Cinemagics have launched a film festival in hopes of paving the way for the new generation of film makers in Kuwait. You can find information on this competition on their website but here is the list of categories you can participate in:
– Cinematography
– Editing & Sound for cinema
– Advertising for Cinema & New Media
– Acting for Cinema
– Directing & Filmmaking
This competition is only for students (school/university) and people under the age of 30. If you are interested in participating in the film festival you can visit their website for more information and details. There is plenty of time to create something if you don’t have a film ready since the submission deadline is March 10, 2011. [Link]
I found out about the Withings bathroom scale yesterday and straight away added it to my Christmas wish list. The digital scale not only records your weight but also your fat mass, muscle mass and BMI. The cool part is it then automatically uploads this data onto an online database which you can then check and use to monitor your progress. It also has an option which will automatically share your weight along with all the other data to your twitter or facebook account (I’m serious). Finally you can also download the free iPhone/iPad or Android app and view and monitor your results with your mobile. Pretty cool for a simple bathroom scale. I just ordered mine (along with an SSD drive) from Amazon for $159. [Link]
A small breakfast place opened up near my house and I decided to pass by and try it out last week. The place is called Breakfast & Brunch and is located in the large outdoor parking lot adjacent to Marina Mall (facing BoConcept). Nat and I passed by during the week around 10AM and out of the five small 2-seater tables at the place, only one was occupied. We sat down at a table and got the menus which had a ton of items on it. It was huge. Other than the regular breakfast place stuff like eggs, pancakes, crepes, etc.. they also had a long list of sandwiches to choose from (I’m guessing the “brunch” aspect of the place).
I ended up ordering freshly squeezed orange juice and a 3 egg omelet with cheese and turkey while Nat ordered the Nutella Crepe. I wanted to order pancakes as well but I knew Fahad would make me suffer at the gym if I did. The food arrived a bit later and looked very good. My omelet came with sausages, brown bread and hash browns on the side which I quickly dug into after taking the picture above. Everything tasted good but then again it’s hard to go wrong with omelets and crepes.
There isn’t really anything negative to say about my experience. The only thing I can think about is the fact the place was a bit too quiet when we first sat down but the couple on the other table asked for the radio to be turned on which fixed things. I personally liked the place, it’s close to where I live, there is a lot of parking space available and because it’s still not very popular, finding a place to sit shouldn’t be a problem. For those of you who are interested to try out the place, here is one of my famous maps to help you find the location [Map] and here it is on [Google Maps]
Wallpaper* magazine featured an article on the Octium Jewellery store at 360 Mall. It’s not the first time Kuwait was featured in Wallpaper*, I know of at least one other time since I posted about it [Here]. Too bad the Wallpaper* article doesn’t really show how beautiful the Octium store really is. [Link]
Not sure if it’s a typo or actually an ingredient.
Thanks Zaid
Update: I got an email from 7Bars Restaurant regarding the above. It was a spelling mistake on the Scalopini Sandwich which has already been fixed. The correct word is tabasco.
A reader sent me a link to an article in Al Watan Daily on the new Gulf Road cameras that are installed. According to the article the speed cameras on the Gulf Road don’t just take pictures of speeding cars but are similar to the cameras on the First Ring Road in that they calculate your average speed from one camera to another. That means even if you slow down when passing camera 1, if you get to camera 2 too quickly then they would know you were speeding.
Personally I don’t think this is true. When compared to the First Ring Road, that stretch has 2 lanes of traffic and 2 cameras at the start each pointing to a lane with 2 more cameras at the end of the stretch also with each pointing to a lane. The Gulf Road on the other hand has 3 lanes and traffic lights all along the way. There is also 1 camera pointing across all the lanes instead of 3 different cameras each pointing to a seperate lane. I could also speed down the Gulf Road at 120km/h but as soon as I stop at a red traffic light my average speed is back to normal. Of course I won’t be speeding just in case this is true. [Link]
Last week Nat had dinner with some of her friends at a new restaurant that just opened up in Kuwait City called Ruby’s. She had a good experience and suggested that we pass by for lunch yesterday.
From outside the place doesn’t look like much since the shops and buildings next to it are pretty old but once you walk into Ruby’s it’s a completely different atmosphere. The place is pretty spacious and has a very cozy look and feel to it. We sat down in a comfy corner and the waitress brought us the menu. The first thing that impressed me was with how minimal their menu was. They have only 3 salads, 3 panini’s, 3 pastas and 3 burgers which I thought was very brave. Restaurants here seem to get the impression you need to have a million items on your menu but you really don’t since it’s about the quality not quantity.
Nat ordered the Mango Pumpkin Chicken Salad while I ordered the Bronte Burger on my first visit and the Chicken and Mango Chutney Panini on my second (had lunch there yesterday and today). Nat really loved her salad and I thought my burger which had a sweet chili sauce was really well made. It was delicious and on my second visit I was really tempted to order it again but decided to try something else and I am glad I did. As much as I thought their burger was amazing the Chicken and Mango Chutney Panini was even better. The Mango Chutney was sweet and gave the panini amazing flavor, I really loved it. I also ordered their chocolate dessert on my second visit and although it was good, I would prefer the Chocolate Fondant at Life with Cacao or the Chocolate Pudding at Slider Station instead.
Their prices are very decent. Their menu ranges from KD2.250 for their cheapest Salad up to KD3.750 for their Shrimp in Linguine which is their most expensive dish.
Ruby’s has been open I think for around 2 weeks only. They still don’t have a sign outside and they will be installing their Knet machine hopefully this week according to the waitress. I’ve drawn a map to the location which you can view [Here]. The service is great, the place is cozy and the food is amazing. I highly recommend the place.
Update: Currently (as of December 29, 2010) they open from 3PM to 11PM. According to the employees there within the next 10 days they will start opening from 11AM to 11PM. Their phone number is 22496526,
Just found out Alshaya are bringing IHOP to Kuwait. IHOP stands for International House of Pancakes and is an American breakfast chain. I don’t think they’re open anywhere outside of North America.
In non-food related news, Harvey Nichols will be opening their first store in Kuwait in Avenues Phase III. Originally Harvey Nichols said they were opening the store in the summer of 2011 but not sure if that’s still the case since I thought Phase III still needed more time then that to be completed.
During the summer while in Lebanon I posted about how I found out I was allergic to dogs by doing a “prick test”. Well there was a lot of interest on that subject so I figured I would share this information with you. First of all for those of you who don’t know what a prick test is, basically they write on both your arms with a pen a variety of things that cause allergies like cats, dogs, dust mites etc… and then they put a concentrated drop of that item next to the corresponding name and they prick you. After 10 minutes whichever spot swells then thats what you have an allergy to.
So anyway I was recently having breathing problems I called International Clinic, booked an appointment with the lung Dr and then passed by. She asked me if I had allergies and I told her over the summer I did a prick test and found out I was allergic to dogs. She told me I might have an allergy to pollens. Turns out every country has different pollens, for example in France they have apple trees, in Lebanon pine trees, in Kuwait it’s completely different type of plants as well. The test I had in Lebanon most probably covered only the pollens that are popular in Lebanon. She told me she would give me the prick test again.
When I took the prick test in Lebanon they tested me for 11 different kind of things I could be allergic to. The one I did at International Clinic had 26 different item, more than double of that in Lebanon. The Dr was also right, turned out I was allergic to two more things other than dogs, I was allergic to palm trees and another sort of weed pollen that grows everywhere in Kuwait.
Regarding my allergies, she told me I either had to get rid of my dog or start on a dog allergy vaccine which within 3 years would cure me from my dog allergy. The palm tree and weed allergy is a seasonal thing and could be solved with medication so I didn’t really need to get a vaccine for them.
So if anyone is interested in the prick test you can get one done at International Clinic. The cost of the prick test was KD40. I also paid a KD20 consultation fee but not sure if that’s the same for everyone (I also did a respiratory test among other things).
This news hasn’t been confirmed yet but according to a reader and a contact at Alshaya, there are currently rumors circulating that Caribou Coffee (Alsayer) no longer have the rights to The Cheesecake Factory and that Alshaya are now looking to open the actual Cheesecake Factory restaurant (not just cheesecakes) and are shopping around for a location on the Gulf Road. Although its currently just a rumor it would make sense since Alshaya have been on a roll acquiring all these American chains recently (Bath & Body Works, Victorias Secret, Pottery Barn, PF Chang, Shake Shack etc..).
Speaking of Caribou Coffee, I got this in the email today which is related to [This] previous post:
Happy Thursday Kuwait! Free coffee, donuts & goodies for the first 1000 BlackBerry users today at Caribou Coffee. You can take advantage from 10am – 4pm at CBK and Al Raya AND between 4pm – 10pm at Avenues, 360, Salhiya and Al Kout. You’ll also have a chance to win a new BlackBerry, but make sure you get in early.
A few days back I posted about Benihana opening up at the Avenues and yesterday night I decided to pass by with Nat and try it out. The service wasn’t too bad for a restaurant that’s just been open for a few days and the staff were really friendly. The restaurant itself is made up of islands and bars with a grill in the middle of each one. You sit around the grill and the chef will come to your table and prepare the food right in front of you which makes things entertaining. It’s actually why I prefer sitting at the bar in Japanese restaurants in general, since you can talk to the chef and watch them put your dish together. The problem with my experience last night though was with the food, it was disappointing to say the least.
We ordered beef negimayaki for starters followed by an Orange Blossom maki and a Hibachi Chicken. The negimaki arrived looking good and was probably the best thing we had there even though I prefer Maki’s negimaki which has a richer teriyaki sauce. The Orange Blossom was very ordinary, wouldn’t order it again. Now the Hibachi chicken which is basically grilled chicken, that was the worst. The chicken was very chewy (I could swear it was undercooked if not raw) and tasted terrible. Even after I had the chef add some more teriyaki sauce in hopes of improving the taste it didn’t work. I tried to dip it into the sauces that came with the chicken but it was hard to figure out if they were actually making things worse or not. Nat only ate one piece of chicken and left the rest while I needed my protein since I’m on a strict diet and forced myself to eat my whole plate (I can do that) but the after taste was really bad. Even the rice and the veggies that came with it tasted bad AND were under cooked. Once we left I considered picking up a frozen yogurt from Pinkberry even though I hate frozen yogurts but I just needed something to get rid of the aftertaste. A few moments later we ended up at Chocolate Bar ordering the gooey chocolate cake (bye bye diet).
I shot the two videos above of the chef preparing our meal. Benihana are known for the live shows they perform when preparing your dish so I was expecting to see [This] but ended up with the above . Would I go back to Benihana? No I wouldn’t. Their sashimi and maki’s are pretty cheap (KD1.5 for 5 pieces of Salmon sashimi for example) but there are two other Japanese restaurants at the Avenues, Wasabi and Maki, and I would prefer either one of those to Benihana.
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Update: Comments have been closed.
Update2: If you read the comments below you will see that the Benihana GM Mike Servo threatened to sue me. Well, Benihana have actually gone ahead with the lawsuit, I got served my papers and my court date is in March. I have been receiving a lot of support from people via twitter, email and blogs. For now my lawyer has advised me not to discuss the case or talk about Benihana, but as soon as he gives me the go ahead I will be sharing all the details.
Update3: I’ve been given the go ahead by my lawyer to talk about the case, here is the court order and more details regarding the lawsuit [Link]
Update4: The amount of support I have been receiving is phenomenal, here is a link to the full media coverage the subject has received so far [Link]
Spotted this “small” miniature golf setup in the Basement of Discovery Mall. I’m guessing its for kids but it’s strange no one has built a proper miniature golf course in Kuwait. I guess it probably has to do with the weather…
The picture above is one of the new burgers Casper & Gambini’s have introduced while the one below is the burger I had previously tried as part of my Burger Challenge. Huge difference in presentation and taste. If I was to review the new burger I had it would probably get a 3 which is a big difference over the 1.5 score I had previously given them.
Starting December 22nd SAS will be closing down for renovations. The pictures above and below are 3D renderings of how the hotel will look like once the renovation is completed. I originally thought it was going to be a minor face lift of the interior but it looks like its going a major revamp. Sadly this also means Peacock, the best Chinese restaurant in Kuwait will be closed for at least a year. [Link]
The Huntley Film Archives emailed me to tell me they’ve uploaded another video of Kuwait this time it’s a compilation of old commercials. The first commercial in the reel is actually of Al Muthana complex which I found really funny due to all the sci-fi sounds and digital effects. [YouTube]
The previous Kuwait video they had digitized and uploaded onto YouTube was Close Up on Kuwait – 1962.
