2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

A few weeks ago a new restaurant opened up called ROTO which is based around the concept of a wood-fired rotisserie. The restaurant is owned by the guys behind Little Ruby’s and Chef Khaled Al Baker (@chefkb) whom I’ve previously posted about on the blog. I’m not generally a fan of rotisserie chicken but because Khaled is a friend of mine I decided to (translation: I had to) check the place out. Good thing I did because I’m now actually a huge fan of Roto.

I think the main reason for me not liking rotisserie chicken in the first place was because I only ever had it from those street side rotisserie places and I always found it too greasy plus I don’t like chicken on the bone. So when I told Chef KB that he assured me it would be a different experience, plus they serve the chicken off the bone so I didn’t have an excuse not to try it. Before even getting to the chicken though I have to say what I probably like most about Roto are the starters. Two things you need to have, his Burrata dish and the Corn Brûlée. I’ve literally gone to Roto just to have the corn brûlée, it’s that good!

The rotisserie chicken, on the other hand, tasted wayyy better than I was expecting it to. It definitely didn’t taste like a regular street side chicken and the ability to choose from a variety of different dipping sauces gives it an even greater appeal. Part of what makes the rotisserie taste so good is that it’s grilled in a Josper Rotisserie using wooden coal, so you end up with a nice crispy exterior, a juicy interior, and a slightly smokey flavor. But, what I liked even more was the pulled chicken sandwiches they have on the menu which have become my new favorite lunch thing. The Musahab panini with extra garlic sauce is my favorite one with the shawarma panini coming a close second.

Pricewise it’s fairly reasonable with the rotisserie chicken costing KD4.5, the musahab panini with fries KD3.5 and the corn brûlée for KD3. So a meal for two can cost around KD10 with drinks which is pretty good nowadays. Roto is located in Kuwait City in the new glass tower across the street from Crystal Tower [Google Maps]. They’re open from 1PM to 11PM and you can follow them on Instagram @ontheroto

Top and bottom photo taken from Roto

Last week Carriage and Talabat announced they were joining forces and that there were major improvements coming soon. Yesterday the first change arrived.

If you update your Carriage app to the latest version you’ll now see a bunch of major changes from a new updated interface, to the fact there are now over 2,000 restaurants listed. My first impression isn’t that great but only because it’s a pretty big change to an app I use on a daily basis. One of the first things I did after launching the updated app was going into my account settings and shutting off the options to receive Newsletter and SMS subscriptions. With this new update, the settings are turned on by default so if you don’t want to get spam, turn them off.

With this new update, Talabat has killed off some sections like Electronics and Flowers but left the Grocery section. The biggest change though is the increase in the number of restaurants available through the app since they’ve now added all the Talabat restaurants to the Carriage app. The new total is around 2,200 restaurants which is pretty crazy and means Carriage users now have access to some previously Talabat exclusive restaurants like PICK. Another major change is the fact there are restaurant ratings now so once your order is completed, you can now rate the restaurant you ordered from. Carriage Black still works since I see the discount being applied when I’m checking out, but other than on the checkout page, I can’t seem to find any info on it anywhere in the app which leads me to believe this might be something Talabat will be killing very soon (I hope not).

There are also changes happening behind the scenes. Talabat’s drivers will now start handling all the Carriage deliveries and Talabat will also be handling all the Carriage payments and customer support. The delivery radius has also decreased so some places that used to deliver to my place no longer deliver.

I’m curious to see how this new Carriage and Talabat partnership continues to develop. Hopefully, it means better overall service and experience since that was one of the major complaints people had about Carriage. Right now I care more about Carriage Black than better customer service so hopefully, they don’t phase it out.

Here is an updated list of all the restaurant and cafes now open at the Kuwait Airways terminal (T4):

Al Refai
Cafe Coco
Caribou
Del Monte
Le Pain Quotidien
McCafe
McDonald’s
Pizza Express
Raising Canes
Shake Shack
Starbucks
WH Smith (munchies/drinks)

While prepping for this post I realized that I hadn’t written a hotel review since 2015. I think that’s because I don’t travel as much as I used to and when I do, they’re usually quick weekend trips over to Dubai. I usually stay at the Vida Downtown Hotel in Dubai but this past weekend the room prices were more expensive than usual at KD67 a night which is more than what I wanted to pay. Hotel rooms are still one thing I’m not comfortable with paying a lot for, I only tend to sleep there and not really hang out in the room so can’t see myself paying so much money for it. So while looking for alternative places to stay I stumbled upon the Rove Downtown Hotel. The reviews online were all pretty great, the hotel was a 5-minute walk from Dubai Mall, a 10-minute walk to my best friend’s apartment, the rooms looked nice and clean, and most importantly, it was only around KD35 a night. So I booked and hoped for the best.

When I first arrived to the hotel check-in was pretty quick even though they were a bit busy. While checking in I noticed what looked like an entrance to a cinema on the far end of the lobby so I asked the receptionist if that was an actual cinema and he was like yes it was. Turns out the hotel had a small Reel Cinema movie theater that played current movies and was free for hotel guests. I was already impressed. After getting the room key I headed towards the elevators when I spotted a Zoom brand convenience store connected to the lobby. I decided to check it out and they had a ton of munchies as well as things you might need like deodorant and toothpaste. So far it seemed like the perfect hotel and I started hoping the rooms would be good because I knew it had the potential to be my new favorite hotel in Dubai.

As soon as I walked into the room I was relieved. The room looked like what I had seen in the photos, it was clean, modern, cozy and not that small. When booking a room they had only two options really to choose from, either a room overlooking Burj Khalifa, or not. I didn’t care about the view so I booked a regular room and so my view was of some random towers further down the road and it wasn’t that bad. My overall first impression was really great at that point.

Over the next two days, I really couldn’t find anything negative about the hotel. Even if I’m trying to be super picky the worst thing I could come up with is the lack of decent TV channels or the lack of Apple TV. At Vida, I could connect to my Netflix account on the room’s TV and also stream YouTube videos from my phone to it. But that’s really the only negative thing I have to say about Rove. Dubai Mall was really easy to get to with the closest entrance being the new Fashion Avenue extension and if you want to Uber somewhere, the cabs are all super close and never take more than a couple of minutes to get to the hotel.

If you’re looking for a great budget hotel to stay in the next time you’re in Dubai then I really recommend you check out Rove. I was so impressed it made me go back to writing hotel reviews again. Here is a link to their website.

Back in June McDonalds closed down their Gulf Road location but looks like they’re coming back again but in a new location. McDonalds will be taking over the old Ruby Tuesday location right next to the Kuwait Towers which I think is a better spot than their previous one. There’s a lot more parking and it’s right under the Kuwait Towers so it definitely has a better view.

No idea on when they’re opening but it would be safe to assume it would be sometime over the next few months.

Deputy Minister of Public Works Ismail Al-Failakawi announced that the new airport project will open in August 2022, according to the schedule, indicating that the second package project for the airport has been recommended for award at the lowest prices, and we are awaiting the final approval of the agency reports Al Rai.

Al-Failakawi said, on the sidelines of the inspection tour organized by the Ministry yesterday in the presence of Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development Khaled Mahdi, “There are no obstacles facing the project, as work is currently being done in cooperation and coordination with the contractor, consultant and the Supreme Council for Planning to remove any obstacles.” He explained that the project is going According to the schedule, there is no delay, as the completion rate was 26.9 percent. Source

I’m not trying to be pessimistic here but I passed by the new airport this past weekend (picture above) and I can’t see how it will be completed by August 2022. That’s just two years away which seems crazy but then again, it’s a Diwan Amiri project so maybe 2 more years of construction doesn’t seem too far reached.

There are a few things going on this weekend so check out the full list of events below:

Thursday
Alan Villiers & the Sons of Sindbad: An Australian in 1930s Kuwait
Thirteen Zones
Exhibition: Haa – Jassim Meraj
Kuwait Motor Show
SADI 2020
Live painting with Jean Marc Nahas
Flare Fitness Festival 2020

Friday
Exhibition: Haa – Jassim Meraj
Thirteen Zones
Al-Farsi Kite Festival
Kuwait Motor Show
SADI 2020
Flare Fitness Festival 2020
Movie Night: Back to the Future

Saturday
Alan Villiers & the Sons of Sindbad: An Australian in 1930s Kuwait
Exhibition: Haa – Jassim Meraj
Thirteen Zones
Kuwait Motor Show
Workshop: Dutch Pouring Acrylic Paint
Bey2ollak Stand Up Comedy Show
Movies at the Park: Inception
Barba’s Brunch Bunch
Art for Orphans

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double-check with the organizers.

The Gentlemen

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Itsy Bitsy (5.6)
The Gentlemen (8.1)
The Last Full Measure (6.2)
The Turning (N/A)
Toy Guardians (6.6)

Other Movies Showing Now:
1917 (8.6)
Bad Boys for Life (7.2)
Daughter of the Wolf (5.6)
Dolittle (6.2)
Frozen II (7.1)
Jumanji: The Next Level (7.0)
Just Mercy (6.9)
Knives Out (7.9)
Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs (6.3)
Spies in Disguise (6.1)
The Grudge (6.3)
Underwater (6.4)

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

IMAX Movies Showing Now:
Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Backyard Wilderness 3D (8.4)
Dolittle (6.2)
Turtle Odyssey (7.7)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.

Back in 2015, 360 Mall released renderings as well as a video showcasing their mall expansion which would include a tennis complex, a hotel and a new shopping area. Now, over four years later, those renderings are now a reality.

Yesterday I passed by and checked the new extension out and I really liked what I saw. The thing I liked the most about the extension is how bright and airy the mall felt because of the fact the whole roof is made of glass giving you the impression you’re walking outdoors. It reminded me of the Grand Avenues area in Avenues which is my favorite part of Avenues except I think the 360 Mall glass roof structure looks nicer.

The new extension houses the international tennis complex with all the arenas as well as a hotel. The extension will be connected to the main 360 Mall building via a closed bridge but the building also has its own large multi-story parking building so you don’t have to park in the already busy main 360 Mall lot.

I got a peek at the new tennis complex including the large outdoor arena that will host the Rafa Nadal vs David Ferrer match and it all looks great.

Even though it doesn’t look it from the photos, the new 360 Mall extension along with the tennis complex is set to open next month.

I don’t get impressed easily but you should have seen the look on my face when I walked into Aquamarine Exotic Farm. I had seen pictures of the place on Instagram which is why I was curious to check it out but Instagram doesn’t really do justice to how big and cool looking this place is.

Aquamarine Exotic Farm is a one-stop-shop for everything related to aquarium fish, their supplies and equipment. Think Pet Zone but just for fish. The place is huge and really well organized and laid out. Even if you aren’t planning to buy any aquariums you’ll want to pass by and check the space out because it’s that cool. The store has two main areas, one for saltwater fish and another for freshwater fish. In the middle of the store is where you have all their supplies and equipment.

They have a huge variety of fish on display and even a very large coral area. They also have two marine biologists as part of the team which you could ask technical questions to and who can help you keep your aquarium healthy. I really wasn’t looking to get any fish but just walking around the store made it very tempting especially since they had some really beautiful ones on display. They also offer the service of building a custom aquarium for you if that’s what you’re looking for.

If you’re thinking of getting an aquarium or have one and need some supplies or maybe more fish then this is the place to go. Even if you aren’t looking to get an aquarium I’d still recommend you pass by and check the place out because it’s that impressive. They’re located near Avenues and they have their location and opening hours listed on their Instagram account @aquamarineexotic

Has anyone tried reporting traffic violations to the General Traffic Department using WhatsApp? The screenshots above got forwarded to one of my groups and it shows a person reporting a car parked illegally to the traffic department and then getting a response back an hour later showing the person was ticketed.

I tried the service a few days ago and I didn’t get any response back so no idea if an action was taken or not so can’t verify this whole thing works. But, you can try it yourself, the WhatsApp number to report violations is 99324092‬. If you’ve tried this before and it’s worked, let me know in the comments.

Chevrolet Alghanim have the new 2020 Corvette on display at the Kuwait Motor Show that’s currently taking place at 360 Mall. The car looks really good in person and I was told the first shipment would be arriving in Kuwait in May. Half the shipment has already been sold before arriving and that probably has to do with the price tag. The new Corvette starts at KD22,000 which is actually a great value considering what you’re getting in return. A fully specced out Corvette is around KD30,000. If you were thinking about buying the new Corvette then you should probably place an order before the whole shipment sells out (if it hasn’t already).

The Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah Causeway Bridge is going to be closed for cars and open for cyclists every Friday from 7AM to 10AM. I heard the Kuwait Olympic Committee pushed for this decision after a cyclist got hit by a car on the bridge and passed away. From some of the comments I read on instagram, car guys obviously aren’t too happy with this decision since Friday morning is when a lot of car groups and bike groups gather for drives and the bridge was a popular destination (no idea why since it’s a really boring drive). I have noticed cyclists have been getting a lot of support lately, Kuwait Motor Town, for example, is also open to cyclists every Saturday from 7AM to 9AM and every Tuesday from 4PM to 8PM.

Personally I think the fact that they need to close off a whole bridge so that cyclists have a safe place to ride their bicycles shows how dangerous roads are in Kuwait. I think they should have taken cyclists and pedestrians into consideration when designing the bridge in the first place and created a separate closed off lane for them. But then again, that’s probably asking too much when sidewalks and pedestrian safety aren’t even an important thing here.

Top photo from @modmodh
Bottom photo from @kw_triclub taken by @Qallaf99

The 2020 Asian Men’s Handball Championship is taking place in Kuwait right now at the newly opened Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Sport Hall Complex. If it wasn’t for an email from one of my readers I wouldn’t have known this stadium existed or that the handball championship was taking place in Kuwait.

You’d think with an event this big there would at least be outdoor ads, sponsored Instagram posts or anything really. In the video above the stadium is basically empty.

I haven’t had the chance to pass by and check it out but I’ve been told tickets are free and it’s first come first serve.

Here is the location of the stadium.
Here is the full match schedule with timings.
Here is a link to the Kuwait Handball Association Instagram.

Thanks Milan

Last week I went to Saudi for the first time ever and I spent a couple of days in Riyadh. I’ve got mixed feelings about the city, well not really mixed feelings but more like I don’t understand it. On one hand, you had MDL Beast, the largest electronic music festival in the region take place there, but on the other hand, from what I saw it still looks and feels like such a conservative city. It’s like both extremes are living side by side together and it’s very hard to process.

Getting a visa for Saudi is super simple right now. I actually totally forgot to apply for a visa and only remembered the evening before my flight but they now have an evisa website and even though I applied at 8PM, I got an approval less than an hour later for a 1-year multi-entry visa. I was relieved but also shocked since last year when I wanted to get a visa I had to get an invitation from someone in Saudi, and then was told I had to visit the embassy in Kuwait to apply for it and even then there was no guarantee I’d get a visa due to some political drama that was happening between Saudi and Canada.

The process of entering Saudi was also super easy. Once I landed in Riyadh and got out of the plane I followed a floor sticker towards a visa on arrival desk right outside the gate. There I handed my passport over to a lady behind the desk who finished up my visa process and stamped my passport. I then headed to passport control and I guess this whole process is super new because they were trying to re-enter me into the system again not knowing I was already in the system. They kept getting an error and then they noticed my passport was already stamped and were surprised since they didn’t know that they were stamping passports at the visa desks next to the gates. After multiple apologies for the delay (they were super friendly and apologizing the whole time throughout the process) I was let through.

Visually Riyadh isn’t a very beautiful city, well, most of it at least. The city is very beige and looks pretty old from what I saw. I can’t remember seeing any greenery in the city unless it was in the park and the only area the looked modern with beautiful skyscrapers was the King Abdullah Financial District that’s still under construction (pictured above). But, you still had some really beautiful buildings or projects in between all this which created a stark contrast. The way I was describing Riyadh to my friends was it either looked like Mahboula, or it looked like Dubai. Their roads are also in a worse state than ours but that’s mostly because the whole city is one large construction site right now because of the metro expansion and all the various large projects.

Because it’s Riyadh Season right now, they have some incredible things going on in the city. I went for dinner in Al Murabba (square) which is a huge historical area with old buildings and a large park that is temporarily occupied by some of the world’s finest restaurants like New York’s Dirty French and Carbone, and London’s Dinings SW3. All pop-ups but built to look like permanent structures. Once you pull up to the main gate of Al Murabba you are greeted by an army of Saudi hosts and hostesses standing on both sides of a long walkway into the park. Super fancy, incredible service and everyone is just extremely friendly. It felt like I was attending a fancy one-night affair but this is how it is every night. Actually everywhere I went the service was really great, customer service is something they take very seriously over there.

So yeah, right now Saudi is a very odd place with a mixture of two extreme lifestyles. While there I didn’t hear anybody complain about what’s going on even though I heard mumblings about alcohol being legalized soon. I think the conservatives might be fine with it all of it for now as long as it doesn’t affect them. Or maybe because things are happening so fast they haven’t had time to react. Whatever the case, it’s all gotten me very curious and interested in Saudi and now that I have a multi-entry visa, I’m going to be heading there more often, maybe even do a road trip. A friend who lives in Dubai messaged me last night telling me to meet him in Saudi this coming weekend for the Jamiroquai concert. Saudi in less than a year has become a regional destination.