2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I was showing my partner at work the blog uncrate.com when we got to the post on the Obelisk chairs (pictured above and right below). I was telling him about how cool the design was when he told me his cousin has them in her store. So during our lunch break we both headed to his cousins store called Home House which is located adjacent to the Amiri Hospital on the Gulf Road.

Right as we walked into the store which was actually an old Kuwaiti house we spotted the Obelisk right in front of us. It was exactly like the one we saw on uncrate except we didn’t expect it to be this big. We were given a tour of the place and it turns out they have some really really nice stuff. I really don’t know where to start since I literally fell in love with their brands.

I guess I will start with my favorite brand they carry which is Vange. They have some of the most beautiful industrial designs. Just flipping through their website now while writing this is giving me goose bumps. Most of the Vange stuff is by order but they had the K-Baby, the K-Bench and the MAUI console on display. I loved the K-Bench and the MAUI series of shelving is just so hot!

After the Vange we were shown some stuff by Gandia Blasco. Their stuff are mostly for patios, chalets and beaches, they reminded me a lot of the stuff I see on CSI: Miami. Their style is the very modern outdoor furniture which comes all in white, very straight edged with white drapes and they are very very sexy stuff.

Finally we were shown some lighting systems by Tobias Grau. It was another brand I hadn’t heard of before but again they have some really really slick looking lamps. So minimal and so cleanly designed. If Apple were to make lamps this is how they would come out.

I am probably going to go back there and see how much the MAUI console and the K-Bench cost since I would love to have them in my place. I didn’t ask their prices while I was there for some reason so I don’t know how much they cost. The Obelisk costs around KD1,600 which although isn’t cheap, its still cheaper then in the US where they sell for $8,500.

If you want to pass by the place its very easy to find. If you take the right after the Amiri hospital you will find that the first house on the left is called Bait Al Cedra. They are located right inside Bait Al Cedra. Its right next to the Karizma gallery. You can call them on 253 0358 in case you get lost or visit their website www.homehouse.be

Here are the websites to the brands:
Vange
Gandia Blasco
Tobias Grau

update: I made a mistake. The store is called Home House not Bait Al Cedra. Bait Al Cedra is the name of the old house where Home House is located. I just edited the post above to reflect this.

It seems it was officially announced today that starting September we switch from Thursday Friday being our weekend to Friday Saturday. Holidays will now fall on Sunday instead of Saturdays also.

In the article below on online shopping one store that was mentioned was called Noutique. I think Noutique has a MAJOR flaw which is the fact that you have to create and account and log in BEFORE you can even see what they have available for sale!

Who is going to bother going through that hassle just so they can check out what they have for sale?

Sumayyah Meehan wrote the following article on online shopping for a local magazine but since the article advertises websites that don’t have ad accounts with the magazine, the story wasn’t published. Since its a good article I asked her if I could publish it here and she was fine with it. Here it is:

‘Cyber Shopping in Kuwait’

As anyone who has tried to order merchandise from online ‘cyber stores’ knows it can be a harrowing experience. It can be a total waste of time in that you surf for a couple of hours tracking down that gorgeous shirt or that must have DVD only to find out that they don’t ship to Kuwait. Or else you find someone who does ship to Kuwait and when your package arrives it is either not what you expected or damaged. No more. Just because you want to buy something online does not mean that you have to cross into another country’s cyber ‘border’ to get it. There are plenty of digital pioneers right here in Kuwait and they are armed with the most cutting edge and interactive online stores around. Are you ready to take shopping in Kuwait to a higher level? Get out your charge card, or even your Knet card, and get ready to do some delectable damage at some of these cyber stores based in Kuwait:

Click N Buy – It takes a team of 9 people to keep up with the orders at Kuwait’s online IT store ‘Click N Buy’ (www.clicknbuy.com.kw). According to Manager Rajesh Chander Singh, “Having an online business is easier in terms of running, but it requires a lot of work in the backend.” Click N Buy is almost exclusively an IT company. They sell different brands of desktop computers, laptops, printers, scanners, iPods and accessories. They have additional items that are not IT based which include contact lenses, mobile phones and water purifier systems. “We have been open for a year and are still a new company,” offers Singh, “we sell exclusively to people living in Kuwait and average about 10,000 hits a month.” In an attempt to keep customers interested Click N Buy plans to offer several more items in the future such as watches, perfumes and handbags. They also plan to extend their ‘cyber-dom’ to include other GCC States. In addition to the cyber store they are taking on a new venture which is a website that will help users create their own sleek website in 10 minutes flat! So, keep an eye out for www.w3monster.com. Click N Buy accepts major credit cards as well as Knet. And they boast the lowest prices for IT products and services anywhere in Kuwait. Delivery is free for orders with a minimum balance of 10KD. And you can expect to receive your purchase within 24 hours of ordering! They also accept trade-ins for old laptops and offer IT rentals. And as if it could get any better there is even a discussion forum for customers!

Banana Republic opened up Friday evening and Kuwait-Style has a post about the place with some pictures. Check it out. [Link]

Yesterday while at the Avenues with Nataly and a friend we decided to pass by D*lush and pick up a milkshake. D*lush is an American beverage joint which recently opened their first branch at the Avenues and hopefully will open up more branches soon.

I ordered the Sassy B which is a strawberry and banana shake, my friend ordered the Cookies + Cream which is an oreo cookie shake and finally Nat ordered the Lemon Lush which is a frozen lemonade.

My favorite milkshake is the strawberry shake at Johnny Rockets and so far the D*lush shakes are ask good if not better. Firstly they have a much larger collection then Johnny Rockets which makes sense since D*lush is dedicated to drinks while Johnny is a burger joint. The shakes themselves also taste extremely good, the Cookies + Cream which I tried from my friend is probably going to be my favorite milkshake from now on. Even my Sassy B was really good and I am glad they were actually sampling it out at the store in small shot glasses because otherwise I might have stuck to ordering the regular strawberry shake. I found Nat’s lemonade very sour but she was really happy with it.

The only negatives I could think of are the price of the drinks and the lack of sizes. The shakes are priced at KD1.750 or KD1.850 depending on what you order. Thats more expensive then the largest sized chocolate cream frappucino at Starbucks. They should offer a smaller sized cup priced at under KD1.400. On the other hand Nat’s frozen lemonade was for KD1.100 which isn’t bad at all considering the size.

Final score is a 4 out of 5. The shakes are awesome, they have a good variety so it should take you a while to get bored and the service was very friendly and fast. The negatives are basically the lack of drink size options and the price which is kinda related to the size problem.

www.dlush.com

I hadn’t been to the Avenues for awhile so this is just an update for people haven’t been there recently also.

Carrefour is now open. I was expecting to find stuff there that wasn’t available at Sultan Center but surprisingly they either had the same stuff or less. The cornflakes section for example is a joke at Carrefour filled mostly with their Carrefour branded cornflakes. Their fish section was larger and their bakery seems better but didn’t get a chance to try it. The coolest thing about Carrefour is their electronics section. They have a ton of stuff and its all good brands like Sony, Samsung etc.. plus they have a ton of accessories and gadgets. Problem is you can find the stuff cheaper elsewhere.

Gap is now open. I was never a fan of Gap so I can’t say much about it. Kuwaiti Cosmopolitan has a detailed post on Gap so you can check that out. [Link]

GoSport is now open. The place is huge, much larger then I was expecting it to be. They have a lot of sports gear all laid out very nicely. I think its my favorite sports store at the moment not that they had strong competition.

Other notable mentions: Lucky Brand Jeans opened up. Ben Sherman is opening soon. Banana Republic still closed. I was supposed to have lunch at the Noodles place upstairs but there was an hour and a half waiting list. Parking wasn’t a problem at 2PM on Friday.

Ok I swear this is my last YouTube post for today but I really couldn’t resist posting this. Remember the cheesy music video for the song “Everything OK” which I posted awhile back? Well here is another version! According to the comments the guys were in the studio recording another song when they started singing Everything OK. It seems the song was sung every now and then by different people just for fun of it. [YouTube ]

Some commenter on YouTube called 7akeemz also posted the lyrics which go something like this:

Everything ok x2
Ok x3
My darlen ok
Everything ok

Ta3al ya 7abeeby common here
Mar7aba seedi yes sir x2

Lashe ya sadeeki
Xxxxx
Please don’t leave me once again

Ok x3

Ash ya 7abeeby rite alrite
Bukra il barty 2mwro night x2
Bukra ta3alu 2mwro night
Jaweb hala2 yes alrite

Ok x3

Come 2mwro xxxx
Nil3ab ou nurgos on the road x2
Inta 7beeby my darlen
A7obbak 7abeeby I love youuu

Ok x3

Verse 4
Ijeena da5alna 3ala il garsone
Surna nil3ab sharlestone
7abeeby il layla ou ana majnoon
Gultlo rite galli ok…

Thanks waswas

This was actually done here in Kuwait. Pretty cool. [YouTube]

While flipping through some videos of Kuwait on YouTube I found a couple for the old popular kids show Iftah Ya Simsim. I found three different intros though but I even remember a different one so I am guessing they were a whole bunch of different ones. Another cool thing with these videos is you get to see the different vintage KTV television idents. Check out the three intros I found below.

First Intro
Second Intro
Third Intro

Also here is some info on the show on Wikipedia. [Link]
Am I the only one who didn’t know No3man was supposed to be a camel??

Finally you can watch the first episode in full by clicking [Here]

Its extremely strange how it starts out like a horror and then ends up with a guy in a speedo… [YouTube]

I get a ton of strange emails from people who think this site either belongs to Jazeera Airways, MBC or like today, a restaurant at Souk Sharq. Sometimes I find the emails funny and decide to share them with everyone like the one I just received today:

I’m a filipina married to arab man,since you open the Sharq branch me and my family always take a meal 2 times a week, realy the product is good

but i have one complain about one of your staff Filipina cashier “*****” dating w/ different nationality wearing your good uniform. for the past month i did not see *****. but again last week. I saw her again, in seaside, food court, corner of sharq mall.I saw her kissing to one Filipino and she allowed to touch her body can you please advise her. this is Kuwait and Islam country.When my husband saw this, I really upset.Please advise to your do something

***** = name of the cashier which I won’t publish

From todays issue of the Kuwait Times:

Someone emailed me telling me that the ministry shut down the Jahra branch of the Farah restaurant because it turned out they were catching street cats and using their meat for their shawerma. Today this news is in the papers and here is a link to an article from Al Rai Al Aam newspaper. [Link]

I think thats kinda sick but I am still curious to know if they were trying to pass it on as chicken or beef? I am also wondering what I would have rated it if I had tried it…

Thanks Afterstorm

IMPORTANT: Just a note, the article doesn’t mention Farah, the person who sent me the article said it was Farah.

The Forum on this blog has a “For Sale” section where users place items they want to sell and other users in the forum can bid on them. There have been a lot of good deals in the forum recently for example, a nearly new Xbox 360 with 13 games, extra pads, and even an extra hard drive got sold for KD200, I personally purchased an excellent condition Apple G4 iBook for KD90, and just a while ago someone sold their 1 month old 4GB iPod nano for just KD30.

If you haven’t checked out the forum yet you should. Its a great place to meet people and there are a ton of things for sale there. Here is the link. [Forum]