2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

A Starbucks opening up in a mall wouldn’t really be news except for the fact when 360 Mall first opened, one of the differentiating factors from other malls was they wouldn’t carry any of the Alshaya brands. They wanted to be different from other malls and so didn’t want the same shops you’d find everywhere else also open there. That’s not an easy decision to stick by especially when Alshaya owns so many brands. I think the first Alshaya brand that opened there was Asha’s, but now Starbucks is planning to open up by the end of the year.

Over the weekend I noticed Lakeland at 360 Mall were selling Breville and Sage coffee machines. Breville and Sage are the same company they’re just called different things in the US and the UK. The prices though are both expensive and a good deal, depending on what you want. I’ve posted before about ordering electronics from Amazon UK and here is how much the coffee machines would cost if you had Amazon UK ship them directly to you vs Lakeland:

The Oracle
Lakeland: KD1,034
Amazon UK: KD672

Barista Touch +
Lakeland: KD445
Amazon UK: KD489

Bambino Plus
Lakeland: KD232
Amazon UK: KD170

The Amazon prices include shipping to Kuwait and the customs fees. So really unless you want the Barista Touch it’s a better deal to just order the coffee machines directly from the UK.

I think there are only two electric cars you can officially buy in Kuwait at the moment, the Chevrolet Bolt EV and the Porsche Taycan in addition to the various Teslas that were imported so it makes sense that malls and other places start introducing charging stations. Al Shaheed, Arraya and Hamra Tower all have electric charging stations and The Avenues is now joining the party.

For anyone that works in Hamra or Arraya, I’m curious, are random cars parking in the electric charging spots, or are the spots properly being enforced and only electric cars can park there?

Thanks Mohamed

Kuwait’s Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, has died at the age of 91, state media report. He was expected to be succeeded by his 83-year-old half-brother and crown prince, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmed. In July, Sheikh Sabah was flown to the United States for medical treatment following surgery for an unspecified condition in Kuwait. Source

I was looking for a photo of the Emir, a specific one where he’s hold a bottle of Coke when I came across the photo above and loved it. It was taken back in 1963 and this is the caption that was attached to it:

Kuwait became the 111th Member State of the United Nations when the Fourth Special Session of the General Assembly adopted by acclamation a 17-power draft resolution to that effect. Seen here as he addressed the meeting is Kuwait’s Foreign Minister, H.H. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait, Foreign Minister at that time, who thanked the Assembly for admitting the State of Kuwait to the United Nations. – 14 May 1963 (Photo Courtesy of UN Photo) Source

May he rest in peace.

Google Street View currently works in Kuwait but is fairly limited since from what I can tell its one guy who’s driving around Kuwait with a 360-degree camera mounted to the roof of his SUV snapping photos.

But surprisingly, PACI seems to have a street view of pretty much most of Kuwait on their website. The only issue is it’s not as easy to use as Google Street View. For example you can’t just search for a random place and find it on the map. The process of actually finding a place is pretty tedious. Here are the steps to use PACI’s street view:

• First head to http://gis.paci.gov.kw/Client/EN/Default.aspx
• Click “Quick Search”
• Manually find the street you want
• Click on the street and wait a few seconds
• Once the street view thumbnail pops up at the bottom, click on it

Someone at PACI should really coordinate with Google and see if there is a way to merge their databases together. I’m still impressed though that PACI actually have a street view option.

Thanks Timothy

MyHome is your one-stop shop for all your home needs. Our services include everything from maintenance, car wash and laundries to grocery delivery, security cameras and gardening.

From now until the end of October, place an order on MyHome and get cashback as MyHome credits. Here’s how it works –

Place an order with one of the categories listed below and earn a percentage of your order back as MyHome in-app credits. For example, if you spend 10 KD on your laundry services, you will earn 5KD back as MyHome in-app credits which you can use on any of our 25+ services anytime in the future.

Until the 31st of October 2020, the Cashback services and percentages are as follows:

Each service will have a cashback indicator on the app highlighted in green, allowing you to easily find which services offer cashback and their percentages. You can track the cashback credits you have earned by checking your balance in the side menu. Take care of all your home needs and earn cashback while you do it!

Download MyHome and take care of all your home needs! Our call center is available 24/7 for your support, give us a call at 22257775 or chat with us using our live chat feature on our app or website www.myhomeapp.io or message us through Instagram or Twitter @myhome_app. We aim to continuously improve our customer support service and are here to listen to your feedback on ways we can enhance our offerings and overall service.

MyHome – The App for All Your Needs

I’ve been wanting to post about this since back in 2018 when I first found out but couldn’t due to secrecy reasons (I was working on the project back then). But, now that the secret is out I can finally share this. Mr. Holmes Bakehouse known for popularizing the cruffin is opening up in Kuwait. The cruffin, a hybrid of a croissant and a muffin became a huge hit a few years ago and sparked a lot of copycats around the world. But Mr. Holmes are also known for their pastries which I got to try all of them and they’re really good. Like I’m going to gain a lot of weight once they open kinda good.

I think they should be opening up fairly soon with their first location being in the city right next to Eighty Six.

Yesterday Al Corniche Club sent out an email informing their members that they will be closing down the club on October 11th. Last year Al Corniche Club lost the bid to operate the location but went to court hoping to reverse the decision. That must have not worked out and so they now have to leave the location.

Al Fintas “Marasi” is a project that includes more than 1.8KM of developed facilities that include shops, restaurants, cinemas, a hotel and a large marina.

The Fintas Marinas project aims to be the leading marine destination on the coast of the State of Kuwait

The Fintas Marinas project includes more than 1.8 km of developed facilities that will provide unprecedented entertainment and commercial experiences, as 800 floating moorings for boats and mega yachts will be provided, and 1,200 multi-role stands for small boats, fishing and picnic boats, attached to an integrated yachting club, 5-star hotel and conference center On an island located in the middle of the project.

An equivalent of 200,000 square meters of recreational and commercial spaces will be developed throughout the marina, which will attract residents and visitors to enjoy the lifestyle of the marina and at the same time enable them to take advantage of other commercial and entertainment activities such as shops, restaurants, cinemas, cultural events and the botanical garden. All project components will be implemented using the principle of “one climate under one roof”, to ensure a comfortable environment for visitors during all seasons. The Fintas Marinas project includes a nautical club as well as yacht repair and maintenance workshops dedicated to serving all yacht owners.

A smart transportation strategy has also been prepared to ensure a smooth transition within the project, which includes car parks in the basement with a capacity of 6000 cars, provision of service logistical spaces behind commercial areas, and the implementation of an upgraded railway to transport visitors between the components of the project in a flexible manner, and a VIP entrance has also been allocated. It has direct access to the waterfront.

Marassi Fintas is a unique destination in Kuwait that can be accessed from land or sea. The project will also provide many investment opportunities for owners of small and medium enterprises.

The concept looks really interesting but couldn’t find much information on it online other than this video presentation and a short Arabic description under the video which I posted above translated using Google.

Thanks lovelykuwait

EL&N Cafe (formerly known as Élan Café), one of the most instagrammable cafes in London is opening up in Kuwait. EL&N Cafe is known for their over the top pink interior, pink and purple floral wall, neon signs, millennial pink furniture and their equally instagrammable pink desserts. They will be opening in The Avenues near Cheesecake Factory next year.

V-Thru is an app similar to Carriage and Deliveroo but instead of it being a food delivery service, it’s a virtual drive-thru service that allows you to pick up food from restaurants that don’t have a drive-thru. I originally refused to use the app since it required me to sign up and register before I could explore it and I HATE apps that force me to sign up and hand over my personal information without letting me explore first. But eventually I had to cave in since I needed to experience the app for work purposes and now I kinda like it.

Before the pandemic anytime I wanted to pick up food I’d just go down to a restaurant, order my food and then pick it up and head back to my car. Some places even allowed me to call ahead of time so they could prepare my food that way I wouldn’t have to wait for long at the restaurant. But now with the pandemic, I prefer not leaving my car, touching restaurant door handles or using Knet machines which is why I’m liking V-Thru.

The way V-Thru works is you find a restaurant you want to order from and then once you place an order the app will let you know how long your food needs to be ready and navigates you to the restaurant. You also have to describe your car type and color because once you get to the restaurant the app recognizes you’re there and informs the restaurant that you’re outside. If your food is ready the restaurant will then come outside and find your car to deliver the food. All payments are done digitally through the app and you can even communicate with the restaurant via a chat box.

It’s actually a very practical service and the app fees are minimal at just 200fils. The app also isn’t packed with thousands of restaurants either so if you just want to randomly browse through the options its actually doable. They also regularly have virtual drive-thru events like one taking place this weekend called Street Crafters. So if you want to try it out and download the app, here is a link to their website. They also have a cute Instagram account you can check out which is @vthru.

A few days ago my friend asked me if I knew of a good pest control company, he had gotten one already but he still had a pest problem and wanted to see if I knew of a better company. That made me realize, I never posted about Boecker. Although it sounds German, Boecker is actually a Lebanese pest management and food safety company. I go way back with the brand since when I was in university I interned at the company that helped create the Boecker brand, so I’ve been a fan for a long time. Then a few years ago a friend of mine got the franchise to Kuwait and started offering their services to the business and residential sectors.

I used them last year to come spray my apartment for pests and they’re such a professional company from the communication over the phone, to their uniforms to all the little cards and informative material they leave around the house. Another reason I highly recommend them is because they’re a pet friendly company and I wouldn’t trust any other company to come over and spray for pests if I had a pet.

To get an idea of their prices I think I paid KD90 for my large 3 bedroom 2 storey apartment. My friend which I mentioned at the start of the post told me they were cheaper than the first company he hired so I don’t think they’re crazy expensive or anything. They also have a disinfection service for germs and viruses including COVID-19 if that’s something you’re looking for. If you’re interested in calling them, their number is 22210015 and their website is boecker.com

I finally got the classifieds section working properly earlier this week and then yesterday just as I was about to post that everything was back to normal I realized that for some reason my theme had broken again. Not sure how that happened without me having touched anything, but I’ve now got to redo everything. I’m hoping things will be back to normal by tomorrow though.

My brother just told me Geekay at The Avenues have started accepting pre-orders on the Xbox Series S and X. I was planning to pre-order mine from Walmart.com since I had success the last time when I pre-ordered my Nintendo Switch from them but I just ended up pre-ordering from Geekay.

They have the launch date set at November 10th similar to the worldwide launch and their price is a very reasonable. The Series X costs KD167 while the Series S costs KD104, both similar to the retail prices in the States. They have a super limited quantity of both available online so if you want one hurry up. Here is the link.

Update: Right after posting this the series X got sold out online. According to their instagram they still have a few units available for pre-orders in-store. The Series S is still available online.

Update2: Xcite have also started preorders. Link

If you’re looking for a new fun Instagram account to follow then you should check out the office gang @eatingintheoffice. I just started following them a couple of days back and loving the account so far. They’re an odd bunch and their videos of them eating are super cute. 100% wholesome goodness.

They only launched a week ago but they already have a ton of content up so check them out @eatingintheoffice