2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

If you’re not fasting and want to order food before Iftar, then below are some restaurants that will deliver early. It’s not a big list but it’s still better than nothing.

China Garden
Deliveries start after 11AM
Telephone: 25720010

China Kitchen
Deliveries start after 11:30AM
Telephone: 25738754

Marina Thai
Deliveries start after 12:30PM
Telephone: 23720040

Noodles
Deliveries start after 12PM
Telephone: 25749933

Osaka
Deliveries start after 10AM
Telephone: 22637331

Pastamania
Deliveries start after 12PM
Telephone: 1828585

Sea Taste Restaurant
Open 24 hours
Telephone: 66395655

Ubon
Deliveries start after 1PM
Telephone: 22260848

Upper Crust Pizzeria
Deliveries start after 11AM
Telephone: 22943200

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.

Update: Removed Poele from the list since it turned out they only had desserts and bread 12PM onwards. Also removed Beit Dickson since they had originally told me deliveries start 12PM onwards but now are stating 5PM onwards.

Arby’s are finally opening their first location in Kuwait and it’s going to be in Jabriya. A few days ago they updated their instagram account with the photo above and the caption coming soon but they didn’t mention a specific date to when they were planning to open up. The location they’ve chosen is where Fuddruckers Jabriya used to be, here it is on [Google Maps]. I can’t wait!

Online food takeaway firm Delivery Hero, which sources have said is considering a flotation imminently, has agreed to buy Middle East food delivery platform Carriage, the latest in a series of technology deals in the region. Chief Executive Niklas Ostberg said in a statement on Monday that Kuwait-based Carriage, which operates in the Gulf Council countries, would strengthen Delivery Hero’s foothold in a region with “significant growth potential”.

…

Delivery Hero first entered the Middle East in 2015 when it bought regional market leader Talabat from Rocket Internet. Ostberg said Carriage would be a “perfect addition” to Delivery Hero’s current offering under the Talabat brand.

[Source]

Oh wow, I did not see that coming.

Every year I put a list of Ramadan buffets together and every year the list grows. Since it was becoming a bit cumbersome to navigate, I’ve decided to split the list up this year into two to make it slightly easier to go through. Below is this years list, the first half is a list of hotels with their buffet prices while the second half of the list are restaurants. Like always I’ve highlighted the price increases over the previous year in red, and the decreases in green. Check out the full list below:

Hotels

Al Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort – Taima’a Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD10 (-2.000)
Telephone: 24590000

Courtyard by Marriott
Buffet Price: KD14 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22997000

Crowne Plaza – Al Ahmadi Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14.950 (+0.950)
Telephone: 1848111

Hilton Resort – Teatro Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD17.500 (+2.000)
Telephone: 22256222

Inn & GO Hotel – Al Dallah Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD9.9 (+0.900)
Telephone: 22436686

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Garden Cafe
Buffet Price: KD19
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
Telephone: 24610033

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

Radisson Blu – Al Bustan Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 25673000

Safir Hotel – Fintas
Buffet Price: KD14.500
Telephone: 25455555

Sheraton – Coral Tent
Buffet Price: KD17.750 (+0.500)
Telephone: 22422055

Symphony Style Hotel
Buffet Price: KD12 (+1.000)
Telephone: 25770000

The Regency Kuwait – Silk Road Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD18
Telephone: 25766880

Restaurants

Abdel Wahab
Buffet Price: KD10
Telephone: 1821000

Al Noukhaza Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14.950
Telephone: 24757775 or 1823888

Al Sanawbar Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD9.000 (-0.950)
Telephone: 25756273

Applebee’s
Set Menu Price: KD7.950
Telephone: 1844466 or 25381481

Assaha Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD10 (-1.000)
Telephone: 22533377

Avanti Palace
Set Menu Price: Vegetarian KD3.100 – Non Vegetarian KD3.500 (both min 4 people)
Telephone: 25751081

Burj Al-Hamam
Buffet Price: KD12.5
Telephone: 22529095

Dar Hamad
Buffet Price: KD15 (+1.500)
Telephone: 22275555

Enab Beirut
Set Menu Price: KD12
Telephone: 90009874

Jeans Grill
Buffet Price: KD8.500 (+0.550)
Telephone: 22264503

Kababji
Set Menu Price: KD5.950 (+0.450)
Telephone: 1861616

Kosebasi
Set Menu Price: KD9.750 (+2.250)
Telephone: 22251303

Kuwait Towers
Buffet Price: KD11 (-3.000)
Telephone: 22081999

La Brasa Argentinian Grill
Set Menu: KD11
Telephone: 99052419

Leila
Set Menu Price: KD10 (+0.500) – min 6 people
Telephone: 22996414

Naranj
Buffet Price: KD12.5
Telephone: 22268666

Palm Palace
Buffet Price: KD9.250 (+0.350)
Telephone: 67009575

Pop A Loop
Set Menu Prices: KD9 to KD14 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22271439

Qasr Al-Saraya
Buffet Price: KD9 (+0.500)
Telephone: 25711101

Ruby Tuesday
Set Menu Price: KD7.950 (-2.000)
Telephone: 22444454

Saladworks
Set Menu Price: KD2.750 to KD4.750
Telephone: 22201888

Tallu Hbabna
Buffet Price: KD10
Telephone: 51113700

Tandooriwala
Set Menu Price: KD6.750
Telephone: 25745458

Vapiano
Set Menu Price: KD6.000 (+0.450)
Telephone: 22597171

Veranda
Set Menu Price: KD12.450
Telephone: 22283141

Villa Fayrouz
Buffet Price: KD9.500 (-0.500)
Telephone: 22650052

Zafran
Buffet Price: KD8 (+0.500)
Telephone: 22285203 or 97281007

If you’d like to add a restaurant to the list above [Email Me]

Note: The prices listed above are for adults. Some restaurants offer special prices for children. I will add more restaurants to this list as I find out about them.

The local Ramadan ad on top was released a couple of days ago, while the Egyptian Chipsy commercials below were released back in January. Notice any similarities?

Not only are the ideas very similar, but most of the shots are practically identical down to the props (check orange juice in the pics below). I wouldn’t be surprised if Alameed Coffee pull their commercial and then have a nice chat with their agency about this.

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

Banks: 10AM to 1:30PM (Airport 9:30PM to 12AM)
Government: 9:30AM to 2:30PM (Approx)

Al Shaheed Park: 3PM to 2AM

Cinescape: 8PM onwards
GrandCinemas: 3:30PM onwards

360 Mall: 11AM to 3PM and 8:30PM to 1AM
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
Souq Sharq: 10AM to 3:30PM and 8:30PM to 2AM

Carrefour: 10AM to 2AM
Geant: 9AM to 12AM
LuLu: 9AM to 2AM
Saveco: 24 hours
Sultan Center: 24 hours

The second time in a couple of months that an attack on police was captured on video. This time though one of the cops manages to pull out his weapon which ends up scaring off the attackers. This is one of the cases where the video ends too soon since it stops just as the cop starts running after the attackers with his weapon pulled. If anyone knows what happened after let us know in the comments.

Here is a link to the other incident I mentioned about that took place back in April [Link]

Zain’s latest Ramadan ad made it to the top of Reddit’s front page yesterday and the video has already garnered nearly 2 million views in just two days. The reddit post also has over 4,000 comments with majority of them being positive except for the ones on the guy that kicks the pigeon 44 seconds into the commercial. If you haven’t watched the commercial yet you can check it out below.

For those of you who don’t know what Reddit is:

Reddit is an American social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. Reddit’s registered community members can submit content such as text posts or direct links. As of 2017, Reddit had 542 million monthly visitors, ranking #4 most visited web-site in US and #9 in the world. [source]

Update: I just noticed that this Zain reddit post is marked as an ad which means it might have been promoted to the front page instead of getting there naturally. Oh well..

Since Ramadan is starting this weekends list of events is pretty small. Check out whats going on this weekend below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Blue Nights curated by Mark Dean, New York
Level 44 Exhibition
Graish Shuwaikh
The Divan Movie Night: Naked Lunch
Movies at the Park: Lawrence of Arabia

Friday
Hatha Yoga in the Park
Good Game: Magic – The Gathering

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 movies below are now showing at either Cinescape, Grand Cinemas or Sky Cinemas:

New This Week:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (3.3)
Gifted (7.8)
The Bleeder (6.8) ♦

Other Movies Showing:
Alien: Covenant (7.0) ♦ ★
Everything, Everything (6.2)
Fast & Furious 8 (7.5)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (8.2) ♦ ★
Here Alone (5.2) ♦
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (7.2)
Monolith (4.7)
The Boss Baby (6.5)
Smurfs: The Lost Village (5.8)
The Circle (7.5) ♦

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

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Flying Monsters 3D with David Attenborough (7.6)
Humpback Whales 3D (7.2)
Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Secret Ocean 3D (N/A)
Journey to Space 3D (6.5)
Kenya 3D: Animal Kingdom (6.0)
Mysteries of the Unseen World 3D (7.5)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

The Civil Aviation authority has banned illegal parking at the Kuwait Airport. Previously the long term parking lot would be filled with cars parked on top of curbs and in no parking areas, but this will no longer be allowed. Parking attendants will no longer let you in if the parking is full and if you do park illegally, you will now be fined KD150. Like most new decisions in Kuwait, I doubt this will last long.

Equinox is a popular luxury gym chain in the US and according to a reader, they’re going to open in Kuwait (and most likely the region). Alshaya are bringing the brand which will most likely compete with the likes of Inspire, The Burrow and Elite Fitness.

No information on when or where they’re planning to open as of now.

Thanks Andrew

Customs officers at the Al-Ebdelli border entry point found a homing pigeon used as a drug mule to smuggle 178 amphetamine pills which were wrapped and tied round its body.

The officers spotted the bird which was coming from Iraq and pursued it till they caught it perching on a building rooftop, with a belt around its body that was stuffed with the pills. [Source]

If I saw a bird flying across the border I wouldn’t have thought anything of it.

Last time I posted about Wataniya Airways, I mentioned they were supposed to start flying early this year but that didn’t happen. Now my contact at Wataniya Airways has reached out to me to let me know that they might start flying from next month, if not by August at the very latest.

Wataniya Airways have applied to travel to 16 destinations and are just waiting approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The airline will have three different classes this time around; Wataniya Business, Wataniya Premium and Wataniya Seat. Wataniya Premium is their premium economy while Wataniya Seat is their regular economy class. Their first aircraft is ready and there are some videos and pictures of it already floating around on twitter. You can check them out [Here].

Once they start flying again, they’ll be flying out of Sheikh Saad Airport Terminal exactly like they used to. For now, you can follow them on their instagram account which went live last week @wataniyaairways

The alarm has been sounded again in Kuwait after figures for 2017 show that around 60 per cent of Kuwaiti marriages have ended in divorce.

Figures released by the Ministry of Justice indicate there were 2,001 marriages in January and February, down from 2,425 in the same period last year. The figures also show there were 1,193 cases of divorce in the first two months of 2017, up from 1,180 last year. [Source]

That would put Kuwait with Luxembourg in 6th place on the World’s Most Divorced Nations list:

1- Belgium (71%)
2- Portugal (68%)
3- Hungary (67%)
4- Czech Republic (66%)
5- Spain (61%)
6- Kuwait and Luxembourg (60%)
7- Estonia (58%)
8- Cuba (56%)
9- France (55%)
10- Lithuania (53%)