2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
Alshaya is reportedly in talks to sell a minority stake in its Starbucks franchise business. A US private equity firm and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) are both supposedly interested in acquiring the stake.
This doesn’t seem to be related to the recent boycott of the brand since Alshaya has been looking to sell this stake since 2022. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if the boycott helped push the deal closer.
Kuwait’s National Planetarium was one of the first in the Gulf Region and originally opened back in 1986. But a lot has happened to it since then.
During the 1990 Gulf War, the planetarium was destroyed and the signature dome remained visibly damaged for many years after. Eventually, the planetarium was rebuilt and it reopened again in 2002 but then closed down again in 2016 due to the major renovations that were going to take place at the National Museum. Now, 8 years later, it’s set to reopen again.
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 which has been at the planetarium since the reopening in 2002. The STARMASTER replaced the Zeiss SPACEMASTER which was installed in 1986 and was badly damaged during the 1990 invasion (It’s now displayed in the planetariums lobby). Only 19 STARMASTER projection systems are installed worldwide and they’re known for their high level of brightness, pinpoint sharpness, and providing a realistic starry sky.
Work on the planetarium is basically complete with only minor maintenance work left. Their aim is to open it as soon as the work is complete, but most likely it will be right after Ramadan.
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.
I’m having a horrible experience dealing with all the SMS ads Kababji keep sending me. I used to order from them a few times a week and for yeearrssss, but since I’ve started having issues with their ads and their social media teams complete lack of communication, I’ve stopped ordering from them.
I was a huge fan of the brand but now they really piss me off and all because they refuse to stop sending me ads. To make matters worse, they’ve started sending me Subway ads (they’re owned by the same company which is Kout Food Group), so I’ve also now decided to stop having Subway which I was having around once or twice a week before they started spamming me.
I don’t understand the thinking process sometimes. Like fine, you’re sending ads out to your customers without their permission, sure, whatever, but at least when the customer gets in touch with you and asks you to stop sending them ads, you stop.
Since I’m venting, Dear ZUE, I don’t need to give you my phone number when buying poop bags. Every time I tell the cashier I don’t want to give them my number, they get so confused and don’t know what to do. They insist on a number for me to pay, and when I give them a fake number they refuse to use it. So I keep telling them to put their own numbers and then after they argue amongst each other, the staff end up using their own numbers for the order. Like why all the drama? Why do you need a my real phone number just so I can pay for a poop bag? Like, I’m a fan of the place, products and services, but you have to change this annoying policy.
Rant Over.
I recently placed my first order from TEMU, the online Chinese marketplace which you probably heard about through your Tiktok feed. Surprisingly, my experience was great.
I was looking for a cover for my bicycle since I have my bike wall mounted and I recently repainted and didn’t want to get the wall dirty again. I ended up finding it for really cheap on TEMU and decided to order it. Here’s everything you need to know about ordering from TEMU:
If you have an order less than 14KD, you can’t place an order, even if you want to pay for shipping, it’s not an option
If the item you’re ordering is discounted and the new price is under 14KD, if the original price is over 14KD you get free shipping
Finding at least 14KD worth of items you didn’t know you wanted is easy on TEMU
I placed the order on January 25th and was given a delivery date between January 31st and February 8th
I ordered 15 items from different vendors, TEMU packaged them together and sent them to me in one bag
I didn’t pay any customs fee, all taxes are included in the items prices
Because the items were delivered one day later than promised, I got a credit of 1.250KD
So that’s basically it. The biggest surprise was the home delivery since I wasn’t expecting that, I thought I’d have to pick it up from the post office which I’m never looking forward to doing.
My order arrived with none of the items missing, and no disappointments. My bicycle cover was perfect, but so were all the other random things I ordered. I’m overall very impressed and would definitely recommend ordering from them.
If you have any questions, let me know in the comments.
If you’re getting an error leaving comments or seeing 0 comments when there are actually comments, I’m aware of the issue and I’m trying to get it fixed.
Since the Apple Authorized Resellers won’t be selling the Apple Vision Pro anytime soon, the only way to get your hands on one locally is through the grey market.
Ordering online and shipping to Kuwait isn’t an option and I’m glad I canceled my Vision Pro order before it shipped. Turns out if an item is valued at more than $2,500, then it’s considered high valued and requires a special process to ship it. Shop & Ship have a page about it where you can read more on this.
So far, I’ve found five stores in Kuwait that sell it, @alfuhod, @bestalyousifi, @emarketkw, @mobile2000 and @soooq.global. Here are their prices for the 256GB version:
Alfuhod: 1,399.9KD
Best: 1,299.9KD
eMarket: 1,399.9KD
Mobile2000: 1,279KD
Soooq: 1,279KD
In comparison, it costs around 1,155KD for the Vision Pro with tax in the US. Add around 20KD to ship to Kuwait (if it was easy to do), and that would bring the total to around 1,175KD. Paying 104KD premium and getting it from Mobile2000 for example, isn’t actually that bad.
If you’re interested, according to Best, their next shipment arrives on Tuesday. If you know of another place in Kuwait selling the Vision Pro, let me know.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I really hate the water balloons throwing trend as much as I used to hate the foam spraying. But… I also don’t think it deserves up to three years in prison in case you’re caught.
The environmental police in Kuwait have emphasized that throwing water balloons constitutes a violation of environmental protection laws. Offenders may face penalties of up to a KD 5,000 fine or imprisonment for a maximum of three years. source
I highly recommend you click the source link and watch the hilariously sounding English dubbed video which reminds me of old Kung Fu movies.
Crazy Pizza is a pizza concept by the same people behind Cipriani and Billionaire. They opened in Shuwaikh last year and are known for their delicious thin crust pizzas and pizza-spinning chefs.
To celebrate Kuwait National Day, Crazy Pizza have a brand new show running this month alongside their usual pizza-spinning performances. The show is exclusive only to the Kuwait branch and is going to be performed everyday for lunch and dinner throughout the month of February.
If you’re looking for a good pizza and entertainment like nothing else in Kuwait to go along with it, head over to crazypizzakw.com to reserve or call them on 99423011. They’re open daily from 1PM to 11PM. @crazypizza.kuwait
Two Kuwaiti female artists, Aseel AlYaqoub and Monira Al Qadiri are taking part in this year’s Desert X AlUla 2024 open-air art exhibition.
15 artists from around the world were invited to take part in the exhibition under the theme of “In the Presence Of Absence”. The exhibition is taking place in AlUla area in Saudi Arabia and is open to all to visit.
Aseel’s work is the one on top, while Monira’s are the black enlarged meteorites above. For more information and photos of their installations, head over to their instagram account @aseelalyaqoub and @moniraism.
Desert X AlUla 2024 runs from 9 February to 23 March. For more information on the exhibition, visit @artsalula⠀
Photos: Courtesy of The Royal Commission for AlUla
Here are some events taking place this weekend, if I missed anything let me know in the comments.
Thursday, Feb 8
Autoland
Al Khiran Marina Market
Friday, Feb 9
Wellness Market
Autoland
Ramadan Market
Al Khiran Marina Market
Let’s Go Hiking
KMT Race Weekend – Round 2
Saturday, Feb 10
Wellness Market
Autoland
Ramadan Market
DAI Storytime
Mirror House Art Festival
The Folio Club: Richard III
Shakshooka Market
KMT Race Weekend – Round 2
Al Khiran Marina Market
Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12 just started and the first episode was hilarious. It got me thinking about my top 5 funniest shows ever and I think Curb definitely makes the list which would look like this (in no particular order):
If it was a top 10 list I’d squeeze Veep and Arrested Development into the list, maybe Lucky Louie, Malcolm in the Middle, Party Down, Master of None, Extras, and Eastbound and Down. Ok that would be a Top 13 list. I also feel like I’m forgetting a show.
This past week I also tried to watch “The Curse” but couldn’t get into it. I actually still have no idea what the show is, might have to try again later. I also started Griselda, I’m two episodes in and I like it so far.
Let us know in the comments if you’ve watched anything interesting this week.
Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:
New This Weekend:
Autumn and the Black Jaguar (6.7)
Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (7.2)
In the Land of Saints and Sinners (6.1)
Peter Five Eight (N/A)
Skeletons in the Closet (N/A)
Sorry, Charlie (5.4)
Other Movies Showing:
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (6.0)
Argylle (6.2)
Cult Killer (5.3)
Migration (7.5)
No Way Up (5.3)
Riki Rhino (5.8)
The 100 Candles Game: The Last Possession (7.2)
The Beekeeper (6.8)
Wish (5.8)
Wonka (7.4)
The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Titanic (7.9)
The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.
According to a source of mine, the popular South African franchise Nando’s is targeting to open in Kuwait on February 20th.
Nando’s originally opened at The Avenues back in 2007 but ended up closing down shortly after. This time, Apparel Group are bringing them back to Kuwait, the same company that brought Tim Hortons back, and also recently opened Jamie’s Italian.
Nando’s will have two locations in Kuwait initially, one in The Warehouse Mall and a second in Al Kout Mall. The tentative opening date could change due to unforeseen circumstances, so make sure you follow @apparelgroupofficial for the official announcement.
I posted about Autocapital last year, they’re a very easy to deal with one-stop shop that buys, sells, leases and rents cars. They’ve been around since 2018 and have been growing rapidly.
Last week, Autocapital opened their brand new showroom in Al-Rai, in place of where the Aston Martin dealership used to be. The new showroom is huge encompassing three floors with lots of cars on display.
I passed by the showroom to check it out for this post and I ended up getting a full tour of the facility, including the VIP area where they display supercars for sale that their owners prefer to keep private.
They had a pretty nice collection of cars on display, ranging from electric vehicles for lease, like Teslas and the Mercedes EQS, to cars for sale, like the Yaris GR, a classic 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline, and rare cars like the Hummer H1 Alpha. There’s a car for everyone and even motorbikes available for lease.
With high-interest rates and the cost of cars getting higher, lease-to-own or buying used makes a lot more sense nowadays. To find out more about Autocapital, visit their location in Al Rai, near The Avenues, autocapitalkw.com or their Instagram @autocapital.kuwait
Valentine’s is next week and if you haven’t already booked you should since most of the popular places tend to fill up really quickly.
Below are 9 romantic places for a perfect Valentine’s day dinner.
Some restaurants have a set menu, which is the minimum price you can pay for the dinner. Places without a set menu do not have a minimum price, and you just order from their menu as usual.
All the places shared have something going on for Valentine’s from live music to decorations, call the restaurant for more details.
Cantina
No Set Menu
Cure
35KD per person
Dai Forni
90KD per person
125KD per person if on the balcony
Mei Li
45KD per person
Peacock
50KD per person
OFK
75KD per person
Riccardo
75KD per person
Roka
No Set Menu
Vigonovo
No Set Menu
I found out about Nawaf (@bo7mood58) through a friend of mine a few years ago. Nawaf has a warehouse filled with boxes of old books and magazines which he’s acquired over the years from various sources and he sells them on his instagram account. But, a few of times a year, Nawaf also opens up his warehouse for people to visit in person.
This year, Nawaf is opening his warehouse daily for the whole month of February.
I’ve been to a few of those open days over the years and I’ve always left with lots of great books. It’s a very chill atmosphere, the books are laid out on the floor and you just sift through them one by one. Once the piles start to decrease, Nawaf brings out another box of books, so every time you visit you’ll find a different bunch of books. You can also find old newspapers, and every now and then, boxes of VHS tapes or records.
Majority of the stuff is in Arabic, but there are plenty of old English books and magazines as well.
The hospitality is great, Nawaf usually has a box of disposable gloves for you to wear (highly recommended since most of the books are dusty), as well as water and sweets. He’s really nice and friendly, and he doesn’t try and price gouge you or anything either.
Here is a pro tip, once you get there, put on disposable gloves, grab an empty carton and a stool if one is free, and move them around with you from pile to pile as you search for books. When you find an item you like, put it in your empty carton. Once you’re done searching for the day, take your carton to Nawaf and he’ll price the items for you. You can pay by cash or payment link.
If you want to visit the warehouse, it’s going to be open daily in February from 4PM to 10PM. Location of the warehouse is in Sulaibiya, Block 6, for the exact Google Maps location, here is the link.