Category: Sneak Peek

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.

Last night I posted a sneak peek of the new Choowy Goowy Cafe that’s opening up at 52 Degrees and today Nat passed by and was able to send me pictures of 52 Degrees as well. The place so far looks really cool and that has a lot to do with the fact it was designed by the Kuwaiti architect Ahmed Al-Baghli, the same guy behind the beautiful MELENZANÈ. Nat on the other hand created the 52 Degrees identity. You can check out some sneak peek pictures below, they are soft launching tonight.

For those of you who don’t know what 52 Degrees is, it’s basically a department store that will be filled with Kuwaiti products and creations from clothing and accessories to food and desserts.

Choowy Goowy Cafe is currently under construction but it looks pretty cool so far. It will be opening up at 52 Degrees by the first week of February. On the other hand 52 Degrees is having their soft launch tonight (Sunday) at Tilal Complex.

Fatburger is opening up mid July at Spoons in Mahboula. I’ve never tried their burgers but Marzouq has and judging by his pictures and review it should be pretty good. I can’t wait…

Yesterday I had a meeting at Caribou Coffee in 360 Mall and while there I spotted a friend of mine from B+F. Since their new Open Flame Kitchen project is located right next to Caribou Coffee I practically held him at gun point and forced him to give me a sneak peek at the place. I had only seen a 3D rendering before of their pizza oven which they had accidentally published on their Facebook group but other than that I hadn’t seen much else.

Well I saw the place yesterday and I managed to snap two pictures which I’ve attached to this post. Keep in mind the place is currently under construction and there is no seating, lighting or anything of the sort in place yet. There are just four large projectors to provide enough light for the construction workers. But, with these pictures you can at least get a glimpse of the interesting forms and shapes that being developed for OFK.

There are two main attraction points you will spot when you first come in. On the right side of the restaurant is their grill area where they will be grilling their steaks and burgers (the picture above). On the left side of the restaurant is their pizza oven (first picture on top). Whats cool about the pizza oven is that its an unusual shape and is covered in real gold leafs. The pizza oven also has this black circular metallic bars revolving around it which they’ve nicknamed the tornado since it takes the form of one.

They will have two separate outdoor seating areas and also a VIP room. The whole restaurant was black with black floors, black walls and a black ceiling. It’s all still under major construction so by the time it launches it will look completely different.Which brings me to the the most important subject which is the launch date. The soft opening should be at the end of June or beginning of July while the tasting should start on the 21st of this month. I’ve been nagging Bassil (the owner) for the past year to invite me to the tasting and so far it looks like my persistence has paid off since I’ve been invited to the tasting! I will NOT be on a diet for the tasting although he assured me their new menu has a lot of healthy food. Taking one day off a month shouldn’t be a problem… I hope (Fahad??).

Note: I should have mentioned this for the people who don’t know but B+F Open Flame Kitchen is part of the bigger family B+F Burger Boutique, Slider Station and B+F Roadside Diner.

I woke up this morning to a phone call from a friend in charge at 360 Mall asking me if I wanted to try out the roller coaster at Infunity. Infunity hasn’t opened yet and won’t be open for a few more months but today they were testing out the roller coaster and if I accepted the mission we would be the first passengers on it. I though it was a fun idea since I never beta tested a roller coaster before and agreed to meet him there before lunch.

Last time I passed by Infunity was in October and since then the place has changed a lot. As I mentioned back in October, Infunity will have a bunch of cool things going for it including a very large climbing wall, Go-Kart Drifting (very cool), an indoor roller coaster designed and built by the same people who create ones for Six Flags, and also a ton of other stuff I’m not sure if I am allowed to share.

When we first got there it turned out the German engineers were still working on the roller coaster so I walked around and checked out the place and took some pictures to kill a bit of time. Nat hadn’t been to the place before and I wanted her to see everything anyway. Once they were ready we went up the stairs to the boarding area. They had just finished testing the ride with sacks full of sand and now we would be the first people to ride it. We got into the seats, fastened the safety harness and took off. First of all the whole place was very dimly lit by a few portable projectors here and there. There was no one in the whole place except for three German engineers and the five of us so it was very empty. We were also the first people to try out the ride so there was that slight fear in the back of our minds that something could go wrong which added to the excitement. The ride although short turned out to be incredibly fun. The roller-coaster although on a fixed line actually rotates so one point you could be facing forward, the next backwards or sideways. The ride also takes you through one wall and then spits you out from another side and once the ride is completed the area behind the wall will actually have fake snow that comes down while you pass through. It was really a lot of fun and the whole time I felt like I was either going to get thrown from the track or hit my head on some pole, I loved it. We rode it a couple of times before we headed to lunch.

Now hopefully I am going to go back again once they start trying out the wall climb or drifting. I shot a video of the ride in the coaster which I might put up later but for now you can check out the pictures below.

I was dropping my Beemer off at the dealer today for a service when I spotted a closed booth that contained a car inside. Turned out to be the new BMW 5 series and it looked really good, much better than the new BMW Gran Turismo. I spotted one when I was in Lebanon and it looked really ugly, like if you took the already awkwardly looking X6 and had King Kong step on it and squash it. Seriously don’t know what they were thinking with the GT. Anyway the 5-series I saw today was the 535 and it was already reserved for someone.

Last night I was invited to sneak peek a new trendy Italian restaurant called MELENZANÈ. It’s a local creation by two young Kuwaitis who put a great deal of time and effort to create what has to be the most bizarre looking restaurant I’ve seen. The concept is based around mistakes and so you have chairs that are upside down or missing legs, tables on the ceiling, tables crawling up the walls, bottles hanging out of upside down drawers.. just a completely unusual and strange setup. Very cool and it caught me by surprise since when I had checked their website before visiting the place I got the impression it was a classic Italian restaurant. Instead, I got greeted by what an Italian restaurant would look like if it was based in Alice in Wonderland.

They’re still finalizing the dishes but from what I saw and tried, they have a wide range of things to choose from and the prices seemed very reasonable. They’re not open yet but they will next month once the new Bidaa extension opens up which by the way looks amazing. I wanted to take more pictures of the restaurant but the place was dim inside so I only managed to get a few decent ones which you can see below. You can check the MELENZANÈ website but it looks and sounds nothing like the actual place. The mood, colors and music are completely different. Seriously ignore everything especially the cheesy Italian music, when I was there they were playing very cool lounge music and that’s what they will be playing generally. Here is the [Link]

Blogger Feryah managed to get pictures of the interior of Planet Hollywood which I posted about last month. He also confirms that they will be opening in March but also adds that Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, and Arnold Schwarzenegger will be attending the grand opening as per their contract. I don’t see how Arnold is attending considering the fact he severed all ties with the chain in early 2000 according to Wikipedia. In any case if Demi Moore is coming I would assume Ashton Kutcher is as well unless he will stay home and babysit the kids. All I care about though is meeting Sylvester Stallone, so if anyone is reading this, hook me up! [Link]

I passed by The Meat Company earlier today and took some pictures of the interior. The place is huge, seats 200 people and looked very cozy. Turns out they will have wine on the menu, supposedly some really good home made wine but sadly it will be alcohol free wine.

A friend of mine sent me this picture of The Meat Company from the outside at 360 Mall. Looks like they’re nearly done with the interior which means they should be opening soon.

Thanks B!

Update: A reader posted a comment that it will be opening this Sunday but I don’t have any official confirmation yet.

A friend of mine was passing by Wagamama at 360 Mall and managed to capture this picture of the interior. Looks like they are sticking to their signature long shared tables but they also seem to have some smaller 4 person booths. Wagamama was supposed to open in September but they never did.

Thanks B!

Today I was lucky enough to be taken on a tour of Infunity which will be one of the largest indoor amusement parks in Kuwait once completed. Three things that grabbed my attention there, the first is they will have a pretty cool indoor roller coaster that’s designed by the same people who build ones for Six Flags. Secondly they will have Go-Kart Drifting which I didn’t know existed but sounds pretty cool. Finally my favorite thing, they will have a huge proper climbing wall! The place will launch early next year and they will be located on the top floor of 360 Mall near the bowling and arcades.

I was lucky enough to get a private tour around the new Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel today and I have to say I loved the place. When you pass by it on the highway it looks like one giant building but once you’re inside its a completely different world. I really left the place impressed and I managed to take some pictures to share with everyone here. My favorite thing has to be the fact that they have a lot of Islamic design incorporated very beautifully into the design which you can see in some of the pictures below. The beach is a lot bigger than it used to be and they’ve built a very nice marina, not for boats but for swimmers which I think is cool. The place will have around 400 hotel rooms, 60 apartments and 12 private chalets. They’ll also have three pools outside, 2 large ones and 1 small one for kids. They’ll also have an indoor pool. Click continue below for all the pictures I took. Completion date is set for May 2010.

I’ve been given the go ahead by NBK to give you all a sneak peek into the brand new NBK website. They will be launching their new updated website sometime this month but before they go live they want to get some feedback. They do care what everyone thinks and if anyone spots any issues or has any comments on what they need to improve leave your comment below so they can read it. Check out their new website by visiting beta.nbk.com