2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

There’s a cool event taking place today in Shuwaikh called ON SIXTH STREET. It’s kinda like Qout Market meets street festival meets fashion week. For more details click [Here]

[YouTube]

Kuwaiti rapper Emcee Element released a new music video over the weekend called ‘Cream’. If you’re interested, you can download his full album for free from his website [Here]

I don’t know the full story here but it looks like an old man in a Drivers Ed car reversed over another car at the driving test facility. Awkward. [YouTube]

Have you gotten your loved one a Shani today? [Link]

Comedy: LOVE to LAUGH
Shakshooka Nomadic Farmers Market
Kuwait Riders 4th Bike Show 2014
This To That Conference
GBS Bazaar
Day Out Fiesta
Expat Mums in Kuwait Rummage Sale
Cinemagic Rooftop Movie: Surprise Movie
Cinemagic Rooftop Movie: Dry Summer
AWARE Center: Desert Camp
2014 ITTF World Tour Kuwait Open
Remal Sand Sculpting Festival
Proud 2 be Kuwaiti 2014

Koryokwan is a Korean restaurant that’s been around since the early 80s. They’re considered to be one of the best and even provide the catering for Korean embassy events which is how I found out about them. This past saturday when I passed by the Korean embassy for their lunar new year’s they had the catering from Koryokwan (The Korean embassy in Kuwait by the way has to be the most beautiful embassy I’ve ever been to anywhere). So anyway, I didn’t end up eating at the embassy that day but I did pass by Koryokwan a few days ago to try them out.

Koryokwan is located on the ground floor of the very old Carlton Hotel in Kuwait City. It’s a 3-star hotel that was refurbished awhile back but the building still looks really old from the outside. The interior of Koryokwan on the other hand is just beautiful, one of those places where once you enter you feel like you’re no longer in Kuwait. I actually had the same feeling when I first visited the now defunct Singarea Korean restaurant in Dajeej. I used to love that place and it’s why I ended up mostly being disappointed with Koryokwan. Lets begin with the interior of Koryokwan, even though it looked amazing they had regular English radio music playing and CNN on TV. If this was Singarea for example they would have had either Korean music playing or some strange Korean soap opera on TV. I also found the prices of the dishes expensive. The soups started at around KD4.5 and the main courses at around KD6 and up. That’s 5-star hotel prices which is expected when you’re at a 5-star hotel and getting 5-star service like at Peacock or a restaurant at the Sheraton but this wasn’t the case here. Service was similar to a casual dine in restaurant and it wasn’t that great. Our order for example arrived in this order: Main course followed by our rice 5 minutes later and then followed by our soup. I went there specifically for one dish, the fried chicken with chili sauce and I liked it but you can’t really judge the food on just one dish.

The place is definitely worth trying out but mostly for the experience of trying something new. If you’re interested in passing by they’re open from 10AM to 3PM and then again from 5PM to 10:30PM. They’re located in the Carlton Hotel [Map] and their phone number is 22452759 or 99608277.

Does anyone know where the Salwa Sporting Club is where the ITTF World Tour is being held?

Local Motors, the American company behind the Rally Fighter car uploaded a new video yesterday in which he mentions briefly that they are opening an exclusive dealership in Kuwait as well as a factory where they will put these cars together. If that does happen I think it would be pretty cool since a local factory in Kuwait could then easily supply the other Gulf countries with Rally Fighters. [YouTube]

Just a reminder there are three events that start today.

4th Kuwait Riders Bike Show
2014 ITTF World Tour Kuwait Open
Al Hamra Chill-Out

The 2014 World Press Freedom Index is out and it’s not good news. Even though Kuwait still leads the region in press freedom, Kuwait dropped down from 77th place all the way to 91. The reason? The arrest of two citizen journalists. Here is how Kuwait compares to our neighbors:

91 – Kuwait
96 – Israel
106 – Lebanon
113 – Qatar
118 – UAE
141 – Jordan
153 – Iraq
163 – Bahrain
164 – Saudi
173 – Iran

Check out the full list [Here]

Thanks yousefq8

According to the person in the video this incident took place today. The plane took off from London (my guess it was heading back to Kuwait) when it was forced to return and make an emergency landing after a hydraulic problem. [YouTube]

Saw the tshirts above in my instagram feed and loved them. They’re designed by the doghouse collective and will be available for sale tomorrow evening at Q Cafe in Kuwait City.

via @kookeejeejoh

Gazelle Club was THE club in Kuwait back in the 60s and up until the 1990 Gulf War. I went there only a few times back in the 80s and so have very faint memories of the place. I actually remember only two things, one was a large trampoline I used to play on, and two a very disturbing incident where a kid fell off the swimming pool slide, hit his head on the floor and later passed away. Gazelle Club was located in Fintas and got destroyed by the Iraqis during the 1990 invasion. I never understood why it was never rebuilt again.

The photos below are ones I found from a bunch of sources (all listed below) and show Gazelle Club during it’s greatest days as well as the current state of the club.

via @gharabally, @amerhilal, Kuwait-History and Gazelle Club on Facebook

This didn’t happen in Kuwait but in Qatar. Just a random video to start the day. [YouTube]

I was recently approached by Entrepreneur Middle East to contribute to their monthly magazine and I got the beautiful letter below today from the editor in chief which I thought I would share:

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A Vested Interest: Mark Makhoul is the Goto Reference on All Things Kuwait

As the Editor in Chief of a magazine like Entrepreneur Middle East, I find it a necessity to bring forward the best and brightest across the MENA region when it comes to contributors. This is where Mark Makhoul, Founder of 248am comes in to the picture.

After faithfully reading the current 248am posts for the past year (and the well-stocked 248am archives of endless content), I see Kuwait as a happening and interesting place in the GCC, albeit a lot less publicized. Mark really has managed to capture both the coolest hidden factors of Kuwait, and the most relevant goings-on in everything from business to hospitality. Through 248am, Mark has actually convinced me that Kuwait might even be my next weekend destination in the GCC for an interesting getaway.

Since Mark acts as a de facto brand ambassador for the Gulf nation of Kuwait and its capital city, I asked him to be our authority on the new, the now, and the relevant as of March 2014.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading his work in Entrepreneur ME as much as I will.

My Best,

Fida Chaaban
Editor in Chief