2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Here’s some good news, the ice skating rink will no longer be demolished! After it was decided that the ice skating rink was to be demolished to make way for Al Shaheed Park phase 3, the demolition was canceled thanks to the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL).

The NCCAL determined that the Ice Skating Rink was a national landmark due to it’s historical and cultural value and so cannot be demolished. Al Shaheed Park phase 3 construction will continue without the demolition of the rink.

Thanks Mishal! Photo above by Zeri Crafts

Lots to do this weekend from exhibitions to carnivals so check out the full list below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Conversations in Colour
Outdoor Sports and Safari Exhibition
Circus 1903
SADI: Retrospect
Plamo Con Kuwait

Friday
Outdoor Sports and Safari Exhibition
Circus 1903
SADI: Retrospect
Plamo Con Kuwait
Play: Goodnight Mr. Tom
5 Player Bowling Team Event

Saturday
Yoga at the Park
Guided Tour: Arab Organization Headquarters
Exhibition: Conversations in Colour
Outdoor Sports and Safari Exhibition
Ultimate Frisbee
Circus 1903
SADI: Retrospect
Plamo Con Kuwait
Play: Goodnight Mr. Tom
Workshop: String Pull Art
Carnival 2019

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.

Screenshot from Born a King

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

New This Weekend:
Abominable (7.3)
Born a King (8.8)
Cold Blood Legacy (4.5)
Little Monsters (5.9)
Prey (6.5)
The Informer (6.6)

Other Movies Showing Now:
47 Meters Down Uncaged (5.3)
Ad Astra (7.4)
Angel Has Fallen (7.0)
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (5.9)
Downton Abbey (7.8)
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (7.5)
IT Chapter Two (7.7)
Rambo: Last Blood (8.1)
Ready or Not (7.3)
The Angry Birds Movie 2 (6.8)
The Big Trip (5.8)
The Lion King (6.2)
The Rookies (4.6)
Toy Story 4 (9.0)

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

Movies Showing Now:
Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Backyard Wilderness 3D (8.4)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

I spotted this Alfa for sale online back in late March and I then flew to the Netherlands a week later to check it out in person. Once I got back to Kuwait I bought the car and since then it’s been a painstaking process to bring it to Kuwait. Most of the delay took place in the Netherlands were they needed around two months to register the car and get the paperwork in order before the car finally left Netherlands at the end of July and reached Kuwait earlier this month. My shipping company had a bunch of paperwork to do before it was finally released from Shuwaikh port and was delivered to me late last night. I still need to get the car registered since it doesn’t have any license plates yet but at least it’s now with me and parked in my basement.

When they dropped the car off around 12:30AM I decided to take it for a spin around the block. It felt so good driving the car and now I can’t wait for the remaining paperwork to get finished so I can drive it properly. The Public Authority for Industry gave me a temporary release for the car and I had to call a number and have someone come to inspect the car today. They actually just came took photos of the car and my car’s vin number. I had to pay them a fee of KD18 they will be uploading the photos to the Public Authority database for the next step of the registration process. Other than that I also had to pay a 5% customs fee on the car before it was allowed to leave the port.

Not sure what the next step is since my shipping company (Transcrate) are taking care of the whole process for me. I originally was hoping to create a sort of a “How to import a classic car to Kuwait” guide with all the steps you need to take, but I’ve now realized since I’m not doing the paperwork myself, these posts aren’t turning out that way. Hopefully, they’re still a bit helpful.

My internet was being super slow yesterday to the point where pages were taking minutes to load. I thought it was just me but according to a thread on Reddit, it turned out there was an internet line that was cut at the border Monday night. As of 2AM this morning, the issue was sorted and the internet is now back to normal.

You would think this would be an easy post to do for me but with so many burger options to choose from, it was actually pretty difficult to find my very top three. Here are the results:

#1 BBT (KD1.750)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#2 White Robata (KD5.000)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#3 Little Ruby’s (KD4.750)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

My biggest difficulty with putting this list together was the fact that there are so many great burgers in Kuwait, but in the end, it really came down to which places I personally keep going back to. Up until a few days ago I had even decided McDonald’s should be on this list since the Big Mac is probably the burger I have the most.

The BBT is a delicious burger thats well priced and easily accessible. There are no longer any queues and it’s a pickup place so you’ll have to eat in your car but I love that. White Robata on the otherhand isn’t a place you’d associate with burgers, but the owner of the place also has Burger Boutqiue and OFK which at point also had my favorite burger. The wagyu burger at White Robata is extremely delicious and melted in my mouth like hot butter, but, if you don’t like your burgers cooked medium rare and bloody then you’re not gonna like this. White Robata currently have a sort of a social experiment going on, all their best cuts of meat can only be ordered medium-rare. I love that they’re doing that. Finally, the Bronte burger at Little Ruby’s has been my go-to burger since 2010, but even their double cheeseburger could have easily made this list.

What’s your favorite burger place in Kuwait?

Last week the Ministry of Electricity and Water rebranded and you can see their new logo above. I kinda liked the old logo, probably because I grew up with it and as a kid. The new logo feels a lot more generic and I kinda wish they had just facelifted the original logo slightly.

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A post shared by وزارة الكهرباء والماء والطاقة المتجددة 🇰🇼 (@mew_kuwait)

On a side note, I just visited the website of the Ministry of Electricity and Water to see if I could find info on the new logo and realized they don’t have an English section. Has that always been the case? I don’t pay for electricity but I’m assuming there are non-Arabic speaking expats that do?

via Reddit

Last week JACC released the new full season calendar spanning from now up until April of next year and sadly there doesn’t seem to be any interesting English events coming up. In fact, there are just two, a circus act at the end of this month and an orchestra in November. I’m hoping there will be more English events added down the line but for now, if you want to check the current schedule then click here.

A couple of years ago I ordered a NOCO battery booster off Amazon after reading a lot of great things about it. Since then I’ve kept it in the trunk of my FJ in case my battery after dies and I need to boost it. I haven’t had to do that yet but I have used my battery booster a number of times to help other people start up their cars and you can read my review on it here. I’ve been wanting to order another one to keep in the trunk of my Lotus but I didn’t want to go through the hassle of ordering one online again.

But, now there is a place in Kuwait called Garage Shuwaikh that started selling NOCO products and I got mine yesterday (another GB40) for basically the same price as Amazon. It’s actually cheaper than what I paid since the booster I got costs KD30 on Amazon without tax and shipping, while here in Kuwait it’s selling for KD32 including delivery. If you’re interested in getting a battery booster (every car should have one) they have special launch prices right now which is why they’re so well priced. Here is a list of products they have with the ordering number below:

Battery Charger
G750 .75A Smart Battery Charger KD10
G3500 3.5A Smart Battery Charger KD17
G15000 15A Pro Series Smart Battery Charger KD55

Battery Booster
GB20 Sport 400A Lithium Jump Starter KD25
GB40 Plus 1000A Lithium Jump Starter KD32
GB50 XL 1500A Lithium Jump Starter KD45
GB70 HD 2000A Lithium Jump Starter KD60

Cases
GBC013 Boost Sport/Plus EVA Protection Case KD6
GBC014 Boost HD EVA Protection Case KD9

To order just call or whatsapp 99605057

The new Apple iPhone 11 launched in the US a couple of days ago but the official launch date for Kuwait is currently set for the 27th of September unless there is a delay with shipping. Some of my favorite Apple Authorized Resellers where you’ll be able to purchase the new iPhone are Alpha Store, Digits, Gait and Xcite. All four are expected to sell the phones for the same price, but some might include additional freebies with the phone. Below are the expected prices of the new iPhone 11:

iPhone 11
64GB: KD250
128GB: KD268
256GB: KD303

iPhone11 Pro
64GB: KD358
256GB: KD411
512GB: KD483

iPhone11 Pro Max
64GB: KD393
256GB: KD446
512GB: KD519

When the Thunayan Al Ghanim Building was constructed back in 1954, it was considered to be one of the most advanced buildings in Kuwait at the time and one of the first to have an elevator. There are many stories on bedouins coming in from the desert to watch “the flying horse” that can go up and down. Back then the Thunayan Al Ghanim building housed the original KOC offices, the British Consulate, the first English bookshop in Kuwait, and later on the Rolls Royce dealership.

The building was originally designed to be 10 floors tall but during construction, the Kuwait City municipality changed the law and set that buildings in that area to be no higher than 4 floors since they wanted to spread out the city instead of having highrises with everyone located in a smaller area.

Below are some photos of the building from the 60s compared with photos taken last week.

Thanks Noura Anwar Al Ghanim!

There a few cool things going on this weekend so check out this weekends list of events below:

Thursday
Exhibition: 100 Grams of Reality
Skin of the City by Manuel Benchetrit
Korean Cuisine Contest
Open Mic Nights

Friday
DAI Children’s Book Fair

Saturday
Skin of the City by Manuel Benchetrit
DAI Children’s Book Fair
Yoga at the Park
2019 Kuwait AeroPress Championship
Ultimate Frisbee
Arab Soul Night

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.

Screenshot from Ad Astra

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

New This Weekend:
Ad Astra (7.4)
Diego Maradona (7.7)
Downton Abbey (7.8)
Rambo: Last Blood (8.1)

Other Movies Showing Now:
47 Meters Down Uncaged (5.3)
Aladdin (6.5)
Angel Has Fallen (7.0)
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (5.9)
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (7.5)
IT Chapter Two (7.7)
Official Secrets (6.7)
Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood (8.4)
Ready or Not (7.3)
The Angry Birds Movie 2 (6.8)
The Big Trip (5.8)
The Goldfinch (6.0)
The Lion King (6.2)
Toy Story 4 (9.0)

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

Movies Showing Now:
Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Backyard Wilderness 3D (8.4)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

There are two hotels opening up in The Avenues, the mid-priced Hilton Garden Inn and the luxury Waldorf Astoria. The Hilton Garden Inn is located on the inside road near Avenues Phase 4 while the Waldorf Astoria is located on the opposite end overlooking the 5th Ring Road.

According to the user who shared these renderings, it doesn’t look like either of these hotels will have a good view which I knew would be the case since it’s an industrial area. But, what I didn’t consider was the fact that half the rooms would overlook the Avenues roof which is even a worse view:

I got a sneak peek into one of the second-floor rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn a few months ago and while the decor is nice given the smaller footprint, the room faced directly onto air-conditioning ducts right on the roof of the mall itself. I’m sure if technicians or other people are roaming around on the roof, they’d be able to peer directly into the rooms on the lower levels. The HGI’s pool will also face north onto the garages of Shuwaikh, so not much to see there at all. source

Check out all the renderings below.

Thanks Khaled!

Not sure what I was searching for on eBay but I ended up finding a 35mm slide of Kuwait for sale taken back in 1961. My curiosity kicked in so I decided to see if there were more 35mm slides of Kuwait and ended up finding a few for sale and a whole lot that had previously sold. I saved all the ones I found, they’re 32 photos to be exact and I’ve shared them below.

All these photos were sold by the same person on eBay and they all date back to 1961. The interesting part is that all these slides were sold individually and each one had multiple bids on them. Some ended up selling for over KD40 (per slide) and some quick poking around made me realize most were purchased by the same person.

Whoever is buying up all these slides, email me!

Check out all the photos below, there are some great shots of Kuwait I hadn’t seen before.