Category: Sneak Peek

A few hours ago Kuwait Airways posted photos on their instagram account of how their new business and first class cabins will look like and frankly, it’s a bit disappointing. Although it’s a MAJOR improvement over their current planes, the first class seats (pictured above) look more like business class seats on other airlines, while their business class (pictured below) is more like premium economy.

They haven’t posted any photos of the economy class seats but anything really is better than what they have now. The first new plane arrives this coming December. Here is a link to their [Instagram]

I had lunch earlier today at Katsuya, the new Japanese fusion restaurant that was brought to Kuwait from Los Angeles by Alshaya. The restaurant isn’t open yet but I was lucky enough to get invited for a sneak peek so I headed there with a few friends of mine to try it out.

What originally got me interested in Katsuya is the partnership with product and interior designer Philippe Starck. I’m a huge fan of his work and was actually hoping he would be coming to Kuwait for the opening but that’s sadly not happening. Katsuya is currently only open in California and Florida and their first international branch is opening up here in Kuwait followed shortly by Dubai. According to the Vice President of Katsuya who I had the pleasure of meeting, Philippe Starck had to reinvent the interior design for the Middle East. Their US locations use feminine beauty in the design, mostly the eyes and lips so for the Middle East they wanted something more appropriate and fitting with the local culture so Philippe Starck went back to the drawing board and reworked the brand with the future in mind. The result is a fusion of Japanese samurais and art resulting in a design full of colors and movement.

We sat down and ordered their cocktails first. I originally ordered the Strawberry Fields but after trying my friends drink called Burning Mandarin I decided to swap mine for that. It’s a bit spicy but worked really well with the starters. For our dishes we let the waitress make most of the choices for us while me and my friends chose a few dishes we were interested in trying. The result? We ended up with a ton of food, so much that I actually made them email me the list since I wasn’t able to track everything. This is what we had:

– Sautéed Shishito Peppers
– Edamame Humus
– Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeño
– Spicy Albacore Sashimi with Crispy Onion
– Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna
– Stuffed Eggplant
– Creamy Rock Shrimp
– Wagyu Filet with Foie Gras
– Miso-Marinated Black Cod
– Japanese Mushroom BOP
– Sashimi Sampler
– Special Katsuya Roll
– Kiwi Scallops
– Double Chocolate Lava Cake
– Mochi
– Espresso Brownie Bar

I found the food style very similar to Zuma and Australasia which is great since there isn’t anything similar to that here in Kuwait. From the items I tried the ones I would highly recommend are:

– Edamame Humus
– Stuffed Eggplant
– Miso-Marinated Black Cod
– Japanese Mushroom BOP

If there is one dish you NEED to try its the Stuffed Eggplant. I know I know it doesn’t sound like much and I honestly HATE eggplant, I can’t stand it but this is so different. The eggplant is stuffed with tuna and almonds covered in a sweet miso glaze. It’s actually not a top seller in the States but my guess is it’s going to be a big hit here.

The dishes aren’t that expensive. We didn’t pay for our meal but I do have a PDF of the menu which you can download at the end of this post and really most of the dishes are priced pretty fairly. The black cod dish is around KD14 but it was also the largest piece of black cod I had ever been served. I actually asked the waitress if this was their regular serving size or a large portion just for us, that’s how big it was. The Edamame Humus (genius idea btw) is KD2.950, the Stuffed Eggplant KD3.950 and the Mushroom BOP which is a fairly large portion is priced at KD5.450.

If you’re interested in trying the place out, Katsuya is officially opening this coming Wednesday from 12 noon at Avenues Phase III near Cheesecake Factory. You can download and check out their menu below and make sure you try the Stuffed Eggplant, that’s the dish that’s going to make me keep going back.

Katsuya Dinner Menu
Katsuya Drinks and Desserts Menu

Gia is a small new cafe that’s opening soon and so far it looks very cute. It’s opening in Al Khalid Complex in Salmiya, a complex which I think has so much potential to be a great trendy spot. Not many places like it anymore..

Last week when I passed by the new revamped Peacock restaurant at Radisson Blu I also got a tour of the hotel. I didn’t check out the rooms since they didn’t interest me but I did check out the lobby area and the new Sky Lounge.

The lobby area is a lot brighter than before with a lot more daylight coming in and a brighter color palette. They’ve removed their famous floating 4-ton marble sphere from the entrance and moved it outside. They also expanded the little cafe that used to be there and they kept Peacock in the same location with just the entrance now moved to the main side.

The Sky Lounge is a new addition to the hotel that didn’t exist before. It was still under heavy construction when I passed by but I found the rendering above of how it will eventually look like. The Sky Lounge has a panoramic view of the sea and they want it to be the “it” place to hangout at night. Once the sun sets the whole place dims down and mood lights come on. They’ll have a DJ playing house music and they’ll also have a bar that serves non-alcoholic cocktails. They want the place to be a chill-out lounge and I’m personally curious to see how that works out.

I was invited to pass by Magnolia Bakery today for a sneak peek and while there I met with Bobbie Lloyd, the president and operating partner who filled me in on the brands history as well as what’s in store for the Kuwait location. The Kuwait store will be the 10th Magnolia Bakery in the world with seven branches located in the US, one in Dubai and one that recently opened in Beirut. If you live in Doha you’ll be pleased to know Magnolia will be opening there next month as well.

Those of you who know Magnolia Bakery will notice one big difference with the Kuwait location and that is they’ll be serving savory dishes like pasta and sandwiches alongside their desserts. This will be the first Magnolia Bakery branch that will be serving savories with the second being the Beirut location.

While getting a tour of the location I was asked if I wanted to ice a cupcake. Since I’m a klutz and I didn’t want to embarrass myself I politely said no but they insisted I give it a shot. After a short lesson I was handed a bucket of icing, a cupcake and a spatula. Even though the Magnolia Bakery staff make icing look really easy I knew it wasn’t going to be but I gave it my best and my cupcake actually didn’t turn out THAT bad.

Magnolia Bakery is located on the mezzanine floor of Hamra Tower and will be opening up this coming Wednesday. If you want to find out more about the brand you can visit their website [Here]

I’ve only been to Spain once and it was a couple of years ago on a work related trip. There are two things I still remember from my trip, the fantastic food and the unbelievably amazing Sangrias. Luckily for us both will be available really soon in Kuwait… and yes, even the Sangrias.

The new place that’s opening up is called Bubó. Bubó is a popular pastry store in Barcelona created by Catalan Pastry Chef Carles Mampel and he’s opening his first location outside Spain here in Kuwait. Carles is an award winning pastry chef with a number of achievements including “Best Master Pastry Chef in Spain in 1999” and winning the prize for the world´s best chocolate cake in 2005. In 2008 he was also incorporated into Relais Dessert. I had no idea what that was until today. It turns out Relais Dessert is like the Michelin Star of pastry chefs and it’s very difficult to earn and keep since they limit it to just 80 members around the world at any given time. In the Arab world for example there is only one Relais Dessert chef and it’s Lionel Pelle of Pâtisserie Cannelle in Beirut. In England there is only one and in the whole of the US there is also just one Relais Dessert chef. So Bubó will be the second store in the Arab world with a Relais Dessert so that’s pretty cool for us.

In addition to pastries the local Bubó will also serve over 20 different kind of tapas. Tapas are very popular in Spain and they’re basically appetizers, kinda like the Lebanese mezza. As I mentioned earlier they’re also going to have Sangarias… virgin Sangarias without any alcohol which should be interesting.

I sat with the local GM of Bubó as well as Carles Mampel and they really sold me on the whole concept which is why I can’t wait until they open next month. Carles explained to me how they have three important things they focus on with their food, health, quality of the food and presentation. Their food isn’t healthy as in diet kind of healthy but their food is healthy because it’s all made with natural ingredients. They do everything in house be it their mustard or the roasting of the hazelnuts. Carles is a control freak and the only way he can control the quality of his food is if he controls the ingredients as well.

The restaurant is located in Al-Ghunaim Tower in Kuwait City. It’s right opposite the parking entrance of Souk Al Watiya which is located behind Sheraton. When you first walk in the area on the right is similar to a casual lounge. It’s in case you just want to meet up with some friends, have coffee and dessert and just chill out. The middle section is made up of tables and chairs for dining be it lunch or dinner. Finally on the far left is where all the pastries will be displayed in jewelry like displays. The place looks pretty cool with a partly black angular ceiling which I think adds the most to the place design wise.

After sitting with Carles and understanding how he thinks and how he dissects ingredients and puts them together, I’ve realized to him the dishes are like an art and science. For example the Relais Dessert group of pastry chefs get together every year and they share new techniques they’ve each created. Carles for example created something called the Balsamic Caviar Vinegar. You can watch a video of how it’s made [Here]. It’s a different and more creative way of adding balsamic to dishes. They always have to innovate and set a certain bar or else they’re out of the Relais Dessert and someone else takes their place. I’ve heard a lot about how stressful a Michelin star is to a chef so I can only imagine how much stress these Relais Dessert members are under since theres only a limited amount of spots.

Price wise they’re still finalizing things but I was told they’ll be competitively priced. They gave me some price examples which I’m not sure I can share but lunch for example with friends would cost less than if you went out for sushi. The reason I’m using sushi as an example is because it’s the only other cuisine I can think of right now where you sit down and order a variety of dishes to share. Actually the Lebanese mezza is another one so their tapas will be priced somewhere between mezza and sushi dishes.

Left to right: Najla Yassin the GM, Jesus Arcas the executive chef and Carles Mampel

They’ve started tastings a few days ago and this is going to go on for another week or so until Carles thinks everything is up to par. I’m most likely going to pass by next week with Nat to try it out but will post another update later on once they officially open up. Should turn out to be pretty cool.

I passed by Marina Mall tonight since I had read they were opening tonight. But when I got there I noticed the shutters were still down but the lights were on inside and I spotted some employees. So I made a few phone calls and managed to get a tour around the store and take some pictures.

First off, the place is HUGE. I was expecting it to be big but not this big. It’s like a giant supermarket filled with sporting goods. The store is located in Marina Mall where Virgin and a bunch of other smaller shops used to be right across from Cinnabon and The Athletes Foot.

Decathlon is a French brand and most of their stores have 18 different sections but the one in Kuwait will be missing two, climbing and hunting. The other 16 sections in the store are the following (taken from their website):

– Camping
– Running
– Cycling
– Fitness, Dance, Martial Arts
– Swimming
– Surf Sports
– Boating
– Diving
– Teamsports
– Racket Sports
– Horse Riding
– Walking
– Golf
– Roller, Skate, Scooter
– Fishing
– Target Sports

I really loved the place and can’t wait to go back once they open which will hopefully be tomorrow night (Tuesday). They were supposed to open up tonight but due to a technically difficulty they’re now aiming to open by noon tomorrow. If anyone is looking for a watch with a heart rate monitor I spotted an affordable one there for KD12.5.

I was visiting one of the soon to open stores at the Al Hamra Tower Mall and decided to snap some pictures of the interior. The mall looks amazing, it’s a lot bigger than I expected (5 floors) and it’s also bright because of the natural daylight that comes in from the skylight. It looks very elegant, I really think it looks great. The mall is officially opening after tomorrow (Tuesday, May 1st) so just two more days left. Here are some pictures:

Update: I just found out the official name which is Al Hamra Luxury Center.

I have no idea when the new Gulf Road Fuddruckers branch is going to open but it looks huge so I can’t wait.

I got a sneak peek at ubon awhile ago and the place looks amazing. It’s very tastefully done with a mixture of black burnt wood and concrete. I spoke to the owner while there and he told me they’re going to be playing mostly modern jazz which will suit the place a lot. It’s easily easily going to be the coolest looking Thai food place in Kuwait.

Basil Alsalem (the owner of Slider Station) was at Hamra Tower tonight and snapped some shots of the mall from inside. It’s the first time I see shots of the mall from the inside with the lights on so I thought it was interesting to share. He snapped three shots which you could check out [Here]

So far here are the shops and restaurants I know of that are opening up in Hamra Tower:

Hermes
Le Sushi
Melenzane
Cavali Cafe
Gucci Cafe
Chocolate Bar
Elevation Burger
Panerai Boutique
Behbehani Watches
Harry Winston
Gelatissimo
Adidas
Adidas Originals
Reebok

The tower is scheduled to open in December of this year.

The Christian Louboutin is currently under construction in Salhiya but judging by their current progress it looks like they’ll probably be opening up right after Eid if not before.

One of the best things about blogging is the fact I get invited to check out a lot of cool work in progress projects like Messilah Beach, Missoni Hotel and The Regency Palace. My dad’s an interior designer and as a kid I used to tag along with him on Friday mornings to various construction sites which is why now whenever I get invited to visit one I can never say no. It brings back good childhood memories and that’s why when I was asked if I wanted to tour the Al Hamra Tower I jumped at the opportunity. I’ve been a big fan of the tower for a long time to get a tour of it before completion would literally be a once in a life time opportunity since they’re only going to build it once.

First a bit of history and some facts. Al Hamra used to be Kuwait’s and the GCC’s first indoor cinema. It had two large theaters, one played Bollywood movies while the other played Western movies. Al Hamra Tower is being built in the same location where Al Hamra Cinema used to be located. It’s currently the second tallest building in the region with Burj Khalifa being the tallest. It’s the tallest asymmetrical structure in the world (no side is like the other side) and it’s also the second tallest concrete building in the world.

So my tour started off with a video presentation of the tower. It wasn’t really boring since there was a presenter and I was able to interrupt and ask questions. After the presentation I was taken to the mall that’s located at the bottom of the tower. The mall is made up of five floors and each floor will be around the size of a floor at Al Raya mall across the street. The fifth floor will hold the Al Hamra Cinema. Whats special about this cinema is the fact it will be the first non-Cinescape theater in 50 years. Back in 1953 Cinescape got a 50 year exclusivity for cinema’s in Kuwait. That exclusivity expired in 2003. The mall will be a luxurious one and having Hermes there is a good start.

Once we were done walking around the mall we headed to the main tower lobby (pictured above) which is really going to be huge when completed. Although the tower is super tall your average wait time for a lift will be under 30 seconds, the lift also travels at a speed of 10 floors a second. To get to the top floor of the tower we had to take a lift up to a lobby on the 54th floor I think and then swap to another lift and continue up to the very last floor.

[YouTube]

Once we got to the last floor it was filled with scaffolding since they still have a few more glass panels they’re installing at the very top. But the space up there is just astonishing, the ceiling is incredibly high and the view is just overwhelming. I shot the video above to try and show what I was experiencing and seeing but you really need to be there (Trivia: Can you tell when I hit my head on a scaffolding? Luckily I was wearing a hard hat!). Once completed this last floor will sadly be a private invite only chairman’s club and not a restaurant like I had previously heard. This means very few people will actually get to enjoy this beautiful view.

It’s hard not to like Al Hamra Tower, it’s an office tower done right and we don’t have many “done right” projects in Kuwait. I really can’t wait for it to launch which should be September of this year. Below are some pictures I took today.

Update: Forgot to mention that the windows will be cleaned by a team of robots and it will take a month to clean all the windows. Burj Khalifa on the other hand employs 36 window cleaners who take 3 months to clean all the windows. Burj Arab I believe uses 2 people who take a full month to clean their windows.

Back in 2008 I posted about how Missoni Hotel was going to open up here in Kuwait and yesterday I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek tour of the place.

I noticed two things when I first walked into the lobby, the first was the amount of colors that filled the place and the second was the cleaning lady vacuuming using a Dyson. The hotel is full of beautiful summer colors and wild fabric designs that magically seem to all work together. I spent the whole time amazed at how tasteful everything was put together, it’s just incredible the amount of thought and work that went into it.

The second thing I noticed as I mentioned earlier was the Dyson vacuum cleaner but I then also spotted Bang & Olufsen speakers in the lobby ceiling followed by Bang & Olufsen TV’s in the hotel rooms. I even spotted Bodum toasters and very cool looking pots and pans in one of the hotel rooms mini kitchenettes. It’s a hotel that’s design driven, from the typeface the hotel room numbers are written in to the power plug sockets in the wall, everywhere you look you see good design which is very rare to see here in Kuwait.

They have 169 rooms so it’s not a small boutique hotel and the majority of their staff are from Italy so really once you walk into the hotel you could easily forget you were in Kuwait. The rooms had some very beautiful furniture which I right away asked if they were going to be available for purchase (turns out they will be). The hotel launches March 1st and they’re located in Salem Mubarek Street opposite American University of Kuwait in the same building where Symphony Mall is. I shot the pictures in this post but they will be sending me some more pictures which I will add to this post once I get them.

Update: Arabian Business has some more pictures which you can check [Here]

Cocoa Room is a new chocolate dessert concept by Basil AlSalem the Slider Station, Burger Boutique and Open Flame Kitchen creator. It’s his new dessert place that is opening up right next door to Slider Station. Last month I passed by Cocoa Room for the first time with some friends for a tasting session and yesterday night I passed by again with Nat and both times the food was amazing. The current tasting sessions include some new dishes that will end up on the Slider Station menu alongside the new desserts that were created specifically for Cocoa Room. Not sure where to start, maybe with the interior first. It’s small, but very cozy with a custom fitted velvet sofa running seamlessly alongside three walls. You come into Cocoa Room from a small doorway inside Slider Station and at night it’s very dimly lit with a large glass window that overlooks the Slider Station street entrance and waiting area outside. It looks very trendy and wouldn’t feel out of place if you stuck right in the middle of Soho.

Food wise I ate a lot. First time there I had 10 of the potentially new Slider Station dishes and then topped it off with 7 desserts from Cocoa Room. It was beyond filling, I felt like a python that had just devoured a sheep. Yesterday on the other hand I went back for a more moderate tasting session. Instead of eating everything I chose my favorite dishes from my first visit, I had some fried mozzarella balls on a Spanish salsa sauce, a veal and mushroom on potato crust starter, spicy lamb chops called Bangkok on Fire and finally pink spaghetti. For dessert I went with the Oreo fondant, chocolate lollipops and Nutella souffle. One thing I have to highlight here is that the lamb chops were the best lamb chops I ever had anywhere while the freshly made pink spaghetti was the best spaghetti dish I’ve ever had in Kuwait. I actually wanted to go back last night specifically to have those two dishes again. I’m really hoping they’re going to add them on the Slider Station menu very soon because they were really that good.

Now Cocoa Room on the other hand was supposed to open up soon but now the launch might be postponed since they just acquired the space next door so they might end up expanding Coco Room before it even opens. For now though you can enjoy some of the pictures I took below last night.