2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

The Palestinian Culture Center has been operating in Kuwait since the early 1970s. Every year they hold an exhibition with the aim to keep this vibrant culture alive and support underprivileged women and children in the camps. Starting today till Thursday, the center will be holding its 55th heritage exhibition at the Kuwait Graduates Society.

The exhibit will have hand-stitched dresses, shawls, and cushions for sale, as well as handmade ceramics, books, and food aimed to preserve the Palestinian national identity and showcase how it adapts to modern times.

If you’re interested in passing by, here is the info:

Place: Kuwait Graduates Society (Google Maps)
Date: Monday 7th to Thursday November 10th
Time: 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM

For more information visit them on Instagram @palestiniancc

Every time I post about Khyber, I get comments about other places with supposedly better tikka, the two most popular ones being White Rose and Paratha King. So, I decided it was time to give them a ranking:

First Place: Paratha King ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Second Place: Khyber ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Third Place: White Rose ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Paratha King

Khyber

White Rose

It’s really close between Khyber and Paratha King but based on the overall experience, I think I’d lean towards Paratha King more. Paratha King has a better-tasting tikka but Khyber’s location is a nicer experience. The seasoning and marination of both tikkas are very different with Paratha King having a more thicker coating while Khyber doesn’t which is why some people might think Khyber’s tikka is drier (it isn’t).

With White Rose, I think it’s just overhyped. Under every tikka post I usually get a few comments saying I should try White Rose and that White Rose has the best tikka. I don’t think it does. Of the three places listed here, I find the White Rose tikka the least flavorful. Their location is also not great so the dining experience isn’t very appealing either.

Pricewise, Khyber and Paratha King are similar and White Rose is the cheapest.

Paratha King: 1.000 KD per piece
Khyber: 1.000 KD per piece
White Rose: 0.900 KD per piece

If you want to check the places out, here are their locations on Google Maps:

Khyber Location
Paratha King Location
White Rose Location

There is one more place I need to try (I think) and that’s White House. If there is any other place that has good tikka let me know in the comments, if there are enough places I might have a part 2 battle.

Update: After visiting Paratha King for a second time I decided to update the review and ranking and give Paratha first place.

After taking a break for a couple of years because of covid, the Kuwait International Book Fair is going to take place again this month.

The 45th book fair will be taking place at the Kuwait International Fairground from November 16th to the 26th in halls 5, 6, 7 and 7B. Link

Lots of interesting things happening this weekend, let me know if I missed anything:

Thursday, Nov 3
Perfume & Cosmetics Exhibitions
Improv Comedy Night
Concert: Music is Where Cultures Meet
Art Therapy: Healing Circle
Space Month at Scientific Center
Book Exchange
Kuwait Track Challenge

Friday, Nov 4
Perfume & Cosmetics Exhibitions
Flare Fitness Crossfit Games
Sailing: Friday Morning Cruising
Space Month at Scientific Center
19th Kuwait Rapid Chess Championship
Touch Rugby
Kuwait Track Challenge

Saturday, Nov 5
Perfume & Cosmetics Exhibitions
Hindrance Race – Flare Fitness Festival 2022
Uncovering: NBK Tower Walking Tour
Space Month at Scientific Center
Workshop: Host Florally
Story Time at Amricani: The Gruffalo
Kuwait Track Challenge

Exhibitions
Sara Shamma “Age”
Warhol of Arabia by Raed Yassin

Activities
Ascend Rock Climbing
Cable Park
Ice Skating at the Winter Games Club
Indoor Karting
Little Jungle
Murouj Farm
Movement Classes at Omni Studio
Roller Blade at Roller Hub
Try Windsurfing
Yoga at Darātma

Museums to Visit
Abdullah Salem Cultural Center (ASCC)
Amricani Cultural Center Museum
Bait Al Othman Museum
Tareq Rajab Museum

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Nocebo (6.6)
One Way (3.9)

Other Movies Showing:
Barbie: Mermaid Power (6.5)
Big Trip 2: Special Delivery (N/A)
Black Adam (7.5)
DC League of Super-Pets (7.9)
Detective Knight: Rogue (3.5)
Halloween Ends (5.0)
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (6.5)
Prey for the Devil (5.0)
Smile (6.6)
The System (N/A)
The Woman King (6.3)
Ticket to Paradise (6.3)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:

Classic Movies Showing:
Good Will Hunting (8.3)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.

Last December, @classic_rides_q8 started posting pictures of his 1994 Landcruiser FZJ with Kuwaiti plates but all the photos were in Arizona. I’ve never met the guy but we’ve been in contact for a few years now through Instagram and it was because of his account I was able to find my first Datsun. So I sent him a message asking how he got the car to the States and he told me it was was a simple process using a RORO service and it cost him only $3,500 including taxes.

I think his plan was to use the car while he was there and then sell it before coming back to Kuwait. That plan changed when the car was accepted at the Barrett Jackson auction, the worlds great car collector auction. The car went on the chopping block and quickly sold for $38,500. You can watch the whole thing unfold in the video above which was originally posted on his Instagram account. It’s a pretty good-looking Landcruiser.

Back in March, I posted about a local shop called Onebase that sold weighted blankets. Not a lot of people managed to grab one before they sold out but I noticed last night that they were back in stock.

Weighted blankets are considered to be therapeutic and can benefit people with anxiety, autism, and insomnia. Some people find sleeping with a weighted blanket very calming like they’re being hugged.

If you want to check out the weighted blankets at Onebase, click here.

Last week Cari, the new food delivery app soft launched in Kuwait. It was more of a beta launch than a soft launch since the app was constantly crashing at first, there were barely any restaurants and there was no sign of one of their most aggressive features which was 30 minutes delivery. Since then there have been at least two software updates sorting out the bugs so I decided to finally try them out.

Inside the app there are two main categories, one for all the restaurants and then another one just for restaurants that offer 30 minutes delivery. I decided to try out their 30 minutes delivery by ordering lunch from BBT. It wasn’t the most scientific experiment since my office is only a couple of blocks from BBT in the city, but I also wasn’t trying to make Cari fail the test or anything. Here is how the timeline looked like:

12:06 PM – Order placed
12:14 PM – BBT started preparing my order
12:29 PM – Driver arrives
12:31 PM – Order delivered

My order took 25 minutes to deliver from the moment I placed the order which is pretty cool and fast.

Right now they’re also not charging a delivery fee which is great for us. Not sure how long this is gonna last but it gives us a good reason to use Cari for now at least. There aren’t that many restaurants on the app that offer 30 mins delivery, in the city, there were like 10 only and they were either burger or coffee places.

As of this post, Cari still hasn’t officially launched so if you want you to try it out you need to click the download link on their Instagram page @getcari and follow the instructions.

Update: I’ve been told that the official launch of Cari will be happening today

Update2: They’ve officially launched, here is the direct link to the app on the Google Store and Apple Store.

The CAP Bookshop which carries books by publishers Assouline, Phaidon, Taschen, and Thames & Hudson has moved locations for the third time. Back in 2021, they moved to a larger location next to the CAP gallery in Shuwaikh and now they’ve moved once again, this time to the ground floor next to the main entrance.

I think their new location is the best one so far since it looks great but also feels cozier than the last one. If you’ve never been to the bookshop before, they mostly carry books related to architecture, art, design, fashion, photography, culture, and travel. They also have really great kids’ books mostly by the publisher Phaidon

If you want to pass by and check the bookshop out, here is the location.

I like how the GCC is starting to open up to each other. After Saudi opened its borders to GCC residents a few weeks ago, now Oman announced that any GCC resident could enter Oman without even needing a visa (source).

I have to embarrassingly confess I’ve never been to Oman but it is on my to-do list. I’ve actually been thinking of just driving there since it’s definitely a place I’d want to have a car and go driving around for a couple of weeks. From the pictures, it seems like such a beautiful and chill place, and it’s so close to Kuwait.

It doesn’t look like there are any conditions for entering Oman other than the fact that your Kuwaiti residency should be valid for a minimum of three months. I’m sure this is great news for a lot of people.

Every time we get heavy rainfall and Kuwait floods I tell myself I should get rainboots. For the past few years, I’ve been wearing my Yeezy 950’s during floods but they aren’t really that waterproof. Plus I just checked to see how much they sell on StockX and I definitely shouldn’t be using them as rainboots anymore. A couple of weeks ago while out exploring in Jahra I got into a situation that involved mud and had to turn back because I was wearing sneakers. So I decided I’d buy a pair of rain boots and just keep them in the back of my Hilux for when I need them.

I wanted to get a pair of dark green Hunter wellington boots but couldn’t find any place locally selling them and so started looking online. I was hoping to find a shop online that offered free returns in case the size wasn’t the correct one and after looking at a bunch of places, I found out Selfridges did free returns. So I ordered the boots from there. Turns out there are actually a bunch of good reasons to shop on Selfridges online which is why I’m posting about it.

Free Returns
So firstly the point I just mentioned is they have free returns. This is great because you could order stuff, try them on, and if anything doesn’t fit the way it should you can return them.

Tax-Free
The second good reason is that shopping is tax-free. Because you’re shipping from Selfridges straight to Kuwait, they remove the VAT from the price which is an instant 17% discount.

Cheap and Unlimited Shipping
Their shipping rates are really really cheap. The boots I ordered are fairly heavy, came in the biggest box I’ve ever seen and it cost me only £25 (KD9) for shipping. And it’s not like they shipped it with regular mail, they shipped using Aramex. To top it off it didn’t matter what I added to my cart, or how many items I added, the shipping price stayed fixed at £25. What’s even crazier is the fact they have unlimited deliveries for £40 (KD14.5) a year which is like wtf, how do they even make money? I’m seriously contemplating just signing up for their unlimited delivery plan and just doing all my shopping there. And just to be clear, this is unlimited shipping to Kuwait.

The boots ended up fitting me fine so I’m keeping them but I was kinda curious to try out their return policy. I should also mention they were selling the boots for pretty cheap as well compared to other places. After removing the VAT I paid 37KD for them without shipping. So great prices, cheap shipping and free returns, basically everything you want when shopping online. selfridges.com

This is an officially licensed remake of The Office but as a Saudi Arabian edition and I just added it to my to-watch list. Link

Last week I spotted this cool-looking sneaker cleaner at Xcite and since it was selling for around 10KD I decided to buy it and try it out. I wear Ultraboosts 90% of the time and when I want to clean them I just throw them in the washing machine and they come out looking brand new. But, for the remaining 10% of the time, I wear sneakers that need to be cleaned with a brush by hand. This sneaker cleaner is basically a battery-operated brush.

I tried using it to clean a few pairs of sneakers and I don’t think it does a better job when compared to a normal brush nor do I think it cleans any faster. It comes with different brush heads for different sneaker materials and you still need a good sneaker soap but those can be found at local sneaker shops. When I picked up the unit they had an offer where if you spent 20KD or more you could get the sneaker cleaner for 4.9KD. I didn’t have anything I needed to get so paid full price.

Would I recommend it? I mean if you’re a sneakerhead it might be worth getting to add to your collection of cleaning tools, but if you’re getting it with expectations that it’s going to clean your sneakers better, it won’t. If you want one, here is the link.

Over the weekend I visited the Outdoor Sport & Safari Expo and found out we now have a Solo Stove dealer in Kuwait. Solo Stoves are really great outdoor fire pits that are very practical for lighting a fire in your backyard or when out in the desert. Their firepits also have the added benefit of being smokeless due to the way they’re designed. Since winter is coming you might want to pick one up before they sell out. Here is the price comparison between the local price and Amazon if you were to ship them:

Solo Stove Ranger (Small)
Kuwait: 105KD
Amazon: 116KD

Solo Stove Bonfire (Medium)
Kuwait: 138KD
Amazon: 154KD

Solo Stove Yukon (Large)
Kuwait: 215KD
Amazon: 290KD

If you’re interested, here is the link to the local dealer outdoor.com.kw

The expo was actually pretty cool, I ended up picking up a few things that were on sale including a couple of collapsable camping chairs (8KD each), a small collapsable table to go with it (also 8KD), and an ARB recovery snatch strap (priced 22KD instead of the usual 28).

I was planning to get these camping chairs so I can throw them inside one of my storage trunks in the back of my Hilux and had one by a company called OneTigris on my Amazon wishlist. But, the total for two shipped to Kuwait was coming out to 40KD which was overkill considering I might only use them a couple of times. Then I found similar chairs but obviously not the same quality at JYSK for 5.5KD and bought a pair. I decided to buy those and figured if I did actually get some use out of them I could then splurge on better quality ones.

Right after buying the chairs from JYSK I headed to the expo and found better quality ones on discount for 8KD from a place called Extreme Outdoors. So I ended up picking up a pair from there and a small table to go along with them and they fit in my storage trunk with plenty of room left for me to store other things. Now I need to return the ones I got from JYSK but they’re actually really good value if anyone is looking for chairs to take into the desert this winter (pictured above). Here is the link for them on the JYSK website.

Lots and lots of things to do this weekend! If I missed anything, please let me know in the comments:

Thursday, Oct 27
Perfume & Cosmetics Exhibitions
Bazzar Expo
Basmat Kuwaiti Expo
Workshop: Palestinian Embroidery
Street Food Festival at Blajat
Young Italian Musical Talents Around the World
Huntertones Live at Abdulhussein Abdelredha Theater
OCCTI at Arraya
Outdoor Sport & Safari
Bloody Good Time: Karaoke in Costume

Friday, Oct 28
Perfume & Cosmetics Exhibitions
Bazzar Expo
Basmat Kuwaiti Expo
Old Cars at Marina Crescent
Padel for Paws Market
Street Food Festival at Blajat
American Car Show
Kids Cooking Class: Mini Burger Adventure
OCCTI at Arraya
Outdoor Sport & Safari
Family Fun Friday
Trunk or Treat 2022

Saturday, Oct 29
Perfume & Cosmetics Exhibitions
Bazzar Expo
Basmat Kuwaiti Expo
RunKuwait 2022
Al Hamra 2022 Rowathon
Sailing: Saturday Morning Cruising
Miseen Scene Club: Frantz
KASA Film Festival
Art Therapy Workshop
Halloween Workshop for Kids
PSYCHO at JACC
RISO Halloween Workshop
Treasure Hunt at Shaheed Park
Kids Story Time: Maybe Something Beautiful
Barriers – Storytelling with Seham Al Khrayef
Street Food Festival at Blajat
Fright Fest
Outdoor Sport & Safari
Harley Davidson Ride
Barba Brunch & Yoga
Benefit Sale of International Art & Artifacts

Exhibitions
Sara Shamma “Age”
Warhol of Arabia by Raed Yassin

Activities
Ascend Rock Climbing
Cable Park
Ice Skating at the Winter Games Club
Indoor Karting
Little Jungle
Murouj Farm
Movement Classes at Omni Studio
Roller Blade at Roller Hub
Try Windsurfing
Yoga at Darātma

Museums to Visit
Abdullah Salem Cultural Center (ASCC)
Amricani Cultural Center Museum
Bait Al Othman Museum
Tareq Rajab Museum