Search: “ace”

How come we don’t have a proper DVD and videogame rental store? I doubt it’s because of censorship because there are a ton of movies that don’t need or have anything to be censored. The last barely decent rental place I remember was The Video Club and that wasn’t anything close to a Blockbuster in the States or Canada. We’ve never had a proper rental place in Kuwait. It’s really strange.

Anyone remember the show Beyond 2000? It used to be one of my favorites and the intro music is as memorable as all the other cool shows from back then. The show now has been replaced with Beyond Tomorrow which airs on Discovery Science but I don’t think its as memorable. [YouTube]

Houston we have a problem! When I first started this burger challenge I thought it was going to be a pretty easy task but now that I am approaching the end I’ve realized I am going to have a difficult situation on my hands.. who to crown the winner. Originally at the start of the challenge I anticipated either Fuddruckers or Burger Boutique would win but as it stands both of them are out of the picture and its Burger Hub and Slider Station that are currently rated the highest. So I had my hopes in the Gaucho Grill burger to make my decision easier and it didn’t.

I’ve only been to Gaucho Grill during the evening but for the burger challenge I’ve been trying to have the burgers during the day so that I could have decent pictures to attach to the reviews. Gaucho Grill during the day is a completely different experience, its quieter, emptier and of course much more brighter. There was only another table occupied so finding a place near the window wasn’t a problem.

Once I got the menu I flipped through it till I got to the burger section and decided I would order the Gaucho Burger with Roasted Mushrooms and Cheese (medium well). I ordered a side order of baked potato but no appetizers since I have yet to try any appetizer at Gaucho Grill that I liked. The burger arrived soon after and my first impression was whats up with the bread? The bread didn’t look very appetizing and actually looked a bit burnt so that put me off. But, once I took a bite I realized the bread in fact wasn’t as bad as it looked and the beef patty was actually really good. The burger was very juicy and the thickness of the patty was perfect. The burger came with lettuce, tomatoes etc.. on the side and thats where I kept them because the burger really didn’t need them. The bread although as you can see in the picture was slightly burnt on the edges really didn’t bother me much and it was crunchy or anything of the sort. I do think though that if they had used a better kind of bread this burger could have been the winner.

While thinking of what to score this burger I considered the fact if I’ve been too hard with my ratings. I tried some incredible burgers and so far the highest score has been a 4 out of 5. I was actually starting to believe that I’ve been too hard until I realized there was one burger I had that I would have given a 4.5 but that burger isn’t in Kuwait sadly. While I was in Jordan back in April I had the most amazing burger at the Four Seasons hotel. I think it was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. I truthfully don’t think I could give a burger a perfect 5 out of 5 but at least I know I could give a 4.5 rating if needed be. The Gaucho Burger although a great burger was let down by the bread and if it wasn’t for that I do think it could have gotten a higher score. The final score is another 4 out of 5. There are only two or three more places I still need to try out so there is still hope that a burger in Kuwait will get higher than a 4.

Gaucho Grill is located at The Palms
The cost of the Gaucho Burger with Roasted Mushrooms
and Cheese is KD6.750

I got an email from the Kuwait & Food group on Facebook today and according to the email The Butcher Shop & Grill will be opening in Kuwait soon specifically at The Avenues. I tried it before in Dubai and it was ok (I’m not a steak guy) but I keep hearing that The Meat & Wine Co. is even better.

Picture by Amro ABDOUN

Lately I’ve been in the mood to watch a lot of old stuff. Currently I’m watching the old tv show called Newhart which I vaguely remember watching when I was a kid. For some reason I find the show very comforting to watch.

There are also a bunch of classics I’ve still haven’t watched which figured I’d get out of the way while I am at it:
Dr. Strangelove
Grease
Paths of Glory
Rain Man
Spartacus
Trading Places

I think whats pushed me to start watching old movies is the lack of decent movies nowadays. Nothing I’m watching is turning out to be anything extraordinary. Where is the Apocalypse Now of today? Thats what we’re missing.

The guy pictured above is married to 86 woman and has 170 children from them. Thats 256 names and faces he has to remember, if I was him I would probably make everyone wear name tags. [Link]

I didn’t get a chance to watch the Olympics opening ceremony but after seeing these pictures on Gizmodo I think I need to. From the pictures it looks like the opening ceremony was pretty cool so I am going to try and download the opening now. I need to get live TV at my place, I don’t even have a satellite dish… [Link]

A few days ago there was a news article that took many by surprise. A young Kuwaiti football player called Ibrahim Al Faresi got signed to a top Italian football team, the problem is no one had heard of him before. Well by sheer coincidence my good friend choowy goowy guy turned out to be friends with Ibrahim and was involved in the organization of the signing event that took place here in Kuwait. So who exactly is Ibrahim Al Faresi?

A couple of years ago Ibrahim was playing football with his friends in front of the Bulgarian embassy here in Kuwait when an employee at the embassy took notice of Ibrahim and told him he should go play football in the Bulgarian league. He offered to help him and hook him up with the right people so Ibrahim decided to take the chance and traveled to Bulgaria where he tried out for a football team and ended up joining them.

After awhile Ibrahim realized he wanted more and so went to the FIFA website and sent an email to a licensed agent so he would be able to travel and play in any club without issues. His new agent took him to England first where he was going to get signed to Crystal Palace F.C. But due to the fact that if you want to play in the English Premiership you need to have a work permit and also need to have played in your countries league at one point, Ibrahim couldn’t join them.

His agent then took him to try out at A.C. Siena in Italy. While there a very famous goalkeeper scout called Senior Silvano who had previously discovered the worlds best goalkeeper Gianluigi “Gigi” Buffon told him not to sign up with A.C. Siena and instead offered to have him trained more so he could get him signed up in a better team. Ibrahim accepted and went and trained under the guidance of Senior. After a short period Senior took him to try out for A.C. Milan and ACF Fiorentina. Fiorentina where right away impressed and instantly offered him a spot on their team.

And thats basically the story of Ibrahim. In a weeks time he is leaving Kuwait and heading to Italy for some medical test and some more training before officially signing for the club. Its a great story and it just goes to show that there are a lot of untapped talents here in Kuwait. I’ve always believed that there are some amazing football players here in Kuwait but I think the football league here is just not as strong as it used to be to draw in these talents. Hopefully this story will prove to be an eyeopener.

Picture from Al Azraq

If I hadn’t taken this picture myself I would have definitely thought it was a fake because no way on earth would I have ever imagined that someone would call a juice shop “Love Life Boost”. The place is located in the Marina Mall food court.

I landed at the Qatar Airport awhile ago and since I had some free time before my connecting flight to Kuwait I decided I would walk around and check out the airport. While doing so I spotted A&W which is my favorite burger and root beer place and I automatically fell in love with the airport. Even though their duty free section is crap, even though the airport is small, even though its over crowded and even though the bathrooms are dirty as hell, they had A&W which quickly made everything better. So I quickly went and ordered a double cheese burger and root beer combo. Guess what? The place is a fake! It seems once upon a time maybe in the 80’s the place was an A&W but they left a long time ago and now all thats left is their A&W signage. I didn’t find out until I got my burger and it was wrapped up under a different brand. The burger turned out to be really nasty and I felt cheated. Whats worse is that I paid over $10 for this crappy combo which would have been worth it if it had been A&W but definitely not for this crap.

This airport has officially become my least favorite in the Gulf. Luckily my stop over is really short so I should be back in Kuwait very soon.

Someone should open a place like The Weiner Circle in Kuwait. Maybe a shawerma place where all the workers can insult the customers. Problem is someone will probably take it personally and then have everyone deported. [Link]

via

I was just reading a post from a blogger in Beirut and I found out two interesting things about Sultan Center.

The first which was a surprise is that Sultan Center is now operating the large supermarket chain in Lebanon called Geant. Geant is a large French based supermarket chain like Carrefour which is why I found that interesting. Could Sultan possibly open Geant in Kuwait? Or will they rebrand Geant’s to Sultan Center in Lebanon? I don’t know if Sultan operating Geant in Lebanon will have any effect here in Kuwait but nevertheless a lot of interesting things could happen.

Now the second thing which I found funny actually is that it seems the problem Sultan has in Kuwait with expired produce has worn off onto Geant in Lebanon. The Lebanese blogger purchased rotten meat from the supermarket and had a bad experience with the management there which is why he posted about Sultan and Geant in the first place. This blog by the way is my favorite Lebanese blog so it has some pretty interesting stuff. [Link]

Update: I just found out about another local blogger who found expired food at Sultan Center and was able to document his finding with pictures. He took it up with management and when they found out about his blog they threatened to sue him if he didn’t remove the post. I think thats extremely bad for their image. Threatening a blogger for posting about expired food he found at their supermarket. If anything they should thank him for highlighting the problem. Here are his posts on his experience with Sultan Center…

Sultan center in trouble!
Sultan center did It AGAIN!!!!
Sultan center STRIKE 3!

Note: Please take into account that the above information might not be true. There is no way for us to verify that the bloggers above are telling the truth and we haven’t heard Sultan Center’s side of the story. I for one only shop at Sultan Center.

The stylish British cafe Napket is going to open at the Avenues phase 2 before the end of the year. I’ve never tried Napket but I passed by it a few times while in London and the place was packed. supposedly they’ve got amazing sandwiches. Now if only Pret a Manger would open up…

I am going to be in Thailand next week for work and there isn’t much I am looking forward to except for this burger I read about once that costs like KD50. Someone had a posted a link to it under my Slider Station burger review and ever since then I’ve been wanting to try it. So I was just checking online to see what place that burger was available in and to my surprise it turned out this special burger was being served at Trader Vic’s which is located in MY HOTEL! From all places in Bangkok that I could have stayed in I ended up staying at the exact same hotel where one of the most expensive burgers in the world is served. If that’s not a sign I don’t know what is.

Why is the burger so expensive? Well here is a run down of its ingredients:

Matsusaka beef (KD52 per KG)
Morel Mushroom (KD107 per KG)
Black Truffle (KD70 per KG)
Foie Gras (KD15 per KG)
Gold Leaf (KD2)

Only thing I am worried about is that I am a fast eater so paying KD50 for a burger I am going to gulp down in 5 minutes is a bit too much. Maybe this week I should start training myself to eat slower… [Link]

Update: I just called the hotel, the burger now costs around KD55. I guess even this burger is effected by inflation. I was also told I need to book the burger ahead of time which makes sense.

Ok if you are a Top Gear fan then you know who the Stig is and you know that every episode they race a car on the track and time it. Well supposedly in the upcoming episode, the Stig takes the Nissan GT-R around the track and the timing was leaked online. If you don’t want me to spoil it for you DON’T click on continue reading…