2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

It’s time to ace it!

In the past couple of years Kuwait has grown tremendously in the food and beverage market, and the more it does the more there is a need to deliver a higher quality. With third wave coffeeshops popping up all over Kuwait City, finding fresh roasted coffee that also tastes great was surprisingly elusive. Therefore, we decided to do something about it. We did not set out to change the world, just a small corner of it.

Ace was founded in 2017 out of the mere enjoyment of good coffee, our deep love towards coffee inspired us to open a coffeeshop that offers a great fresh ground coffee outside the dense area of Kuwait City. We started up with Mahboula and recently opened two new branches in Jabriya and Sabah Al Salem. We offer a great quality of coffee, good food and an exceptional customer service in a cozy environment. At ACE we are devoted to high standards of quality and simplicity, offering a beautiful aesthetic in an intimate homey vibe for our visitors’ daily coffee run.

Since its inception, we are aiming to inspire more sustainable communities in Kuwait. Being a sustainable coffeeshop we collaborate with a number of initiatives to come full circle, whether it’s sourcing our coffee from local roasters in order to ensure freshness or donating coffee compost for it to be consumed as an eco-friendly natural fertilizer to make use of our ground coffee waste, we are dedicated to supporting our community. We also engage in coffee education and making coffee equipment/tools accessible for coffee making at home.

Ace is simply an intimate cozy spot for people to stop for a good cup of coffee and a little more. This place is made for you, to take a break and unwind while enjoying a tasty cup of fresh roasted coffee and a snack. We care about the process as much as the outcome, and we are very transparent about it. We follow a sustainable kind of approach and we put an effort in everything we do. Our care extends to the community we operate in, we support it, nurture it and act responsibly towards it. If you enjoy having a good time and appreciate a good cup of coffee and socialize then you’re the one!

Here is the Instagram account @acecoffeekw, and here is the [Google Maps] location for Sabah Al Salem, and here is the [Google Maps] for the Jabriya’s branch.

This weekend is Gargee’an so there are a bunch of children’s activities taking place. Below is this weekends list, if I missed anything, let me know in the comments:

Thursday
Exhibition: Foreign Architecture / Domestic Policy
Xe Loves You by Kuki Jijo
Exhibition: Digital Flow
Women’s Football Tournament 2019
Full Moon Yoga
Elevation Gergean
Puppet Show

Friday
Xe Loves You by Kuki Jijo
Exhibition: Digital Flow
Women’s Football Tournament 2019
Leyla Fi Share’ Al Moez
AMG presents – String Quartets by Messilah Chamber Ensemble

Saturday
Xe Loves You by Kuki Jijo
Exhibition: Digital Flow
Women’s Football Tournament 2019
Gargi’an in the Park

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 A Dog’s Journey

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

New This Weekend:
A Dog’s Journey (7.0)
The Convent (4.3)
UglyDolls (4.5)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Avengers: Endgame (9.2)
Captain Marvel (6.0)
Dumbo (7.1)
Godzilla: Resurgence (6.7)
Long Shot (7.2)
Shazam! (8.1)
The Curse of La Llorona (6.4)
The Intruder (5.4)
Primal Rage: The Legend of Konga (4.9)

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

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Penguins (6.7)

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

Saudi Arabia approved a program that offers permanent residency for some foreigners, the latest sign of how the quest for non-oil revenue is prompting Gulf Arab countries to rethink the role of expats in their societies.

“The special residency is for doctors, engineers, innovators, investors and residents who contribute to the development of Saudi Arabia and lead to a prosperous future,” said Lina Almaeena, a member of the consultative Shura Council. The appointed body approved the program last week, with 76 members voting in favor and 55 against. [Source]

First UAE, then Qatar and now Saudi Arabia. Hopefully, we’re next.

A couple of days ago I got contacted by Al Salam Palace asking me if I’d be interested in coming in the next day for a tour of the new museum. I’d been trying to figure out how to get early access ever since the museum was inaugurated earlier in the month, so even though I had a lot of work at the office, I couldn’t say no.

Al Salam Palace was built in the late 1950s and was used to accommodate visiting heads of state. During the 1990 invasion, the palace was completely destroyed and stayed abandoned for years until the restoration project started back in 2013 to turn it into a museum. The palace is located right next to JACC and consists of three main museums:

Museum of Kuwait’s History through its Rulers
Museum of Al Salam Palace History
Museum of the Civilizations that inhabited Kuwait

When I first got to the palace I was pretty surprised at how much security there was. After confirming I was on the list to get into the museum, security at the gate had to make a second call to check and see if I was allowed to bring in my camera since they have a very strict no photography policy right now. I was then escorted into the palace by a security guard and handed over to another security guard who waited with me until the palace team met me. Security personnel were also scattered all around the museum and some rooms even had 24-hour guards. I later came to understand it was because of the amount of rare and priceless items exhibited all around.

When I was invited to visit the museum I had the impression I was gonna get a quick walkaround of the premises, but instead, I was actually given a full and very informative guided tour of all three museums with all their exhibits. Unlike other museums in Kuwait, Al Salam Palace will be a strictly guided tour affair once it opens up to the public. The tours would start every 30 minutes and there would be two kinds, a quick version which would take around 30 minutes and just cover the most important subjects, and a longer 90-minute tour covering the whole museum in greater detail. My tour yesterday took 90 minutes and we didn’t even watch all the videos scattered all around the exhibits. It’s a pretty big place with lots of information and a lot to see so I’d imagine they might have tours even longer than 90 minutes once they open.

There is a lot to cover in this post but I’m going to try and condense it so I don’t bore you with too much information. Firstly you’ll notice a limited amount of photos in this post. The reason for this is that the museum doesn’t want to reveal too much right now because they want people to eventually come and see the place for themselves, without any spoilers. I was asked if I could limit the photos I take of the exhibition spaces and I wasn’t allowed to record any videos, I didn’t mind both those requests since I wasn’t planning on taking photos of the actual exhibits, and I was honestly there for myself first, blog second (sorry guys).

The thing is I’ve always been fascinated with the palace and I was even lucky enough to visit it and photograph it before the reconstruction started. One of the things I was curious about was how the museum would be restored and thankfully, they managed to restore the museum to its original state.

The whole ground level of the museum is basically an exact copy of how the palace originally was before it was destroyed. Everything from the mosaics on the wall to the marble on the floor was restored with the same material previously used. Even the heads of state welcome room and the special room built for Queen Elizabeths II’s visit in 1979 (pictured above) was also recreated. The large and iconic chandelier that hangs in the main hall of the palace was event sent abroad to be fully restored and now looks incredible again.

Al Salam Palace material moodboard on display in one of the exhibits

I was extremely impressed by how detailed they were with the restoration and I wish more older historic buildings in Kuwait were restored in a similar manner.

Moving on to the actual exhibits, like everything else in the palace so much effort was put into the details of the exhibits as well. For example, in one display there were replicas of different spices on display that used to be imported to Kuwait back in the old days, but when you come up to the display you can actually smell the spices because they had a hidden smell machine. Another thing that caught my attention were all the old books on display around the exhibits, books that were written by explorers who came across Kuwait over a hundred years ago. From my personal experience, I know how difficult it is to source these kinds of books and how much of a waiting game you need to play for specific books to enter the market place. But books are just one aspect of the exhibit, there are multiple examples throughout the museum of extremely rare sourced items like Kuwait’s first Baiza coin which only two are known to still exist today, to more current items like Sheikh Jaber’s iconic sunglasses. I asked the museum manager how they were able to source all the items because many must have been stolen during the invasion. Turns out a lot of effort was made to find and retrieve stolen items while others were stored in boxes and forgotten about or were donated by families who had them in their private collection.

There are a number of video presentations throughout the exhibit where they recreated historical moments from Kuwait’s history, and they all looked like expensive productions with proper sets, actors, wardrobe and special effects. I even got to watch a trailer of a short film they produced on the 1990 invasion and it looked like such an incredible film. One scene gave me goosebumps, there are these iconic photos of a British Airways plane completely destroyed on the runway of Kuwait’s Airport and they had that exact scene in the trailer but it was as if the original scene was shot with video with smoke billowing out of the plane wreckage. In another scene we were onboard an American tank, first-person perspective heading towards a burning oil field, the fact the room we were in had a super wide 180-degree screen helped engross me into the film even more. I can’t wait to watch the whole thing.

After going through the main museums we headed downstairs into the basement which housed the museum’s digital library. The space looked like a scene from a sci-fi movie and once open would give visitors access to everything in the museum from the books on display to all the films and more. Everything would also be available online to access but with some restrictions like only parts of the book would be accessible instead of the whole book.

I was really curious about the museum before visiting it, I had heard it was going to be about Kuwait and wasn’t sure if there was enough interesting content to display or even new content that I hadn’t seen anywhere else. But I ended up leaving extremely impressed, it was obvious the people behind the project really cared about the restoration of the palace and really put a lot of time into all the exhibits. The museum is currently starting the training program for all the guides while also finalizing some details in the different exhibits. The museum is not open at the moment, but the aim is to have it ready for the public sometime in October of this year. For now you can follow the museum on instagram @aspm.kw

This was published on the Gazelle Club Facebook group and I knew I had to share it here.

Jay Rizzo shown in the first picture with his sister outside one of the Chalets at Gazelle Club, returned later as part of the US Marines who liberated Kuwait in 1991.

Gazelle Club was a very popular beach resort in Kuwait back in the 60s and up until the 1990 Gulf War. During the Gulf War the resort was badly damaged and it was never rebuilt again. You can find more posts about the club by clicking here.

I’ve only flown out of the new Jazeera Airways terminal once since it opened and it wasn’t that great of an experience. That was back when their terminal had access to the main terminal where all the restaurants and lounges were. But, shortly after I flew out of the Jazeera terminal, they closed off access to the main terminal which meant passengers could no longer use any of the lounges.

But last week Jazeera finally launched a new lounge for their business class passengers (and some credit card holders) inside their terminal. Not sure if the seating condition in the Jazeera terminal has improved vastly since I was last there, but if its anything close to how it was when I tried the terminal, then this is a much-needed lounge.

Photo by @bo.waleed1

If you’re a fan of Katsu then you might be interested in Holy Katsu, a new katsu place that just opened up. I’m not a katsu fan but my brother is and he thinks their katsu is pretty great. Their prices also seem really reasonable, KD2.950 for a classic chicken katsu curry and KD2.250 for a vegetarian one.

Not sure if their location is open yet but they’ve already started delivery with Deliveroo. They’re also on instagram at @holykatsu

Russell Peters, the popular comedian and actor will be coming to Kuwait next month for a one-night comedy event. The last time Russell Peters was in Kuwait was back in 2016 and he performed to a sold-out crowd. The tickets have still not gone on sale and as of right now, there is no information on where the event will take place. Once the info is out and tickets go on sale I’ll post the details up on the events page.

Thanks Fahed

The 2019 annual airline and airport ratings from AirHelp was released last week. Both Kuwait Airways and the Kuwait Airport scored extremely poorly on their list. Kuwait Airport was ranked as the second worst airport in the world, while Kuwait Airways ranked as the third worst airline.

AirHelp is an organization that specializes in air traveler rights. Their airline’s score is based off which airlines offer the best service, flies on time, and how they treat passengers if problems occur. The AirHelp airport’s score is based on punctuality, service quality and the food and shops options. Below are the top 10 lists for best and worst in each category:

Best Airlines of 2019
10. Emirates
9. Austrian Airlines
8. Luxair
7. WestJet
6. LATAM Airlines
5. Qantas
4. SAS Scandinavian Airlines
3. Aeromexico
2. American Airlines
1. Qatar Airways

Worst Airlines of 2019
10. Adria Airways
9. Aerolineas Argentinas
8. Transavia
7. Laudamotion
6. Norwegian
5. Ryanair
4. Korean Air
3. Kuwait Airways
2. EasyJet
1. Thomas Cook Airlines

Here is a link to the full list.

Best Airports of 2019
10. Viracopos/Campinas International Airport, Brazil
9. Tenerife North Airport, Spain
8. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, India
7. Changi Airport Singapore, Singapore
6. Sheremetyevo International Airport, Russia
5. Gdansk Lech Wałęsa Airport, Poland
4. Afonso Pena International Airport, Brazil
3. Athens International Airport, Greece
2. Tokyo International Airport, Japan
1. Hamad International Airport, Qatar

Worst Airports of 2019
10. London Gatwick Airport, United Kingdom
9. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Canada
8. Porto Airport, Portugal
7. Paris Orly Airport, France
6. Manchester Airport, United Kingdom
5. Malta International Airport, Malta
4. Henri Coanda International Airport, Romania
3. Eindhoven Airport, Netherlands
2. Kuwait International Airport, Kuwait
1. Lisbon Portela Airport, Portugal

Here is a link to the full list.

I’ve already mentioned this before but I think it’s pretty harsh having our airport and airline rank that bad. Yeah, they’re not great but I wouldn’t consider them the worst in the world. On the other hand, Qatar Airways and Qatar’s airport both came in first place on both lists. This I can agree on.

Screenshot from Long Shot

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

New This Weekend:
Long Shot (7.2)
Pegasus: Pony with a Broken Wing (4.9)
Primal Rage: The Legend of Konga (4.9)
Stray (5.0)

Other Movies Showing Now:
A Vigilante (5.5)
Avengers: Endgame (9.2)
Captain Marvel (6.0)
Dumbo (7.1)
Godzilla: Resurgence (6.7)
Little (5.2)
Missing Link (7.1)
Shazam! (8.1)
The Curse of La Llorona (6.4)
The Intruder (5.4)
Wonder Park (7.1)

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

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Penguins (6.7)

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

If you’re not fasting during Ramadan and want to order food before Iftar, then below are some restaurants that will deliver early. This year there are a lot more places that deliver before Iftar and so I decided instead of listing them all here, I’d share a smaller curated list.

China Garden
Chinese / 11AM
Telephone: 1805080 / Carriage / Talabat / chinagarden.com.kw

Clean Eats
Vegan / 12PM
Telephone: 60488799 / Carriage

Domino’s
Pizza / 10AM
Telephone: 1800800 / Talabat

Eighty Six
Burgers / 2PM
Deliveroo

Enab
Lebanese / 2PM
Deliveroo / Talabat

Joa
Japanese / 2PM
Carriage

Kau
Burgers / 12PM
Carriage

Leila Min Lebnen
Lebanese / 2PM
Carriage

Mana
Variety / 2PM
Carriage / Deliveroo

Q at the Yard
Variety / 12PM
Telephone: 99696718 / Carriage

Rustic Thai Kitchen
Thai / 12PM
Telephone: 22204758 / Talabat

Sim Sim
Middle Eastern / 2PM
Carriage / Deliveroo

Tashi
Japanese / 2PM
Carriage

The Untitled Deli
Sandwiches / 1PM
Telephone: ‭22273354‬ / Carriage / Deliveroo

Tiger Tiger
Chinese / 2PM
Carriage

Vigonovo
Italian / 2PM
Deliveroo

Wendy’s
Burgers / 1PM
Carriage / Deliveroo

I’ll be updating the list above as I find out about more places, if you know of a place that delivers before Iftar (like 3PM or earlier) let me know.

Like always, I’ve highlighted the price increases over the previous year in red, and the decreases in green. The list is divided into two parts, hotels and restaurants so check it out below:

Hotels

Al Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort – Taima’a Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12 (+5.000)
Telephone: 24590000

Courtyard by Marriott – Atrium
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 22997000

Crowne Plaza – Al Ahmadi Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16
Telephone: 1848111

Four Seasons – Jawaher Tent
Buffet Price: KD21
Telephone: 22006000

Hilton Resort – Teatro Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD18
Telephone: 22256222

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Garden Cafe
Buffet Price: KD20 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22269600

JW Marriott – Al Thuraya
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22455550

Millennium Hotel & Convention – Lamar International Restaurant
Set Menu Price: KD14
Telephone: 22050505

Movenpick – Free Zone – Bays Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12 (+1.000)
Telephone: 24610033

Movenpick – Al Bida’a – Breeze Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22253100

Radisson Blu – Al Bustan Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16 (+2.000)
Telephone: 25673000

Safir Hotel – Fintas
Buffet Price: KD11.9 (-3.100)
Telephone: 25455555

Sheraton – Coral Tent
Buffet Price: KD20
Telephone: 22422055

Symphony Style Hotel
Buffet Price: KD13 (-1.000)
Telephone: 25770000

The Regency Kuwait – Silk Road Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD19 (+1.000)
Telephone: 25766880

Restaurants

Al Noukhaza Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16 (+0.050)
Telephone: 24732100

Al Sanawbar Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD10
Telephone: 25756273

Assaha Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD11 (-1.500)
Telephone: 22533377

Avanti Palace
Buffet: KD4.5
Telephone: 25751081

Baker & Spice
Set Menu Price: KD8.750
Telephone: 22407707

Burj Al-Hamam
Buffet Price: KD13.5 (+1.500)
Telephone: 22529095

Café Bateel
Set Menu Price: KD10
Telephone: 22270204

Dar Hamad
Buffet Price: KD16
Telephone: 22275555

Enab Beirut
Set Menu Price: KD12
Telephone: 22063000

IKEA
Set Menu Price: KD2.250
Telephone: 1840408

Izmir restaurant
Buffet Price: KD5.950
Telephone: 66305554

Kosebasi
Set Menu Price: KD7.900 (-1.850)
Telephone: 22201910

Kuwait Towers
Buffet Price: KD12 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22081999

La Brasa Argentinian Grill
Set Menu: KD17 (+6.000)
Telephone: 22322230

Maize
Set Menu: KD9
Telephone: 69688056

Naranj
Buffet Price: KD10.500 (-0.450)
Telephone: 22268666

Palm Palace
Buffet Price: KD8.900
Telephone: 67009575

Paul
Set Menu: KD7.950 (+0.700)
Telephone: 22208204

Qasr Al-Saraya
Buffet Price: KD9
Telephone: 25711101

Sakura
Buffet Price: KD14.950
Telephone: 23733388

Vapiano
Set Menu Price: KD6
Telephone: 22597171

Villa Fayrouz
Buffet Price: KD9.500
Telephone: 22650052

If you’d like to add a restaurant to the list above email me.

Below are some important Ramadan timings, if you’d like to add anything, leave it in the comments below.

Banks: 10AM to 1:30PM (Not including airport branches)
Government: 10AM to 2:30PM (Approx)

Cinescape: 8:30PM
GrandCinemas: 2:00PM
Sky Cinemas: 7:45PM
VOX: 11:10AM

360 Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8:30PM to 1AM
Al Kout Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8:30PM to 1:30AM
Avenues Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8PM to 1AM
Gate Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8PM to 1AM
Marina Mall: 11AM to 4PM and 8:30PM to 1AM
Salhiya: 10:30AM to 2:30PM and 8:30PM to 12:30AM

IKEA: 11AM to 4PM and 8PM to 1:00AM

Al Shaheed Park: 7AM to 2AM
Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Centre: 9PM to 12AM (Closed on Sundays)

Illustration by Windows of UAE

If you’re looking to fill up your free time this Ramadan with some TV shows, here are a few I’ve recently watched and liked. They’re fairly new so hopefully you haven’t watched them yet.

After Life
If you’re a fan of Ricky Gervais then you’re gonna love this show. It’s not funny in the same way his other stuff is funny since the subject matter of After Life is a bit sad and serious. This show actually reminded me of how when Louis C.K. came out with Horace and Pete which was also had a dramatic and serious subject with humor injected into it. After Life is available to watch on Netflix.

Black Monday
I’m a sucker for any show based in the 80s so when a friend told me about Black Monday I knew I had to watch it. The show is based around the big stock market crash of the 80s, but it’s a comedy and not a true life depiction of the actual events that took place. Black Monday has an all-star cast that includes some favorite actors of mine including Don Cheadle, Andrew Rannells (from GIRLS), Paul Scheer (from VEEP), and Ken Marino (from Party Down and Burning Love). It’s a Showtime series so it’s not available on the usual Amazon Video, Netflix, Hulu or HBO streaming services, but Showtime do offer a free trial subscription which you could use to binge watch the show.

Huge in France
I found out about the comedian Gad Elmaleh around a year ago from a Moroccan friend who was surprised I hadn’t heard of him. Gad is also Moroccan and is a super popular comedian in France. He released a stand-up special on Netflix called American Dream which was his first stand-up in English and it was hilarious. Now he has a new series on Netflix called Huge in France in which he plays himself, a super popular French comedian who moves to the US where nobody knows or cares who he is. A really funny show and very easy to get into.

Love, Death & Robots
This show caught me by surprise since I started watching it because of the name without knowing what the show was about. It turned out to be so good that I binged watched the whole season in just one seating. It wasn’t that hard to do since the episodes are fairly short, around 10 or 15 minutes long. Love, Death & Robots is an animation where every episode is a different animation style and a different story line not connected to the previous episode. Some episodes are extremely violent and gory while others aren’t at all so it’s difficult to recommend the show for everyone since it would be sort of a Russian roulette of gore, nudity and violence. A good litmus test would be watching the first episode, if you can get through it then you can handle the rest of the episodes. This show is available on Netflix.

You
Finally, this show was my least favorite on this list (and it’s also the oldest one), but it’s one of those shows you dislike but yet can’t stop watching. The show is about a guy who gets obsessed with this girl and uses the internet and social media to stalk her. It has a pretty high rating of 7.8 on IMDB which is surprising since although I couldn’t stop watching it, I wouldn’t have given it that high of a score. You is also available to watch on Netflix.

Have any other new show you’d recommend? Let me know in the comments.

Update: Just watched the first episode of the new HBO mini-series Chernobyl. It’s sooo good!