2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

The last time I was in Dubai some friends of mine wanted me to come and play a live escape game called HintHunt. The concept was fairly simple, you and your friends get trapped in a room and you have 60 minutes to figure out away out by solving various puzzles. Due to the shortage of time I never got to experience HintHunt but a similar concept recently launched in Kuwait called Room of Clues.

In Room of Clues you and your friends need to break into an office of a rich sheikh, find the account number of his bank account and then get out before he’s back. You also have just 60 minutes to solve all the puzzles.

The games are run every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 3PM to 10PM. The price is KD8 per person and the game can be played with a minimum of two people and a maximum of five. If you’re interested you can find more information on their website [Here] or check out their instagram account [Here]

One of my favorite blog perks is that whenever I see an interesting car, I can just contact the dealer and request to take it out for a test drive. I’ve been lucky enough to drive nearly all my favorite cars and all the dealers have been extremely good to me. Well most at least, Audi and VW don’t seem to want me to take out their cars for some odd reason (VW put me in a Golf already!). This past weekend I took out a car that recently sparked my interest, the Lexus IS 350 F Sport. When I had my surgery on my ankle a couple of weeks back I was being driven around in my dads Lexus LS. It was my first time in his car and I was sitting in the backseat playing with the massage option thinking I could live like this. It was comfortable, quiet, had a ton of leg room, it was everything my FJ Cruiser wasn’t. But I also knew that if I end up getting an LS that would basically mean I was admitting I was getting older. That was going to happen. A few moments later we pulled up to a traffic light right next to a new Lexus IS. The new Lexus IS has been out for awhile now but it only really caught my attention for the first time that very moment. I suddenly started loving the way it looked and a few days later I contacted the dealer and asked them if I could borrow the car for the weekend.

Before picking up the car there were two things I was hoping for, one the car wouldn’t be maroon since I believe thats the ugliest color on the car, and the second is that the interior wouldn’t be beige. Luckily my prayers were answered and they even handed me the keys to an F Sport version of the car which looks and is a lot cooler than the standard version. I’ve never thought of Lexus as exciting, but their new IS and NX cars are just so hot. Once I got in the car I fell in love with the interior as well, it’s very minimal with clean lines and all tastefully put together. The digital dashboard board is inspired from the Lexus LFA sports car and physically moves. I’ve never seen that in a car before, you can choose to have the speedometer in the middle with information running on both sides or with a press of the button have the speedometer slide to the right to reveal a larger screen with information displayed. Very cool.

[YouTube]

Most of the cars I take out to review I start to fall in love with as I spend more time with the car. With the Lexus IS, I fell in love with the car as soon as I got in it, and was still in love with it when I had to give it back. The car is just really comfortable to drive and I think it’s one of the hottest looking 4-doors in this price bracket. But the best part about it is the fact that its a Lexus so you know it’s going to be reliable. I’ve got a friend who drives at 12 year old Lexus that still looks new and she’s only now considering getting it replaced. Their cars are bulletproof.

The only thing that probably let the car down is the lack of features. The fully loaded Lexus IS I drove didn’t have any of the new features you would find on the new luxury cars like lane keeping assist, collision detection, blind spot information etc… It wasn’t a major let down for me but it could be for people who care about these gizmos more than the way the car looks. The sound system on the other hand was one of the best I’ve heard in a car and surprisingly was brand-less. It was just their standard 8 speaker sound system but yet I found the sound impressive.

In Kuwait the dealer has three different IS models, the IS 250, the IS 350 and the IS 350 F Sport. The main difference between the IS 250 and 350 is the engine size while the main differences between the IS 350 and IS 350 F Sport are mainly visual upgrades like spoilers, sportier seats, larger wheels, the digital dashboard I mentioned earlier and a few other things. The price of the IS 250 starts at around KD12,000 while the top of the line F Sport is around KD16,900. Would I buy this car? Yes in a heartbeat. If I was in the market looking for a 4-door sporty looking sedan then this would be right there on the top of the list. For more information on the Lexus IS you can check out the dealers website [Here]

Last month I read an article about teachers being deported after public authority inspectors started doing random checks at schools and finding out many of them were working on visit visas. I didn’t think of it much at first since I thought these incidents were taking place at random no-name schools around the country.

Last night though I found out from a teacher friend that some of the top ranked schools in Kuwait were being busted with one of the American schools in Hawalli having had 30 teachers deported. Another American school made 50 teachers not come into school for 3 days because they were expecting an inspection.

My guess is after the child sex offender was found working at a local American school, the government probably ran an investigation to see how he slipped through their background checks and realized that he was working here illegally. Obviously this is the fault of the schools but what I don’t understand is why they don’t get the teachers proper work permits in the first place. Is it to save money or are schools having visa issues like every other company in Kuwait?

Last week I posted about a new restaurant that opened called Bao. Well the same owners opened up another restaurant right next door called Haute specializing in gourmet hot dogs. I passed by a couple of days ago to try it out and unlike my visit to Bao, this time I left disappointed.

The interior of Haute is pretty trendy looking with graffiti on the walls and lots of bright red everywhere. The place was empty when I passed by but it wasn’t lunch nor dinner time but somewhere in between. Their menu had 7 different hot dogs to choose from, they all used the same beef hot dog but each had different toppings. I like my hot dogs very simple so ordered the classic which came with just ketchup and mustard (KD2.000).

When I first saw pictures of the hot dogs on their instagram page, I thought I would have an issue with the bun they were using. It didn’t look soft in the photos but in reality they were and they also turned out to be the best thing about the hot dog. The hot dog itself on the other hand was disappointing. According to their instagram, their hot dogs are smoked and made in house using the finest beef. But I didn’t like the flavor of it and thought it tasted very average. So for my hot dog fix I’ll continue to stick to Shake Shack for the time being.

Like Bao, Haute is located in Sharq near the Sharq Police Station [Here is a Map]. They’re also currently open from 4PM to 10:30PM. For more information you can check out their instagram account [Here] and here is a link to a clearer shot of their [Menu]

For the crossfitters who read my blog, a friend of mine just started importing the Inov-8 brand of training shoes to Kuwait. They have four different models available including the FASTLIFT™ 335 pictured above. Right now they’re selling them over the phone by calling or whatsapping 66786789 for orders but they’ll soon be available at various crossfit boxes around Kuwait.

I personally ended up getting a pair of Nike Metcon 1’s instead and I’m loving them as well although they’re not tried and proven like the Inov-8’s.

I love these KDD guys that park on the side of roads. They help make our extremely hot summers slightly more bearable.

One of my favorite restaurants Street by Al Makan launched a new expanded menu last month. There are now much more to choose from and I got to try a few which I found delicious like the Butter Chicken Milanesa Sando, the 7hr Lamb and Chutney Bun as well as the Flame Grilled Tenderloin & Teryaki Asparagus. They’re also now open daily for lunch from 12PM onwards so check them out.

Update: Here is a larger image of the menu [Link]

Speaking of abandoned places, does anyone still go to Rays One on blajat street in Salmiya? It’s been there for as long as I remember and even back in the 90s it was always empty. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone inside and yet its remained open all these years.

Update: Just found the following snippet from the US State department “Weekender’s Guide to Life in Kuwait – 2007 Edition”

RAY’S ONE RESTAURANT: This restaurant has a fish festival every Thursday and Friday serving a variety of fish cooked in a variety of ways – fried, steamed, grilled, smoked etc. During the week it serves an international cuisine.

A couple of weeks back while driving by the Scientific Center I noticed the fenced wall around the abandoned Kenny Rogers Roasters had come down. I decided that once I was off my crutches I would head there and try to see if I could get inside but it looks like I was beaten to the punch. Over the weekend the blog Life in Kuwait visited the location and shot some pictures and video of the inside. The place seems to be in much better condition than I expected it to be and it’s also a lot larger than I imagined as well. Check out the photos and video of the place [Here]

Over the weekend I was over at the Sahara Restaurant Village and noticed a trampoline park was opening up. The location is pretty big so I’m hoping it’s going to be similar to Bounce in Dubai where it’s as much for adults as it is for kids. No idea when the Sahara location is opening up but based on their instagram account, it looks like they’ve opened up a smaller version in Hawalli.

This weekend looks a bit quiet with not many events taking place. There is the Red Bull Car Park Drift taking place on Friday but it’s all the way on the 7th Ring Road. You also have two yoga events taking place, the Living Yoga Festival on Friday and the Yoga for Nepal on Saturday. Finally if you haven’t watched it before, Saturday night Cinemagics will be showing The Royal Tenenbaums. Check out all the events below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Geometry of Colour
Exhibition: Abolish 153
Mommy and I: Play Together
Rooftop Movie: Ship of Theseus

Friday
Exhibition: Geometry of Colour
Culinary Event: Perfect Cakes and Frosting
Red Bull Car Park Drift
Living Yoga Festival 2015

Saturday
Exhibition: Geometry of Colour
Yoga For Nepal
Rooftop Movie: The Royal Tenenbaums
How to House-Break your Dog

There is an interesting event also taking place on Wednesday at Bayt Lothan called Sidra Nights. It’s not on the weekend but figured I’d still mention it.

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

So it’s been two weeks since my surgery and since I started using crutches. The first week of crutches was fun because it was something I hadn’t experienced before, and so there was lots of puzzle solving involved. But that novelty quickly wore off and I’m now finding crutches to be such a nuisance. One thing I haven’t really solved is how I can carry stuff while on crutches. I went to Sultan and bought some bananas thinking I could carry the bag in one hand while still managing to hold my crutches. That worked but what I didn’t take into consideration was the weight of the bananas plus the swinging motion would completely destabilize my balance with every swing. The stupid bananas were going to cause my crutches to fly out of my hand and I’d fall embarrassingly in front of everyone. Stupid bananas. I ended up taking the most gentlest and shortest hops back to my car and finally got there like 15 minutes later. A messenger bag would do the trick but imagine if I walked around with a messenger bag at Sultan filling it up with stuff. It would look like I’m stealing groceries so that’s not gonna happen.

On the other hand I have gotten very close to my crutches. They’re my mobility so they’re always right next to me. When I was at a restaurant last week the waiter was being nice and took and put my crutches near a wall away from my table as so not to bother me, I had him bring them back because I didn’t feel comfortable being so far away from them. People are so nice to you when you’re on crutches but it’s the pity kind of nice which I dislike. I have complete strangers passing by me and telling me “salamat” (get well soon) or “mat shoof shar” (don’t see evil). I’ve broken both of my hands multiple of times but no one ever treated me differently. It’s these damn crutches, not sure how I can make them look any less medical, I already have some cool stickers on them. When I see someone in crutches or in a wheel chair I don’t treat them any differently than I would anybody else because I know they don’t want my pity. I guess I understand, people are just trying to be nice but still, it makes me feel weak.

Yesterday I had my stitches removed and had some new x-rays taken. The doctor said I still have two more weeks in my cast before I completely remove it. It’s not really a cast, I removed the cast around 10 days back and got this medical boot called the Arcus Air Walker instead. It looks super cool, a lot less medical looking than a cast and best of all I can remove it and put it on myself. Made cleaning my wound (and leg) so much easier plus it’s the only way I can put on my skinny shorts. By the way if you ever need anything like this, crutches, braces, or things to make life for someone with a disability easier, there is a pharmacy in Kuwait Building Tower in Kuwait City (same building as Spaloon and Burger King) that has the whole basement floor dedicated to this stuff. I got my boots, crutches and a shower bag for leg from there, they’re called AlHuwail Pharmacy.

So anyway my doctor told me I don’t have to wear the cast anymore as long as I don’t put much weight on it yet. Since I’m super clumsy we agreed I wear the boot when I am moving around on my crutches but I can remove it when I’m sitting down. That was energizing news since I kinda had gotten demoralized a few days earlier. One of my clients is an ex Chinese Olympic gymnast and he told me that back in the day when any athlete broke a bone they had to be in a cast for three months. That obviously brought me down since I had hoped I would have to stay in the cast for a maximum of 6 weeks.

The best news the doctor gave me is that I should start doing home rehab on my ankle, moving it around and such which is exactly what I wanted to hear. I have a little experiment I am planning to run you see, I noticed that in just two weeks my left calf muscle had completely weakend. That means even after I remove the cast I wouldn’t be able to walk normally or do normal things not unless my left leg got its strength back. So I had a theory, what if I did Electro Muscular Training starting from now? I tried it last month with the fitness studio 20Seven and it gave me a proper workout and my theory is it would keep my calf active and alive until I remove my cast. So I went online, did some research and ended up ordering the Compex SP 4.0. It’s one of the best and most popular brands for home EMT devices and use by crossfitters, cyclists and other athletes. I’m planning to work out my left leg, specifically my calves and ankles during this period in hopes that by the time I remove the cast my left leg would be stronger than if I hadn’t done EMT. I’m curious to see if it works. I’ll do a full review of the device in a month or so.

So two more weeks and if everything goes to plan no more crutches.

Last night a new restaurant opened up in Kuwait City called Bao that serves Chinese-style steamed buns (hence the name). Whenever a new restaurant opens up that brings something new to Kuwait I’m usually all over it which was the case here. I’ve had steamed buns before in Kuwait at Street by Al Makan, but to have a place that just focuses on them, even better.

The restaurant is cute looking with around 7 or 8 tables. They had just opened last night so there were only a few other tables occupied when I passed by. I looked at the menu and ended up ordering the following dishes:

Tamarind Drumstick KD2.700
Buttermilk deep fried boneless chicken drumsticks dressed in tamarind glaze.

Coconut Shrimp Bao KD2.000
Coconut crusted shrimp with sweet chili aioli and pickled cucumber and crispy carrot.

Brisket Bao KD2.000
10 hours slow cooked brisket with crispy onion, red chili and ranch sauce.

Sweet Potato Sticks KD1.000

They also brought me a complimentary salad to try:

Pomelo Salad KD2.700
Cubed avocado, pomelo, pomegranate, red cabbage, shredded cucumber and mint with crunchy edamame, tossed with a tangy sweet dressing.

The orders started coming out randomly with the brisket bao being served first followed by the complimentary salad, then the drumsticks, then the sweet potato and finally the coconut shrimp. I can’t fault them on that since they had literally just opened a couple of hours earlier, so obviously the kitchen still don’t have the timings down.

Everything was pretty good with the two bao’s I had ordered being delicious. The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was the salad, but I’m generally not a salad guy with only a very few salads I like anyway. Right now they only have 9 different types of bao’s to choose from but once the restaurant officially opens they’re hoping to have around 16. One thing I really wanted to try but resisted were their desserts. They had two kinds of bao’s available, one involved fried donuts and a vanilla ice cream glaze while the other involved deep fried banana drizzled with Nutella. Both looked very tempting but decided to save them for my next visit. I ended up paying KD10 including drinks and tip. I was pretty full but if I hadn’t ordered a starter I think I would need three bao’s to fill me up. So price-wise, I wish the bao’s were like half a KD cheaper each.

Bao is currently in their soft launch phase with their opening hours being from 4PM to 10:30PM. They’re located in Kuwait City near the Sharq Police Station [Here is a Map]. All the photos in this post were taken from their instagram page since the lighting at night wasn’t great so my shots sucked.

I was dining at Köşebaşı in The Cube when on my way out I noticed Slice was opening up outside. I frequent Slice in the city quite often since they’re my favorite Doner kebab place. I always order the carb free Slice box which is basically sliced beef in a box with yogurt sauce. Good food and now conveniently located close to my house.

Every year I have to go through the dreaded process of renewing my car registration and I hate it. The traffic department in Maidan Hawalli is just a chaotic, over crowded unorganized mess. It involves a lot of pushing and shoving and lots of waiting. But this year, something changed.

I had already finished my car check in the morning without any incidents so I headed to the traffic department to get my car registration printed. Right as I walked in I noticed they had setup a desk at the main entrance and an officer was standing in the doorway leading to the main hall. The officer was not letting anyone through unless they had stood in line and gotten their paperwork checked and stamped at the desks. I naturally stood in line which wasn’t long at all, just two people ahead of me and when it was my turn the guy behind the desk checked my papers and then told me I needed to get a stamp from the machine. I went got a stamp while he patiently waited, I then passed him the stamp, he stuck it on my papers, signed it and gave it back to me and told me to go inside. I walked into what usually is a large, noisy and overcrowded hall and walked up to a window and handed the guy my papers. A minute later he called my name and I went and he gave me my new car registration. I walked out dumbfounded.

I am a pro at renewing car registrations since I do it a few times a year for my cars and my parents cars and I’ve been doing it for a fairly long time now. Not once have I ever managed to get anything done there in under 30 minutes. It usually takes longer but lets use 30 minutes as a number for now. This year the process took less than 10. Not only that but I didn’t get shoved, I didn’t have people try and push in front of me and I didn’t have to sit in an over crowded room watching people getting yelled at by an overzealous police officer.

Whomever they’ve put in charge at the traffic department in Hawalli needs a medal. It was literally the quickest and simplest governmental service I think I’ve ever experienced anywhere yet alone in Kuwait. Why can’t all of Kuwait’s government processes be so organized like this?