2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

A reader emailed me telling me about a new German bakery that recently opened in the basement of Dar Al Awadi Complex in Sharq called Bäckerei Wolf. I googled it and it turned out to be a German franchise so I passed by this morning to pick up some breakfast before heading to work. There wasn’t a lot of things to choose from, they had four kinds of cakes, some biscuits, a few kinds of bread, some sandwiches and croissants. I ended up picking up a slice of Apple Pie and a chocolate croissant. The Apple Pie turned out to be so so with little flavor but I still ate it all like a fat cow. The chocolate croissant on the other hand was probably the best chocolate croissant I ever had since the chocolate filling was really delicious.

Their cheesecake looked interesting and I’d probably try that if I ever go back again. The pie cost me KD1.250 and the croissant KD0.750. Their phone number is 22322323 but I’ve been trying to call them for the past hour and no one is picking up.

Last night Harvey Nichols had a very lavish private launch event which I was lucky enough to attend. I don’t go to many events but I had a feeling this was going to be different and it was. The night was filled with a lot of really stylish and well dressed people socializing and being seen. We were allowed to walk around and shop in the store if we wanted to while they had the most incredible seafood buffet outside the store inside Avenues Phase III. The mall looks really fantastic inside and they had small standing tables all around outside the store for us to gather around and mingle with friends. I even managed to see a friend of mine who I hadn’t seen for over 10 years! It was a really great and tasteful evening and I’ll probably be attending more events because of it.

[YouTube]

Last night I was on my way to the Harvey Nichols launch event when I somehow ended up getting stuck in my car right in the middle of the demonstrations. I was with a friend and we decided to take the 6th Ring Road since we figured it would be quieter than the 5th but suddenly traffic started slowing down to a standstill and people started parking their cars on the side of the road and walking towards a pedestrian bridge.

Suddenly there were cops all over the place, people shouting and demonstrating and we were just sitting there bewildered to how we ended up being stuck right in the middle of the demonstrations that were supposed to be held miles away on the Gulf Road.

Then all of a sudden the riot police started firing flashbang’s and tear gas all over the place with a few canisters landing on cars ahead of us. It was crazy and that shit is strong! I opened the window for a bit to take pictures and the tear gas just overwhelmed my eyes and nose like nothing I had ever experienced before. Finally traffic started moving again after being at a standstill for at least 30 minutes and we got off the 6th and headed towards Avenues. A completely random night.

Note: I am closing the comments on this post since I don’t want to turn it political, this is just a post about my experience.

I can’t think of anyone on this planet I’d be willing to pay KD350 just to meet.

Taken from @KardashiansKWT

Xcite dropped off the new iPad mini for me to play around with earlier today and I’m honestly surprised that I like it. I really wasn’t interested in the iPad mini when it was first announced and didn’t think it made sense until I took it out of the box and held it in my hands. Now I’m wondering if there is a purpose for the regular sized iPad. The new iPad mini feels a lot lighter and slimmer than my now huge iPad 3 and I really LOVE the black anodized aluminum finish on the back.

Once I downloaded Zinio and the latest issue of Backpacker Magazine I realized why I’d rather have my iPad 3 over the mini. The problem with most of the magazines on Zinio is that they were originally intended for print in sizes similar to that of the regular iPad. Since the iPad mini is smaller, all the text in the magazines become smaller as well and makes it a lot more difficult to read. The fact the iPad mini doesn’t have a retina display isn’t helping its case either.

But for a first impression, other than the issue I would have reading magazines on it the iPad mini does make sense. I’ve stopped carrying my iPad when I travel and instead have been carrying my 13″ MacBook Air and my Kindle because it didn’t make sense to carry iPad 3 and MacBook Air at the same time. If I had the iPad mini on the other hand I wouldn’t mind taking it along since it wouldn’t be adding that much weight or size.

If you want to check out the iPad mini yourself, Xcite have them on display right now at their Avenues and Al Rai locations.

#welcometokuwait [YouTube]

via @nibaq

Kuwait Charity Run is a non-profit group founded to encourage community members, runners, and athletes to raise funds and donations for good causes and engage in outdoor sports activities.

I signed up for the 10KM run yesterday but they also have a longer 21KM run. It’s taking place on November 17th starting from the Scientific Center and ending at the Green Island (for the 10K run) or Kuwait Towers (for the 21K). If you haven’t signed up yet you can do so online from their website. It’s for a good cause and it should be a lot of fun. [Link]

Doesn’t work for me without shots of Camry’s drifting. [YouTube]

Thanks Osama

Early on in the week I posted about the huge fireworks show that’s going to be taking place this month on the Gulf Road. The show supposedly cost four million Dinars and will be held on the occasion of the 50th year anniversary of the constitution. Well it turns out the event won’t be taking place on the 11th as I wrote but instead the show will be taking place on November 10th.

The day will start off at 2PM with a parade and various performances from Green Island all the way to the Kuwait Towers. Then at 8PM the fireworks show will begin. This won’t be your regular fireworks show since there are a bunch of surprises that will take place (I’m not allowed to say what) but I can tell you it will include fireworks, sound, lasers and 3D projections. The fireworks show will take place from Green Island to Kuwait Towers, a 4.4km distance and the show will last for a total of 64 minutes. That’s over an hour of non stop fireworks. The event is expected to break a total of 7 Guinness World Records!

FYI: The best place to be to watch the show is the area between Kuwait Towers and Chilis although the show will be visible from much further distances.

A friend of mine set up a very cool website which helps you find car prices in Kuwait. All you need to do is fill in the details about the car and the website will give you three prices, the price of the car if its in poor, good and excellent condition. He did a lot of research to come up with these numbers and right now it’s probably the best way to quickly find out how much a car is really worth. Check it out [Here]

Cheesecake Factory is going to be officially opening this coming Monday. I was there tonight for a tasting and I think the place is way nicer than the Dubai one. The location is really great and the place is open from three sides so the atmosphere should be really great. One thing I loved about Avenues Phase III is the lighting, I hope they keep it this dim and colorful once it opens (check picture above).

The dog show Bark in the Park is taking place this Saturday at the Ahmadi Japanese Gardens. I’m going to be one of the judges so make sure you bring me cookies! For details on the event click [Here]

Cheick Kongo, Cyrille Diabate, Greg Babene, Mishal Abul

Every now and then I like to highlight Kuwaiti talent and achievements and I believe that Mishal Abul fits the bill. He is a partner at Paradigm Sports Management, a US based company that manages Football, Baseball and MMA athletes. I met Mishal through my blog sometime back and since I’m a huge UFC fan I was shocked to find out he was managing UFC stars like Michael Bisping and Chris Lytle among others.

Mishal was always into combat sports, he wrestled in high school back in the US as well as college. He got into MMA in 1998 because of the UFC and because of his trainer John “The Machine” Lober who was a pioneer of the MMA scene with a background in Jeet Kun Do, Grappling and BJJ. Mishal is probably the first Kuwaiti to train in MMA.

Jake Shields, Mishal Abul, Tareq Azim

I asked him about MMA in the region and if the UFC is considering bring The Ultimate Fighter to the Middle East like how they did TUF Brazil and the upcoming TUF India. This is what he had to say:

MMA is still way too young for the entire Middle East to recognize it, understand it and accept it. Fighting from a professional position is already here with Karate, Boxing, Muay Thai now they need to learn MMA, the best form of martial arts. There are already some locals or in the region who have trained and are becoming teachers.

Sending TUF to the Middle East is in the plans but not right now that’s because the mentality of the population within the Middle East is not the same as elsewhere with a history of combat sports which usually belongs to other large countries where it would boom immediately like Brazil, Russia and parts of Asia. But, I do believe the Middle East as a whole has some huge potential of breeding the best MMA competitors in the world. Parts of the Middle East strongly train in Karate, some other parts in wrestling or even Judo. Countries like Iran who are naturally strong could develop some amazing wrestlers which is the best base to begin with to enter MMA.

As a UFC fan I think it’s very cool to have a Kuwaiti managing UFC fighters. If you want to find out more about Paradigm Sports Management you can visit their website [Here]

I think TJC Films has been releasing on average a video a week which is just crazy. This week he released a video of En Mexico, a small Mexican restaurant located in Jabriya which I posted about early in the year. Makes me hungry. You can watch the video above or on [YouTube]

The Future Shorts Festival is the biggest pop up film festival of its kind, showcasing the most exciting short films from around the world. As part of their Autumn Season world tour they’ll be making a stop in Kuwait next week at the Contemporary Art Platform.

Date: Sunday November 4th 2012
Time: 7:00 pm
Entrance fee: 3KD to be collected at the door
Location: Contemporary Art Platform (https://capkuwait.com/location/)

The Autumn Season will feature the following short films:
Café Regular, Cairo – Ritesh Batra
A Brief History of John Baldessari – Ariel Schulman & Henry Joost
Rite – Michael Pearce
The Black Balloon – Ben Safdie & Joshua Safdie
On The Line – Reto Caffi

There will also be a special live music set after the screening. There are limited seats so make sure you come early. Doors will close at 7:30 pm.