. [YouTube]

I passed by Family Bookshop today and took as many pictures as I could. I figured the place might shutdown any day now and so it might be a good idea to document the place. It was pretty depressing. They currently have a court case with the new owner of the building and they aren’t doing well at all. According to the guy I spoke to they get very few customers and those who do come are old customers who used to be young 20 or 30 years ago and now come back with their grand kids to show them the place they used to get their books from. I walked around looking for an old copy of Hardy Boys or Dungeons & Dragons but didn’t find any not even a Peter and Jane book. On the other hand I did find some left over Jughead and Veronica comics in their old comics section. Below are some pictures I took of the place.

Fahad just posted his extremely comprehensive ice cream post with his signature “Approved” and “Not Approved” rating system. You can check out his post [Here]

Summer is here and my bakala guy just installed a brand new freezer filled with beautifully arranged KDD ice cream. Since the KDD packaging doesn’t contain any nutritional information I decided to get all the calorie information from the KDD website and list it over here in one easy to read list. Now Fahad is putting together an ultimate ice cream guide but until that’s ready the list below should be useful. These are just some favorites arranged from the highest calorie count to the lowest.

Lulu 257 calories

Silver 222 calories

Gold 185 calories

Burgan 126 calories

Sandwich 91 calories

Failaka 61 calories

Sarokh 53 calories

Raspberry Lolly 49 calories

If your favorite KDD ice cream isn’t here you’ll find it on their [Website]

My sister who’s currently in Dubai sent me the picture above which her friend took of the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar (Interiors Arabia Edition). A few months back, Harper’s Bazaar was in Kuwait and I met with them and showed them around Kuwait a bit. They were planning to have a piece on Kuwait and it looks like it’s in their latest issue. I’m in it (bottom right of the page above) as well as the vertical gardens at 360 Mall and Open Flame Kitchen. I can’t really tell much else from the low resolution picture I got and the magazine it’s out yet in Kuwait but once it is I’ll obviously be getting a copy to check it out.

Finally some good news regarding the internet caps situation in Kuwait right now. Yesterday member of parliament Ahmed Al-Saadoon spoke about the current internet cap situation and urged the minister of communications to put an end to the new internet laws. I really hope they do. [YouTube]

Thanks Othman

They started putting up a fence around Safat Square today in preparation for the construction of the new large fountain project that will take it’s place. [Link]

I found out about a cool website the other day called Architecture of Kuwait. The website (or maybe it’s a blog) talks about various design and architecture projects in Kuwait which I always find very interesting. My only comment is I wish they provided even more details on the projects since some of the posts just have pictures with a tiny snippet of text. It’s still very interesting so check it out [Here]

Note: The picture above is of the Al Sharqeyah School for Boys which looks amazing

Global Finance released the list of richest and poorest countries in the world for 2010 based on GDP data per capita. Kuwait came in 14th place while Qatar came in first. Congo on the other hand turned out to be the poorest. [Here]

Update: Here is the full list [Link]

A collage of various timelapse shots taken all over Kuwait by YouTube user alialiq8. Kuwait City looks exceptionally good in this video. [YouTube]

Yesterday I finally got the chance to pass by Elevation Burger at The Avenues. I had heard from a friend that they’re always packed so I tried to pass by early and got there around 1:45 which clearly wasn’t early enough since the place was already full. Luckily I found one table clearing up in a corner and had Nat wait at the table while I ordered at the cashier. The interior is pretty dull and kinda reminds me of a food court which is fine since it’s more like an upscale fast food joint then a restaurant but one thing that really bothered me was the lack of proper ventilation. I quickly tweeted that and the owner of the place replied saying they’re working on it. That’s great because I already have a hard time getting Nat to go to a burger place yet alone a burger place that will also make her smell like burgers.

I took a quick glance at the menu and right away knew what I was going to have. I ordered the Elevation Burger which is a double patty double cheese burger and added Elevation sauce to it, I also added a side order of french fries and a fountain drink. I took my receipt and went and waited for my order. A few minutes later my burger arrived and it looked really good. I quickly took my picture and then dug in. The burger was pretty thick, a lot thicker than it looks in the picture since after I picked up the burger I noticed the patty had slid down to the other side. Note to everyone, I love thick burgers. I took my first bite and in under a minute it was gone. I was originally worried the bun wouldn’t be soft enough but it was and it also did a good job of soaking up all the burger juice which there was a lot of. The beef patties were super greasy, by the time I was done with the burger there was a large pool of grease lying at the bottom of my plate. I thought the sauce could have been thicker since it was washing away with the grease but it might have been thick to start with and then got diluted with the grease I’m not sure. In any case the burger was good and I was considering ordering a second helping but since I still had my fries I decided not to.

I’m not a fan of their fries and wouldn’t order them again. If you’re a fan of home made fries you’ll like the Elevation ones but the next time I’m there I’ll be skipping the fries and ordering a second burger instead. The main direct competitor for Elevation burger right now at the Avenues is Johnny Rockets but in a few months time it’s also going to be Shake Shack. Would I go back? Yes I would. It’s located in a convenient location, it’s a no frills in and out dinning place with good burgers. The biggest issue really is their ventilation which is getting fixed this week. Elevation Burger is located outside in Avenues Phase II, on the top floor.

Aïshti and Aïzone at the Avenues have a 30% sale. It started yesterday and from what I can tell everything is on sale except for one tiny section of new arrivals.