Search: “ace”

I am planning to lift my Wrangler and install larger 33″ tires on it. Late last month I got the tires which I expected would be the hardest thing to get until recently I realized getting new black steel wheels are even harder. I wanted either American Racing or Cragar black steel wheels. I found an American Racing dealer in Kuwait but they didn’t have anything I was interested in and if I wanted to place an order for wheels they would only be delivered in August or September. So I decided to check and see what I could find in Dubai, I gave Icon Auto a call and they didn’t have what I wanted either. The only option I had left was to order the wheels from the US and ship them to Kuwait but 5 steel tires would weigh a ton.

Each wheel weighs 12KG and five wheels would mean a total weight of 60KG. Shipping them with Aramex or USWS would cost me around KD200 which is a ridiculous amount to pay specially when my five wheels combined would cost me only KD50. Surprisingly though it turns out its a lot cheaper to have the stuff shipped directly from the supplier in the US to Kuwait. I just ended up ordering five Cragar 342’s (pictured above on the Wrangler) for $215 from Quadratec and shipping them to Kuwait will cost me only $353 with Fed Ex. Thats not really bad at all and I am extremely surprised. Once my wheels get here the third and final thing I need to do is order the lift kit.

Update: Added more pictures of the same rims on other Wranglers which you can check out by clicking on continue.

Today I decided to pass by Prime & Toast and try their burger since it was recommended by a few readers. It was my first time there and I was eager to see what they had to offer. It was 3PM, I was hungry and a good burger is exactly what I needed.

They only had one burger on the menu so I ordered it medium well. Twenty minutes later my burger arrived looking pretty cool. The presentation of the burger was impressive, it was big, came on a small wooden plank and had a good amount of fries on the side. I quickly dug into the burger really expecting to be stunned by the flavor but instead I was greeted with a messy burger that just tasted too complicated.

The Prime Burger as its called on their menu is made up of the bun, cherry tomatoes, rocket lettuce, mushrooms, cheese and a meat patty with some kind of red colored spice covering it. The problem I had was that I couldn’t really taste the burger. The mushrooms and baby tomatoes were cut up into large chunks so their taste was overpowering the patty. If that wasn’t bad enough the strange spice that was part of the burger really just confused things. The burger just felt fake, like they tried really hard to make it special. I was very disappointed, I had just plunked down KD5.750 for a burger that didn’t taste like a burger.

I really wanted to give the burger a good score, it had everything needed to be a great burger. It looked good and was pretty big in size but the taste let it down. I wanted to at least give it a 3.5 or even a 3 but the thing is, I wouldn’t have the burger ever again, even if it was for half the price that still wouldn’t be enough to entice me into having it again. Not that price is playing a role in these burger reviews but its just something I was thinking to myself to see if it was the price that was putting me off. The burger wasn’t exciting and I really wanted a thicker patty just so that I could at least taste the meat. And whats with their red powdery spice they cover everything with? It was on my burger and all over the fries. Pretty weird. The final score for their burger is a 2.5 out of 5. The place is nice and cozy but I wouldn’t go back for their burger.

Prime & Toast is located on the Gulf Road opposite the Seef Palace
The cost of the Prime Burger is KD5.750

The last time I had Wimpy was pre Gulf War and even back then it wasn’t a really popular place. Today I think they only have one branch in Kuwait which is in Nouzha and thank God for that.

Nibaq recommended I pass by and try their burgers which I happily did yesterday during my lunch break. The place looks shabby on the outside but since their burgers came highly recommended I decided to still go ahead and give them a shot. I ordered the two most popular burgers according to the cashier, the Quarter Cheese and the King Size. One’s a rip off of McD’s Quarter Pounder while the other the Big Mac. I picked up the burgers and went across the street to Shrimpy where my friends were having lunch.

Once I sat down and opened the bag the first thing I noticed was the smell, it was horrendous. It smelled like a cat thats been dead for a week in a public bathroom. Even my friends sitting next to me asked me what that awful smell was. Even with the terrible smell I still went ahead and tried the burgers because they were recommended by my so called good friend Nibaq.

Just yesterday I mentioned that its impossible to go wrong with a burger yet Wimpy have managed to prove me wrong with just a day into this burger challenge. These had to be the worst burgers I ever had. Now I’m a big fan of cheapo burgers so don’t think I am a burger snob or anything of that sort. My favorite burger place in Lebanon was called Gringo and was one of those shipping containers turned into a eat and die place with a large orange mexican looking horse painted on the side. But the Whimpy burgers were really nasty, like really bad. I honestly thought I would get food poisoning and thats why I waited till the next day to post the review. Their burgers are so bad that I decided if I got food poisoning they would get zero stars but if I survived unharmed I would give them a half a star and thats what they got. Its been nearly 24 hours since I had the burgers and I am still walking and talking without any side effects. It’s a good thing I didn’t listen to Nibaq and order the Quarter Cheese with Eggs thats for sure. I am going to end this post with an advice to everyone, stay away from Wimpy!

Wimpy’s telephone number is 2531372/4
The cost of the Quarter Cheese burger is 750fils
The cost of the King Size burger is also 750fils

I am going to start “The Best Burger in Kuwait” challenge with a burger review from a place that many haven’t heard of. The Little Oven is a take out and delivery restaurant located in Bneid Algar. In the office we usually order sandwiches and maneesh from them but a friend recommended I should also try their “Famous House Burger”.

The Little Oven burger is made using homemade patty, caramelized onions, emmental cheese and grilled mushrooms. It arrived inside a rectangular box which made me expect to find fries on the side but it turned out to just contain the burger which came cut in half.

Visually the burger looked appetizing and the bun felt soft and wasn’t covered in sesame seeds just the way I like it. The general size of the burger wasn’t very big but the beef patty itself was pretty thick. I could easily devour two burgers and very possibly a third if I was really hungry so its not really a filling burger. The burger was surprisingly good considering it wasn’t a proper restaurant nor a burger place. It was delicious and the caramelized onions didn’t over power the burger with flavor while the bun was pretty good although I highly doubt they bake the bread themselves. When done I felt like the burger was a bit dry and might have used some Heinz ketchup but it was too late for that plus they didn’t provide any ketchup packets.

It was a really good burger, one that I am craving for right this minute but I am going to be hard with these burger reviews because really I can’t imagine any burger being really bad. Its very hard to fuck up a burger unless you’re really an idiot. When reviewing these burgers I am NOT going to take into consideration anything except the burgers. Location, service, price and quantity will not matter since its not a restaurant review its a pure and simple best burger review. I am hovering between a 3.5 and a 4 for the rating but I am leaning more towards a 3.5 because I truly believe when it comes to burgers in Kuwait its going to be a really tough competition. We have a ton of places here and I am expecting to be truly impressed. So the final score is a 3.5 out of 5.

The Little Oven telephone number is 2517899/8
The cost of the burger is KD2.400

For those of you following up on this years F1 races; Applebees with Renault, is going to be airing all F1 races at 8.30pm on the day of the race (at all locations). In addition to winning prizes during each race at Applebees Bneid Al-Gar; you can also enter the draw to win a Renault Clio RS.

The first race of the season in Melbourne, Australia will be airing at 8:30 pm at Applebees on Sunday 16th March.

Good to see that local companies are local race-oriented events.

More information at the Facebook group [Here]

Posted by K.

I was talking to a friend of mine two weeks ago and he pointed out to me an article in TimeOut Dubai magazine on the best burgers in Dubai. Their winner? Johnny Rockets. I thought that was very sad since although Johnny Rockets burgers are great they’re no where near being the best burgers in Kuwait. Thats why I decided to start my own “The Best Burger in Kuwait” competition. I will hopefully be having at least two burgers a week from places you might or might not have heard of and once I decide I have enough burger reviews (maybe after 15 reviews?) I will crown a champion.

If anyone has a place they want me to try out, please leave a comment below with the name and location of the restaurant and I will try to make sure I check it out.

Update: Here are the burgers I have reviewed so far…
Applebee’s
Bredz
Burger Boutique
Eighty 6 Bistro
Fauchon
Fuddruckers
Hashi
Gaucho Gril
Gourmet Burger Kitchen
Johnny Rockets
Munch
Napket
Nino
Papa John’s Burgers
Prime & Toast
Ruby Tuesday
Slider Station
Sheraton Hotel
Smoke House
The Burger Hub
The Butcher Shop
The Little Oven
The Meat Co.
Wimpy

Last week I got a pack of frozen edamame from Sultan Center and tonight I decided to have it for dinner. As I mentioned previously the instructions for cooking the edamame are in Japanese but a lot of users helped me out by telling me how they prepare edamame.

I decided to boil some water in a large pot first. Once the water started boiling I dropped the edamame inside and let it boil for 6 minutes. I then removed the pot from the cooker and drained all the water. I placed the edamame in a large bowl and then sprayed a lot of salt all over it.

Result? Restaurant perfect. It tasted exactly like the edamame I have at Maki and Wasabi. The only problem is you need to eat them before they cool down and since Nat is in Beirut I had to eat the whole pack as quickly as I could before the edmame got cold. Took me 14 minutes to finish the whole pack and I think I’ve overdosed on the edamame, but it was worth it.

Does anyone know how I can make the spicy sauce Maki use with their fried edamame?

I’ve always wanted a Dremel rotary tool but I never had a reason to get one until last night. Awhile back one of my external hard drives died so yesterday I decided instead of getting another external drive I would just swap the damaged drive from inside the case with a new one. I passed by Hawalli, picked up a 500GB SATA drive for KD34 and when I came back and tried installing it into the case I realized I had a problem. The hard drive I got used a different power adapter than the hard drive I was replacing which I was able to solve by using an adapter, problem is the adapter was too big to fit into the case. I needed to cut away some of the plastic to be able to fit the drive so I saw this as an opportunity to finally get a Dremel tool.

I passed by the Dremel dealer today and got myself a Dremel 300 Series Multi Tool and Flexshaft. It came with 55 accessories which will allow me to use the Dremel to engrave, carve, sharpen, grind, clean, polish, cut and sand. I paid KD22 after discount for this set, there was a cheaper set without the Flexshaft and only 25 accessories for KD16 but I figured I might as well get the better one while I am at it.

Once I got back home I used the Dremel tool on the plastic hard drive case and it worked like a charm. I was able to cut through the thick plastic with very very little trouble. Now my drive is working perfectly although I have a hole in the side. If you are interested in a Dremel tool they sell them at Ace Hardware but the prices at the dealer are cheaper. The dealer is located in Shuwaikh and their phone number is 4810844.

I got some pictures of the hard drive case mod which you can check by clicking on continue.

I passed by Abyat Megastore awhile ago and it hasn’t opened. Although the soft launch is today no one is allowed into the store. You need to be invited and accompanied by an Abyat employee to be let into the place. So if you are planning on checking out Abyat for the moment it’s not possible, you need to wait for the full launch of the store.

Who would have thought that removing all trace of Garfield from the Garfield comic strips would result in strips that are actually funnier. [Link]

If you ever wanted to customize the horn of your car like you customize your phones ringtone you can now do so with the HornTone. Its a $300 device that allows you to replace your generic car horn with an MP3 song of your choice. [Link]

via

Every now and then a local company revamps their identity and the end result turns out to be great but that doesn’t happen too often. Most of the time the new identity turns out to be crap and it pisses me off. Salhia released a new identity last month and I have to say, I love it! Ever since I saw it I’ve been compelled to write about it but only just now did I manage to find the website with the new logo. When I first saw the logo I didn’t think it matched the atmosphere of the “Salhia Complex” but after reading their press release I realized the new logo replaces the Salhia Real Estate Company logo not the Salhia Complex logo. That makes a lot more sense since Salhia Complex is a lot warmer in reality while the new logo is colder and more corporate. Anyone know the agency behind this rebranding? [Link]

Now that I finished with the audio install in my Wrangler the next thing I am going to do is get a lift so I could install 33″ tires. After scouring the Jeep Forum and doing a lot of research I decided to go with the DPG Ultimate Trailgunner Suspension System which is a kit put together by DPG for Jeep Wranglers and consists of a 2.5″ Old Man Emu suspension system combined with DPG springs, a 1.25″ JKS body lift and a bunch of other parts which I need for the Wrangler install like adjustable track bars, quick disconnects and bump stops, etc.. basically all the parts I need to get 33″ tires installed on my Wrangler. You can check it out [Here]

Now as usual I always try to purchase stuff from Kuwait first but also as usual I get put off by the prices. I found the Old Man Emu dealer in Kuwait which is Naser Al-Sayer (Tel: 4747137) but their prices were more than double that of the US. Even with shipping it would be a lot cheaper and more reliable to order the parts from a specialized place like DPG in the States.

So now that I solved my suspension lift issue I have another problem with the tires and wheels. My current setup is 31″ tires with 15×7 wheels, for my 33″ setup I need to get 15×8 wheels and 33×12.5xR15 tires. I found some really nice American Racing wheels (black steelies) for KD16 per wheel but they will cost me an arm and a leg to ship to Kuwait. So I decided to pass by the American Racing dealer in Kuwait who are Silicon Valley Group (Tel: 4826723) to see how much the wheel cost here. The visit was pretty disappointing, they barely had anything in stock, they had nothing that fits the Wrangler and the employee there really had no clue about anything. They are even the local dealers for Mickey Thompson tires yet they only had one model from the size I wanted 33×12.5xR15 and even worse they only had one tire in stock. The guy told me I could place an order for anything I wanted but that it would get here by August/September. Very disappointing.

For tires I wanted BF Goodrich AT/KO but I couldn’t find a local dealer so I started calling other places to see what they had and this is what I found:

Goodyear Wrangler MT/R
33×12.5R15
KD80 per tire (slow shipping, 2 months to arrive)
KD110-120 per tire (fast shipping, 2 weeks to arrive)
Tel: 884737

Mickey Thompson Desert King
33×10.5R15
KD90 (1 tire in stock)
Tel: 4826723

Maxxis MT762 Bighorn
33×12.5R15
KD42
Tel: 4824256

Hankook Dynapro MT RT03
33×12.5R15
KD37 (6 tires in stock)
Tel: 884737

I also tried Dunlop, Toyo and Yokohama but they didn’t have any in stock or in Toyo’s case no one ever answered the phone. I am extremely disappointed with the state of some of the dealerships in Kuwait. Prices are expensive, they don’t have a large stock and ordering stuff with them takes ages. Gives me less and less reason to buy stuff from Kuwait.

Update: A friend gave me a link to a website of shop in Dubai called Icon Auto who sell and install lifts for the Wrangler. Their price is very competitive compared to the US. For example a 2.5″ suspension lift costs $659 in the States, $800 in Dubai and $1100 in Kuwait. How come we don’t have a place like Icon Auto in Kuwait?? [Link]

Some readers in the forum have been experiencing account access issues when using Fasttelco. When you login into a website (FaceBook, Gmail, Forum), it informs you that you have been logged out and then you have access to someone else’s account (and vice versa). There are screenshots in the forum of a user being redirected to several different gmail accounts and even gaining access to post under different user-names.

If you are unable to use another ISP to access your sensitive information, I suggest using a proxy, vpn or anonymizer (such as Tor) to bypass the Fasttelco cache server. For those who already logged into sensitive websites; login using a different ISP (or the methods suggested) and change your password.

This is most likely due to the Fasttelco cache server (which stores information locally to speed/conserve bandwidth) incorrectly passing data. If you are a user of Fasttelco, call up the help desk and demand that the cache server be disabled until they can fix it.

Link to the topics [here] [here] [here]

Thanks 36o!

-Posted by K.

Al Mayass is a very popular Lebanese and Armenian restaurant in Lebanon but for some reason I hadn’t heard about it until it opened up here in Kuwait. Since I’ve been hearing only good stuff about the place I decided to try it out and see what it was all about.

Al Mayass is located inside the Shiik Resort which I think is a pretty strange location because I can’t imagine girls in bikinis walking by conservative families on their way into lunch not end up being a problem. Anyway once you walk into the place you will notice it doesn’t look very Lebanese but thats not a big deal since the colors and design of the place is leaning more towards Armenian. What would be a Lebanese look anyway? I don’t think we have one for restaurants.

I only found three problems with the Al Mayass and one popped up right at the beginning. Its not actually a problem more like a nitpick. I found the napkin too small to properly place over the lap. If I am complaining about napkins then you already have an idea on which direction this review is heading. The second problem followed nearly instantly, they don’t have soup on the menu. I was eager to start off with their lentil soup since it was cold outside and wanted something to warm me up. I even asked the waiter about it hoping they had a soup de jour which wasn’t on the menu but he apologized telling me they sadly didn’t have soup on the menu. I think this is a permanent thing and not just temporary which is disappointing.

We then went ahead and ordered a bunch of cold and hot appetizers including hummus, hummus with meat, labne with garlic, tabboule, batata harra (hot potato?), cheese beurek and ras asfoor which translates to bird head although the dish is actually meat chunks. For our main course we ordered chicken taouk and kabab with cherry.

One by one the dishes started to arrive and everything was tasting great. The hummus with meat was probably the best I had ever had and the batata harra was also really great although pretty filling. The cheese beurek is basically a cheese puff and from all the appetizers is the only one I wouldn’t order again. We ordered two cheese beureks at KD1.500 a piece but they were really tiny pieces, each the size of two matchboxes placed side by side. Actually now that I think about it I wouldn’t order the ras asfoor again since that dish cost KD5 and really wasn’t that great.

Once we were done with our appetizers our main courses arrived. The chicken taouk (KD4) was good and very tender but really didn’t grab my attention as much as the cherry kebab (KD4.5). I hadn’t had cherry kebab before but a friend of mine told me I would love it and he was absolutely right. The cherries turned an ordinary dish found everywhere into something much more interesting. The combination of kebab with the sweetness of the cherries resulted in a very flavored kebab which I would definitely want to have again.

By the time we were done with all the food we were pretty full but we still went ahead and ordered the Mayass knefeh which needed 15-20 minutes of preparation time. I guess the waiting period raised my expectations because usually my knefeh gets served instantly but to wait 20 minutes for one meant it had to be really special. It wasn’t, the knefeh tasted like regular knefeh although it did come in a different shape from the usual. My feelings are its just not worth the wait, if you want it make sure you order it while your main course is being served.

Overall I liked Al Mayass even though I am not usually a fan of Lebanese grill. I usually find Lebanese kebab and taouk dishes pretty dry and bland but the cherry kebab has sparked an interest with me. The Lebanese waiters were very friendly without being the talkative type and their service was fast. The lack of soup is a disappointment and the prices of two of the dishes I ordered were expensive. As you can tell though if I am picking on the size of the napkin its because there isn’t much to pick on. The place is great and is probably the only Lebanese restaurant I would want to visit again. The final score is a 4 out of 5.