2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Last month I did a road trip from Amsterdam to Copenhagen and below is a quick guide of all my favorite spots in Copenhagen. They are not touristic, nor are they TikToky, so you won’t find long lines, although some of the places do require booking ahead of time:

Eat
Krogs Fiskerestaurant and Kodbyens Fiskebar were my favorite seafood spots. I might have actually had the best fish dish I’ve ever had at Krogs (it was their catch of the day). Tokyo Restaurant for authentic Shabu-shabu, it’s also the oldest Japanese restaurant in Scandinavia. Jah Izakaya & Sake Bar for a less traditional and more hip Japanese spot. Oysters & Grill and Rouge Oysters for your more typical seafood and lots of oysters. Andersen & Maillard and Skipper Bageri for your baked goods and pastries. Slurp for Ramen, although it might be a bit TikToky, and finally, Osterberg for delicious ice cream.

Drink
Prolog was by far my favorite coffee spot and their bread, butter and cheese sandwich is top notch as well. Bread, butter and cheese was my favorite thing about Copenhagen, it’s like a staple over there. Orsa was my second favorite coffee shop and it also happens to be in a very cool neighborhood. HANS was also good and the more accessible coffee shop since they have multiple locations.

See
For furniture and accessories you have to visit Frama, Ferm Living and HAY House. For fashion, Another Aspect, Samsøe Samsøe and The Girl & The Diamond. For art supplies (don’t ask) Tutein & Koch. For a day trip out of the city, head to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art followed by Frederiksborg Castle and exploring the nature around it.

Sleep
I had a few hotels I looked at but eventually booked at Zuko. It’s a new hotel and their rooms looked like one of those small apartments in an episode of “Never too small”. It was very practical, spacious and the location was great, right outside the city center with the metro a 2 minute walk away. The hotel rooftop was a nice spot to chill at the end of the day and there was underground parking which I needed for my rental. Audo Residence and Manon les Suites were my plan B’s.

To see my previous lists, click here.

I started watching two shows this past week, Presumed Innocent starring Jake Gyllenhaal on AppleTV+, and A Man in Full starring Jeff Daniels on Netflix. Both have been pretty enjoyable so far, enjoyable enough for me to stop playing Zelda and watch some TV. I’ve also been a huge fan of Jeff Daniels ever since The Newsroom and his personality on A Man in Full reminds me a lot of that Jeff Daniels.

Randomly, both shows I’m watching star Bill Camp. I like the character on one show and dislike him on the other so it’s really weird to bounce from one show to another.

One thing I realized, the Apple Vision Pro is a really great device, not only to watch movies and shows on an extremely large screen, but also to help me stay focused. Usually when I’m watching TV on the couch I’m constantly on my phone or on my laptop fidgeting. Like literally picking up and putting my phone down every couple of minutes like a bad tic. With the Apple Vision Pro I can’t do that. Firstly I can’t keep picking up my phone since it’s not practical to check my phone while on the AVP. I’ve tried mirroring my phone through an app called Bevel, but once the phone goes to sleep it disconnects. I could of course browse the web while watching a movie or show on the AVP, but not when I’m in theater mode. Theater mode on the AVP is really great, you get immersed in an environment that looks like a large cinema with no one there but you and a huge screen in front of you.

When you’re immersed you can’t have other apps open or else it takes you out of that environment and puts you back in a normal environment with different windows. Hard to explain but what I’m trying to say, theater mode is such a great way to watch stuff on TV because I’m totally focused, while watching. I’m just there doing one thing only, watching tv. Kinda like how when you go to a movie theater in real life you don’t get on your phone.

Anyway let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
A Sacrifice (4.9)
Cold Meat (5.3)
Despicable Me 4 (6.4)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Classic) (7.4)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Classic) (7.6)
Patsy Lee & the Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms (7.9)

Other Movies Showing:
A Quiet Place: Day One (7.0)
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (6.8)
Dragonkeeper (5.8)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (7.4)
Inside Out 2 (8.2)
The Bikeriders (7.3)
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (4.7)

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

Kuwait is currently oversaturated with burger spots but that wasn’t always the case. Back in 1969, when Wimpy opened in Kuwait, there weren’t any other burger brands.

Wimpy was a US burger franchise that first opened in 1934 with the name inspired by the burger loving character, Wimpy from the Popeye cartoons. In 1957, Wimpy International was created, and in 1969, Kuwait Food Company (Americana) brought the Wimpy franchise to Kuwait.

The first Wimpy location in Kuwait was in Salmiya which I’ve shared the pictures above. The other location I have shared is the Ahmadi Market location below.

Wimpy claim to have served the first ever cheeseburger to Arabia. I know from people who used to go to Hubara Club in Ahmadi in the 60s that they had a burger on their menu. But, that wasn’t really open to the general public. So, it would be safe to say, that Wimpy, at least helped introduce the burger to the mainstream population of Kuwait.

The oldest memory I have of Hardee’s is this 3D kids meal box. It’s from 1983 and I remember vividly picking it up from Hardee’s in old Salmiya, the location that was opposite Fay and Barakat (the shawarma place). The memory I have is being in the car parked outside Fay, and I remember as soon asI got in the car, the first thing I did was look through the red and blue windows to see if I could see anything inside. I also remember I had ordered a roast beef as my kids meal burger.

Back in 2015, I found the advert above in an old bookshop in the city which helped me re-spark that memory and I knew I needed to get the box again. Fast forward to last week, I finally found a box that was reasonably priced, was of Spiderman, and most importantly, included the comic. And now I have it thanks to eBay.

Update: I have an old photo of the building that used to house the Swan Lake music shop, Barakat and Fay. The photo was taken from my PDA, a Sony Clie UX40 back in the early 2000s and was posted on MoBlog back in 2004 (usurp.textamerica.com). Text America died and I never backed it up but I have the image as a thumbnail which I enlarged. Posting it here just for Google incase anyone in the future is ever looking for it. Hardees is the red lit up sign on the bottom left. Previous location of the first Wimpy location in Kuwait.

Random fact I recently discovered, the manager of the Swan Lake music shop in the 80s was the owner of the Bells music shop in the 90s.

I’ve never signed up to a meal plan because I really disliked the idea of pre-planning meals ahead of time. I never know what I want to eat until I actually want to eat. I also don’t like the idea of getting all my food in the morning, and then having to reheat them whenever it’s time to eat. Forevermore is a meal plan that solved both those issues for me.
 

Instead of having to pre-plan your meals, with Forevermore you just order the food you want when you want it, and you’ll get it within 45 minutes, just like ordering from a restaurant. But, their app is what makes them really special.

Imagine if the MyFitnessPal app also had a built-in restaurant, that’s basically what Forevermore is. When you first create a Forevermore account, the app will ask you a few questions about yourself,  like how much you weigh, how much you’d like to lose, and how quickly. Based on your answers, the app will calculate an optimum daily calorie intake for you which then becomes your daily target. Whenever you order anything from Forevermore, the app deducts the calories from your daily intake and lets you keep track of how much more you have left. It’s all visually displayed and updated throughout the day, and it can even connect to your phone’s health info to know if you worked out and how many calories you burned.

I’ve actually been enjoying the experience so much that after I finished consuming the one month trial package they had hooked me up with, I signed myself up for another month so I could continue ordering. I already have a lot of favorite items including their murabyan, mushroom steak bowl, butter chicken, fish & chips, katsu curry and their short ribs & mash.

If you’re looking for a new meal plan and want to try Forevermore out, they have a new summer package that goes live today called FM Bite where you can sign up for their meal plan at just 75KD. But, they also have a special trial package for my readers right now. Contact their call center on 22909427 and let them you heard about them through 248AM and they’ll give you a 25KD trial package that is valid for 1 week. Check them out on @forevermore.fm or download the app from this link.

Yesterday banks around Kuwait launched WAMD, a new and convenient way of sending and receiving money locally through Knet.

WAMD is the Arabic word for “Flash”, which I guess reffers to the speed of transferring money. The service basically allows you to quickly send and receive money using only a persons phone number.

Previously if you wanted to send a friend money, you’d either have to add them as a beneficiary or you would have to create a payment link. Now, they no longer need to do that. Instead, all you need to do is go to your mobile banking app and select to either to send or request money via WAMD, and then type in the amount, the persons phone number, and then click send. WAMD will handle everything else which includes sending the payment link and notifying both parties through SMS on the status.

To be able to use WAMD, both of you need to have previously registered for it. You can register to use WAMD through your banking app, it’s a simple process where you put your phone number and then the app sends you an OTP number to verify that this in fact is your phone number. Once you do that you can then use the service.

There are transfer limits. The minimum amount you can send per transaction is 1KD, the maximum is 1,000KD. You also have a daily limit of 3,000KD and a maximum monthly limit of 20,000KD.

This is a free service and requires you to have a Kuwait number and a Kuwait based bank account.

Knet haven’t updated their website yet with details on WAMD, so for now you need to head to their instagram page for info @knetkw

Yesterday KDD launched a new line of ice cream they’re calling “Good for Me”. It’s ice cream that has zero percent added sugar making them healthier than their regular ice cream. Here is everything you need to know:

• They will be available in three flavors, vanilla, strawberry and chocolate

• It still tastes sweet because they use a combination of plant-based sweeteners, stevia and erythritol

• The chocolate cup has 130 calories while both the strawberry and vanilla have 140 calories (170ml)

• The total sugar in this ice cream is 6 grams (this is from the natural lactose in milk), which is 65% less than regular ice cream

• The ice cream does not contain artificial colors or flavors

• The price is 400 fils per cup (their regular old ice creams are 100 fils per cup)

• KDD will be launching more GOOD FOR ME products in the future (I hope they launch sugar free Silver 🙇🏼‍♂️)

• Good For Me was co-funded by The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences and Clinically tested by Dasman Diabetes Institute

Correction: I previously stated the number of calories were per 150g, it’s actually per 170ml and so I’ve corrected that.

Boutiqaat, the largest online fashion and cosmetics platform in the region just launched a very cool campaign where you could win one of three Hermes bags.

Every 30KD spent on their website enters you into the special draw for a chance to win a bag. So for example, if you spend 100KD you get three entries for the draw. The more you spend the more chances you get. What’s funny is that you probably have a higher chance of winning a Hermes bag with Boutiqaat than trying to buy one from a Hermes store. These bags are incredibly hard to come by!

This campaign is applicable across the Gulf as well as Iraq and for both men and women. For more info and to stay posted on future campaigns, follow @boutiqaat or shop by visiting Boutiqaat.com

I’m a very routine-oriented person, and one of the things I like to do is head to The Avenues every Friday morning, at least in the hot months when I can’t be outdoors. I just find it relaxing to walk around and shop, and before it gets busy, I have an early lunch and then leave. My go-to place for lunch is usually Em Sherif Café or Midar; but recently, I’ve added Matbakhi to the list.

Matbakhi is an authentic Palestinian restaurant that has been open for a couple of months. It’s owned by Chef Sawsan (@sawsansmatbakhi) and is inspired by her heritage and her mother’s recipes. I think I’ve been there six or seven times already, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite spots.

I think they have one of the best, if not the best, tabbouleh and shish taouk in Kuwait. The reason I first went there was because of their shish taouk. A friend at work who knows that’s all I ever eat tried their taouk and told me I had to try it because it was the best one she’d ever had, and she was right. Matbakhi is also one of those places where you can’t really go wrong no matter what you order. Every time I’ve been there with various people, everyone has always loved whatever they’ve ordered. Oh, and they also have the best Om Ali ever—seriously, so good.

Their prices are in the mid-to-upper range of Lebanese restaurants. The taouk, for example, is 4.950 KD, while the tabbouleh is 2.950 KD. The only negative aspect might be their service, which can be a bit iffy sometimes, but that’s just nitpicking. If you want to try the place out, they’re located across from Cheesecake Factory in Phase 3. They’re always pretty busy, so either head there when they first open at 12 PM (which is what I do), or put your name on the waiting list and then kill time walking around The Avenues. Their Instagram account is @matbakhibysawsan

Fable is a chocolate story that’s been in the making for over three years and they’re finally launching today. It’s a locally created chocolate bar concept launching with 7 Fable flavors including Qurs Egaily, Strawberry Cheesecake, Caramel Popcorn, Coffee Crunch (Protein), Peanut Butter (Vegan), Birthday Cake, and Hazelnut.

The first thing that caught my attention were the colorful illustrations and branding on all the chocolate bars. The owner loves telling stories and so he wanted all his chocolate bars to tell their own individual stories as well. That’s why the flavors aren’t listed on the front of the packaging. Instead, illustrations are used, so customers have to interpret them to identify the flavors.

Fable will constantly be rotating flavors and have 67 different ones in the pipeline right now. They’ll also be releasing a different influencer flavor every month that will be done in collaboration with various local influencers and feature them illustrated on the chocolate bars.

If you’re interested in trying their chocolate bars, you can get them from their website fablechocolates.com or head over to their instagram account for the link or more details. @fablechocolates

The only thing I watched this week was the latest episode of The Kardashians and the two episodes of House of Dragons that are out. Last weekend I finally picked up “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” on the Nintendo Switch and I’ve been playing it non-stop so haven’t had much time for TV. I did just come across the tiktok video below that talks about how “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, one of my favorite shows ever is pro-Palestine.

I just sent it to my wife and hoping to convince her to finally watch the show with me since she really hates it. Plan B is to have her watch Arrested Development.

Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
A Quiet Place: Day One (7.0)
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (7.4)
The King Tide (7.0)

Other Movies Showing:
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (6.8)
Breathe (3.8)
Dragonkeeper (5.8)
Inside Out 2 (8.2)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (7.4)
The Bikeriders (7.3)
The Garfield Movie (6.0)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Classic) (9.0)
Tarot (4.9)
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (4.7)
The Watchers (5.7)

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

The Kuwait National Planetarium has reopened again after being closed since 2016 for renovations.

The planetarium was one of the first in the Gulf Region and originally opened back in 1986. The technology at the planetarium has been fully upgraded with a new system consisting of nine 4K video projectors, new computer technology and the modernization of the sound system. But, at the heart of it all is the Zeiss STARMASTER projection system. Only 19 of these STARMASTER projection systems are installed worldwide and they’re known for their high level of brightness, pinpoint sharpness, and providing a realistic starry sky.

The planetarium is open from Monday to Thursday with five shows playing daily at 10AM, 11AM, 12PM, 5:30PM and the last one at 6:30PM. Check out the current schedule and whats playing below. Entrance to the planetarium is free.

If you’ve never been to the planetarium before, it’s located on the Gulf Road, opposite Seef Palace and is part of the Kuwait National Museum. Here is the location on Google Maps.

Note: Just one thing to point out, this past week they’ve been having issues with the AC and have had to cancel some shows.

Update: I was given this number by the staff so that people can call and check ahead of time if they’re having AC issues or not 22408496

The Red Fort (also called the Red Palace) is one of my favorite historical sites in Kuwait. The fort was built in 1897 with the primary purpose to defend the agriculture farms in Jahra. In 1920 it was also the location of the famous Battle of Jahra.

Not a lot of people know about the fort, and most people who do haven’t been there. I’ve always found the fort to be very photogenic and visually interesting since we don’t have anywhere else in Kuwait that looks like it. I’ve also always loved how the fort was open to explore, you could enter any room you wanted, walk up any steps and just wander around the place enjoying the outdoors.

However, the fort needed some TLC. Last year, a team of local experts were assigned to revive and restore it, and they’ve been hard at work ever since.

The project has multiple stages, with the final stage being the complete restoration of the fort to its original state. However, the road to this goal is long, so the team began by enhancing the current visitor experience. For example, they added aesthetically pleasing lighting throughout the fort, making it more nighttime-friendly, which is important since the fort is open until 8PM. They also constructed new raised pathways to allow visitors to explore the main courtyard without having to walk in the dirt. But the most significant addition to the Red Fort is the brand-new ‘Arms & Armory Museum’.

The team took over an existing building right outside the walls of the fort and repurposed it into a new museum that will house more than two centuries of artifacts. The new Arms & Armory Museum will reflect the Kuwaiti society’s complex relationship with arms, serving as tools for self-defense, aiding in hunting, symbols of status and wealth, and ornate works of art to be admired.

I was given an early sneak peek of the museum and was pleasantly surprised by how beautifully it was coming together. The team managed to procure artifacts from the National Museum and private collectors but, since the display cases were only recently installed, the exhibit is still a work in progress. The aim is to have it ready to open by the end of summer, around the time schools start again so that students will be able to explore the museum when they visit.

The Red Fort is currently closed to the public while it’s being worked on. Once the museum is ready and the fort reopens, I’ll let you know or follow @kw_nccal for updates.

This post is for my Lebanese readers, Malak Al Tawouk is opening in Kuwait right next to Johnny Rockets in Salmiya.

Malak Al Tawouk and another similar place called HaJal were my goto restaurant when I was studying in Lebanon during my university days in the late 90s. They served HUGE tawouk sandwiches for super cheap, like 600fils cheap. The sandwiches were usually filled with coleslaw, tawouk, fries and ketchup. Very budget friendly, very filling and tasted delicious which is why it was one of my favorites places.

Since they first opened in 1996, they’ve grown and opened multiple of locations in Lebanon, as well as locations around the world, mostly where Lebanese reside so Montreal, Paris, Dubai etc. I’m not to sure about their choice in their first location in Kuwait though, that strip where they’re opening has a pretty long history of restaurants failing. Only Johnny Rockets has survived there and nothing else.

Note: I found an old post of mine from 2006 where I mentioned Malak Al Tawouk was opening in Kuwait. Not sure what happened back then but they’re finally opening now. I also found a photo from 2006 of the sandwich next to my phone back then (pre-iPhone). I tried to find the original photo in my archive but I just wasted an hour of my life looking for it and eventually gave up since I have a more important post I’m working on.

Nvidia has signed a deal to deploy its artificial intelligence technology at data centres owned by Qatari telecoms group Ooredoo in five Middle Eastern countries, Ooredoo’s CEO told Reuters.

…

It will make Ooredoo the first company in the region able to give clients of its data centers in Qatar, Algeria, Tunisia, Oman, Kuwait and the Maldives direct access to Nvidia’s AI and graphics processing technology, Ooredoo said in a statement.

Providing the technology will allow Ooredoo to better help its customers deploy generative AI applications, Nvidia’s senior vice president of telecom Ronnie Vasishta said.

Basically what that means, companies in Kuwait who use Ooredoo data centers can now provide their customers with AI features. So for example if a company currently uses a dumb bot to handle initial customer support communication, with this new Nvidia tech they would be able to have AI take over that job from the bots. Obviously they’ll be able to do a lot more with AI than just talk to customers. Link