Category: Reviews

KFC wasn’t the only one to recently introduce a new fish sandwich to their menu, Burger King also added the new Hammour Royale. Since I tried KFC’s Fish Zinger the other day, I decided it would only be fair if I also gave Burger King’s conception a shot.

Psychologically I am more comfortable having fish at Burger King then at KFC because BK just feels (and probably is) cleaner. Well I tried the Hammour Royale and I definitely prefer it over the Fish Zinger. Firstly it tastes like fish which is a good first step. Secondly it looks pretty good, maybe not as good as the product shots in their adverts but really no burger or sandwich ever looks like their glamor shots. My biggest problem with the Hammour Royale was that it was a bit dry. If I was to have it again I would order it with cheese and extra sauce because the way I had it today it really lacked some flavor.

The price of the Hammour Royale is 900fils and I believe its an extra 50fils if you want cheese with it. The price of the combo is KD1.350. This makes the Hammour Royale 100 fils cheaper then the Fish Zinger sandwich and 150fils cheaper then the Fish Zinger combo. Overall not a bad effort by Burger King, I would still rather have McDonald’s Fillet-O-Fish but this is not a bad alternative. I would definitely have it again. Final score is a 4 out of 5.

Ever since I saw the ad for KFC’s Fish Zinger sandwich I thought to myself, why?? It didn’t make any sense, who would want to have a fish burger at KFC? Now since I needed content for my blog I figured what the heck, I would try it for lunch. Luckily for me it wasn’t that bad.

It tastes like chicken. No really it does, I think its because the spicy zinger overpowers the taste of the fish… which is a good thing because who wants to taste KFC’s version of the fish anyway. The sandwich is presented in its own customized over sized packaging which misleads you into thinking the Fish Zinger is huge, only once you open it you realize its not that big. The bun they use is pretty good (not the regular KFC bun) but its not as good as McDonalds fillet-o-fish bun which I rank as one of the prettiest looking buns ever.

The price of a Fish Zinger sandwich is KD1.000 and if you order it as a combo its KD1.500. I personally wouldn’t order it again but its really not as bad as I imagined it to be. I don’t know why they would suddenly introduce a fish burger to their menu, maybe they are thinking of launching a Kentucky Fried Fish in the future and they are just testing the waters? Whatever their reason might be I hope they stick to chicken. Final score is a 3 out of 5.

Yesterday night I watched a movie called Smokin’ Aces which is kinda like Ocean’s Eleven except bigger, meaner and a lot cooler. The movie has a huge cast and I mean HUGE! Here is a list of some of the most recognizable ones:

Ben Affleck
Jason Bateman
Common
Andy Garcia
Alicia Keys
Alex Rocco
Wayne Newton
Ray Liotta
Ryan Reynolds
Jeremy Piven
Peter Berg
Martin Henderson
Christopher Michael Holley
Maury Sterling
Curtis Armstrong
Matthew Fox
Nestor Carbonell

Full list of cast is [Here]

So you can see the cast list is just awesome, even Jack from Lost is in this movie.. even Herb from the old TV show Moonlighting is in this movie! The movie is about a mob guy who turned snitch and now has a 1 million dollar bounty on his head to whoever can kill him. Different assassins try to get to him and it becomes a race to see who can kill him first.

As I mentioned earlier the cast in the movie is great but the best part is a lot of the actors are playing roles that we usually don’t associate them with. For example, Ryan Reynolds plays a very serious and dedicated FBI agent but he usually plays the role of a funny and silly guy in various comedies. Nestor Carbonell, the hispanic guy on Suddenly Susan, last time I saw him he was playing the role of Batmanuel on the short lived comedy series “The Tick“. In Smokin’ Aces he plays the role of a psychotic torturer / assassin. These role changes make the movie a lot more enjoyable because its really twisted and unexpected.

The movie is a lot of fun and even though its nearly two hours long it never gets dull not even for a single second. On IMDB it got a raiting of 6.5 out of 10 but I really don’t understand why. I personally give it a 4.5 out of 5. Its loaded with action and it stars some of my favorite actors, its the perfect recipe for a successful movie.

Check out the official website [Here]

I haven’t posted a movie review in a while because as usual, most of the movies I watch turn out to be average. Big Nothing on the other hand surprised me because it actually turned out to be really cool and absurd.

The comedy stars David Schwimmer the guy from the tv show Friends and Simon Pegg, the guy from Shaun of the Dead. David plays the role of unemployed teacher who goes to work at a call center where he meets Simon who convinces him to join him in a simple blackmailing scheme. The scheme turns out to be anything but simple with twisted murders and lies.

Simon Pegg as expected is extremely comical while this is probably David Schwimmer’s best movie yet. The movie takes a lot of unexpected twists and turns that you spend the whole time laughing because you can’t believe what just happened. The way their simple plan falls apart over and over and over is just ridiculous! It was really entertaining to watch and isn’t long clocking in just 86 minutes. So for the final score I give it a 4 out of 5.

Kabab Al Hajat are know in Kuwait for their Kababs but recently they started making shawerma and I was curious to know how well it faired up.

Anyone who has ever been to Kabab Al Hajat and tried ordering food will know that there usually its extremely crowded and wait is long. Thankfully the shawerma station there has its own cashier and so is never full. When I passed by they only had chicken shawerma but the guy told me they were going to add meat also soon. I ordered two chicken and a coke, each shawerma costs 250fils and the coke 100fils.

Firstly it is important to point out I had my shawerma at lunch time. Very very few places serve shawerma during the day for some reason, I can only think of maybe 2 or 3 places max that serve shawerma for lunch so Kabab Al Hajat don’t have much competition while the sun is still out.

How did the shawerma taste? Well the garlic wasn’t strong which I usually mark as a bad thing. This time though I actually appreciated it because I was having shawerma during my lunch break and I didn’t want to get back to the office stinking of garlic. The overall flavor of the shawerma though was average, nothing in it stuck out as being amazing and there was no flavor that tasted weird or out of place. They use small Arabic bread not the hot dog one (samoon).

For the final score I would give it a 3.5 out of 5. Since they serve shawerma for lunch I think thats a great thing and I would pass by again for sure. At night though I would rather drive a bit further and get a shawerma from Badar Al Badoor.

Nathans or Hardees, which of the two has the better chili dog?

THE NATHANS CHILI DOG

THE HARDEES CHILI DOG

PRICE
Nathans Chili Dog: 750 fils
Hardees Chili Dog: 500 fils

SIZE
Both Hardees and Nathans have similarly sized hot dogs. The Nathans is just slightly bigger but not by that much.

LOOKS
Hardees looks visually more attractive and colorful while the Nathans hot dog looks dull and stale.

SPEED
Nathans hot dogs take longer then Hardees to prepare. I ordered my hot dog from Nathans Souk Sharq then I went to Hardees ordered a hot dog, I picked it up and went back to Nathans and my hot dog was still not ready. Also while waiting at Nathans I had to stand there listening to the manager making fun out of people who pass him. He’s an idiot.

TASTE
Nathans Chili Dog: The chili is terrible and the onions tasteless. The hot dogs meat itself is tastier then the Hardees meat but everything else tasted bad. I even ordered a plain hot dog with just ketchup and mustard and I don’t know what ketchup they use but its one of the worst tasting ones I have ever tried. A real mess seriously.

Hardees Chili Dog: Although the actual hot dog itself tastes a bit better at Nathans, the chili used at Hardees is much better and the mustard and onions are also better tasting. Even the bread feels softer and fresher.

CONCLUSION
I believe the Hardees Chili Dog is a better hot dog overall. Firstly it costs 50% less then the Nathans one Nathans hot dog costs 50% more. Its also visually more attractive, quicker to order and in general is a better tasting hot dog. I would not have a Nathans hot dog again, not unless they get better ingredients.

I heard a lot of stories about this sandwich and they were mostly horror stories but never the less I wanted to try it for myself. Awhile ago I ordered some food from Naif and one of the items was the infamous Puri Fillet. The Puri Fillet is fried chicken with cheese, lettuce and mayonnaise wrapped in puri bread. Puri is deep fried bread for those of you who don’t know.

So deep friend chicken plus deep fried bread and you get a three million calorie sandwich. Its so greasy its suicidal. I swear after I finished the sandwich I felt like I had doubled my weight.

The final score, 0 out of 5. This sandwich is for people who ride motorbikes wearing flip flops and no helmet.

Over a year ago I got the Sennheiser PX100 headphones to replace my Shure E2s canal phones. The Shure’s although really great weren’t very practical for office use since putting them on was a hassle and at work I am always being interrupted which meant I had to keep taking them on and off. Thats when I decided to go with the PX100 headphones and the sound was really great but, I ran into problems. The PX100 were open air meaning they let sound in and they also let sound out. People around me could easily hear what I was listening to and I could hear them. This is why I researched for new closed headphones.

I found a nice bunch of headphones including the amazing the Beyerdynamic DT 990 which I was ready to get until I found out they had an impedance of 250ohms which meant I needed one heck of an amp to power them.. not very iPod friendly. After days of research on Headfi.org I realized the headphones for me were the Austrian designed AKG K81 headphones. They were closed air, had a good amount of bass and a very decent sound stage. They were also 32ohms which meant would run off my iPod very nicely and they were very affordable at $95.

I have been using the AKG’s for a few months now and I love them. They are very comfortable and the sound is superb. For the price I paid I don’t think I could have gotten anything better. I think they are the best headphones you could get for under $100. But, its not perfect. The headphones just barely fit me. I don’t have a large head but I am guessing Austrians have a small one because I have the headphones expanded to the max and they just barely fit. So if you have a big head I wouldn’t recommend the AKG. Final score is a 4 out of 5.

I watched The Prestige yesterday night at Marzouqs place. It was a really really good movie specially when compared to The Illusionist. The movie is over 2 hours long but its one of those movies you just wished it was even longer.

The Prestige Vs The Illusionist and Christian Bale Vs Edward Norton. No contest here because The Prestige has a much better storyline with an interesting although controversial twist at the end in addition Christian Bale’s character is more exciting. Even the other supporting actors like Hugh Jackman and Michael Caine were performing at their best. But really its the story, the idea behind The Prestige that set this movie apart from The Illusionist. The problem with The Illusionist is that very little happened and there was very little magic. The Prestige on the other hand is full of events and you get to see a ton of magic tricks and best of all they even show you how they were made, something The Illusionist was lacking.

The main plot deals with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman who are both magicians. Early in the movie an event takes place which results in the two hating each other. The whole movie is about them competing against each other.

For the final score I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. Without spoiling the movie for anyone who hasn’t watched it, the reason it didn’t get a full 5 out of 5 was because of the ending, it just wasn’t as real as the rest of the movie.

Oh and fuck Thomas Edison!

I haven’t written any movie reviews lately because the majority of the stuff I watched have been crap like Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Jackass 2, Danika and The Illusionist or they have been really good, just difficult to write about like Brick and Idiocracy. Today though I watched a movie that exceeded my expectations, Running Scared.

While watching the movie I tried to figure out where I had seen the main actor before and I couldn’t put my finger on it until just 5 minutes ago while checking out IMDB. The main star of the movie is Paul Walker, the blond guy from The Fast and The Furious movies. I thought he was pretty lame back then but in Running Scared he was like a different person.

The movie is about Paul Walker trying to get back a gun he had in his possession that was used to kill a cop. The gun keeps changing hands “in an underworld of freaks, pimps, hookers and pedophiles” and Paul spends the whole movie trying to find it while avoiding his gang and the cops.

I liked the way the movie was shot and edited especially the colors and the locations, it was all very dark and urban. There is also a cool signature move where the main character (Paul) visualizes how an incident took place while standing still and looking around, kinda like how they do it in the TV show CSI. The only thing I disliked about the movie was one of the other stars, the kid Cameron Bright. I didn’t like him in The Butterfly Effect and I didn’t like him in Running Scared. The kid just looks really weird.

The movie was really fun to watch and it never felt boring, I actually only checked my email once throughout the whole movie which rarely happens, thats how fast paced it was. Final score though it gets a 4 out of 5. The reason is there were a lot of people I wanted to see more of, mostly his gang and the Russians. But the movie flowed through so many characters and so quickly that it never stopped or slowed down enough to really enjoy them all. In general though this is definitely a movie I would recommend.

I had the best chocolate cheese cake ever today. I was at Lorenzo having lunch when I decided to try their dessert. I heard a lot of good stuff about their cakes but I am usually too full to have any. Today I still had room after I finished lunch so I decided to order the chocolate cheese cake.

Its the best chocolate cheese cake I have ever had. Its also not too expensive. The whole cake costs KD7.500 while a large slice costs I think KD1.750 but its sooo worth it. I mean I would easily pay KD10 for the whole cake without thinking twice.

I actually heard Lorenzo supplies cake to a lot of places in Kuwait. Starbucks for example get their oreo cheese cake from Lorenzo. Speaking of Starbucks, has anyone noticed how terrible their cookies taste a the moment? It seems they changed their cookie supplier and the new one just sucks.

Anyway back to the chocolate cheese cake, if you are a cheese cake fan you HAVE to try it. It easily gets a 5 out of 5 stars. Lorenzo is located across the street from Sheraton in Kuwait City but by end of the month they are moving to Salhiya near Johnny Rockets. You don’t have to have lunch there to have their dessert, if you go into the restaurant the cakes are located on the right hand side. They also have chocolate marble cheese cake and chocolate pie which I want to try the next time I go there.

I just had the most expensive shawerma I have ever had in Kuwait. I tried this new shawerma place that opened near Restaurant Street (Share3 al Mata3em) called Shawermer. I had just left Sajj House because they were packed and was heading to get shawerma from Dodo when I saw this place and decided to try it out.

When I walked in I noticed they had two large shawerma skewers (one meat and one chicken) laid out horizontally over a charcoal grill. That grabbed my attention, I thought it was pretty original since I had never seen a shawerma skewer laid out like that. So I proceeded to order two chicken shawermas and a coke. The cashier then tells me he wants 900fils. I was like how much is one shawerma? He tells me 400fils. I was like “fuckin A” this is either going to be one really large sandwich or one unbelievably amazing shawerma.

So I stood by the horizontal shawerma skewers waiting to see how the chef was planning on cutting it up when I noticed some guy at the other side of the kitchen taking already cut up shawerma from a metal container and placing it into my sajj bread. I was like what the fuck? The shawerma isn’t even freshly cut!? I was like whatever, lets not judge anything before trying the shawerma. The guy finishes heating up my two shawermas and puts them in a bag and gives it to me with a small 250ml can of Pepsi (I really hate these cans!). I leave the place, go out into my car and decide to eat the shawermas there while they were still hot.

My first reaction was what the hell!? This shawerma had the worst tasting garlic ever. Like way worse than Kurdo’s garlic which I used to count as the lowest of the low when it came to garlic. Now out of the blue Shawermer was able to smash the charts with this absolutely horrendous tasting garlic. I didn’t know what it tasted closer to, cough medicine or tooth paste. Actually what am I saying, I would rather have cough medicine mixed with tooth paste and kitchen soap over a spoonful of this garlic.

So I finished up my two sandwiches and just sat in my car bewildered at what this place was thinking charging people 400fils for a shawerma that tasted like something you can find under your kitchen sink. Then I looked around and noticed the place didn’t look like it was doing any good which is a good thing. It was a Wednesday night and every other restaurant on the street was packed and this place was empty which put a smile on my face.

Final score, half a star out of a possible five. Like Shoo? Shawerma, it gets half a star because if there was a nuclear holocaust and all the food in the whole world got infected with radiation and Shawermer miraculously had radiation free shawermas, then I wouldn’t mind having one.

I was parking my car outside Sultan Center in Salmiya when I first spotted this place. Its located in the backside area near the clinic and because of the name I felt I had to try their shawermas.

After I was done shopping I put the bags in the trunk of my car and walked over to Shoo? Shawerma to order some food. I ordered two chicken shawermas with no pickles and a coke. Total price? 800fils. I was like “fuckin A” this must be some seriously good shawerma if they are charging 350 a piece for it. So, I picked up my two shawermas and headed to the car where I started eating them.

After my first bite I turned around and told Nat this was a 2.5, but the more I ate it the more I hated it. The shawerma was really bad, like really bad. It tasted really greasy and the garlic flavor was no where to be found so there was nothing to cover up the god awful taste of the chicken. It was so bad that once I was done with my first shawerma I threw the second one away. I had NEVER done that before!

Now if this was any ordinary crappy place selling shawermas for 200fils then I might expect something this bad, but 350fils for a shawerma, thats the big league, fuck that, thats the super league. Most top scoring shawerma places charge 300 fils for a shawerma and this joint was charging 350 for the worst shawermas I have ever had. Even the Pepsi can was the small 250ml one, who still sells these, even Bader Al Badoor sells the 330ml Coke cans!

So super high price, small Pepsi can, and most importantly the worst shawerma I have ever experienced in my life earned this place half a star out of a possible five. It only got that half star because if I was stuck in the desert with no food except for their shawerma then I would consider eating it.

Sweden is famous for their meatballs so when IKEA started making and selling shawermas I was eager to try it.

First time I had the shawerma in the new IKEA branch at The Avenues mall I didn’t like it. They mixed vegetables with my shawerma and I hate places that do that. The vegetables which is usually made up of onions and some green stuff (I don’t know what its called) over powers the chicken flavor. So next time I passed by IKEA I ordered the shawerma plain with just garlic.

How was it? Its edible.

The biggest problem I had with their shawerma is the bread. I think there is too much bread for the shawerma. The solution I would recommend is to either increase the quantity of chicken in the bread or decrease the size of the bread itself. The chicken tasted good and the garlics presence was felt but not over done. If only they weren’t so stingy.

Final score I settled for was 3 out of 5. The shawerma costs 250fils which is great specially since the place is extremely clean. They also have an offer combo, coke plus shawerma for 350fils. The location is crap, no one is going to drive up to IKEA just for their shawerma of course. Overall its not bad for their first try. I just hope they start filling up the bread with more chicken.

When I asked about good chilidogs in Kuwait a lot of people recommended I try the chilidog at Johnny Rockets. Well I tried it and it sucked.

First of all the hot dog arrived with the bun wide open. Then the hot dog itself was also split open down the middle and the whole thing was covered with a ton of chili and some chopped onions. When I closed the bun so I could eat it the top half of the bun split away from the bottom half and the chili just started dripping uncontrollably everywhere. Its definitely not a sandwich you would want to order on your first date… or ANY date for that matter.

After a short struggle and going through a dozen napkins I finally managed to finish my chilidog. I wasn’t impressed. Their chili is decent but really the whole experience wasn’t very pleasant, their chili burger is much more enjoyable. Compared to Hardees, Burger Boutique and Fuddruckers, Johnny Rockets has the worst chilidog. My final score is a 2.5 out of 5. The price of the chilidog is KD1.850. I’ll stick to their burger next time.

Picture by Kristel Wyman