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My favorite Bahraini grills spot is still Ghadeer al Bahrain in Salmiya, even though after the pandemic they had to increase their prices by around 100 fils. But last night, I decided to try another Bahraini grills spot in the city called Tekka Lumee. This past winter whenever I drove by Tekka Lumee in the evening it would be super packed with people, they actually had to expand their outdoor seating and double the size because of their popularity. I was with a friend in the city last night and we were originally planning to walk over to Little Ruby’s for dinner when we decided to give Tekka Lumee a shot.

Tekka Lumee is a small place across the street from the newly opened Assima Mall. Unlike Ghadeer al Bahrain which has been around for 30+ years, Tekka Lumee is a new concept that opened up over a year ago. Their menu has a pretty good variety of items and you can check it out online here. We ended up getting hummus to start with and Tekka Lumee grills, Tekka Yogurt, Kebab Special and Special Tawooq for the mains.

A couple of minutes after placing the order the food started coming out. First the freshly baked Irani bread with the hummus, and then all the grills. If you’re hungry and don’t want to wait too long for your food then this is the place to come to. I quickly started digging into the food and right away knew what I liked and what I wouldn’t order again. Both the Tekka Lumee and Tekka Yogurt were great, especially the Tekka Lumee which had great flavor. The Tawooq was the third-best item, I usually wouldn’t order chicken at a Bahraini grills place but was curious to try it here but wouldn’t have it again. The most disappointing item though was the kebab, it was fairly dry, a bit bland, and was the only thing that we didn’t finish on the table. It sucks because I usually like ordering kebab with my tikka but wouldn’t do so again here.

Even though Ghadeer al Bahrain is a low-end hole-in-the-wall restaurant, I do feel like I have to compare it with Tekka Lumee only because they both basically sell the same food. Pricewise Tekka Lumee is surprisingly pretty good, their grills are around KD2.500 a plate and contain 5 skewers. What is important to point out is their skewers are longer than that of Ghadeer and contain more meat, so you could say close to double the size of Ghadeer’s. This means price-wise it’s fairly competitive to Ghadeer Al Bahrain even though it’s a much nicer (cough cleaner cough) place with a better dining experience. Tastewise the tikkas at Tekka Lumee were great but the kebab as I mentioned was a disappointment. The kebab at Ghadeer is much better but I’d still go back to Tekka Lumee for the other items (and for the bread which was crazy good). The total for two people including 3 drinks came out to around 13KD. If you want to check the place out, their Instagram account is @tekka.lumee, and here is their location on Google Maps.

Saveco supermarket no longer have any locations left open and their Instagram hasn’t been updated since April. Their original location in Al-Rai which opened back in 2014 was demolished a few months ago, their Avenues location closed down last month, and their Wholesome Foods organic supermarket concept in Salmiya has now been taken over by Sultan Center.

I used to pass by their Avenues location whenever I visited the mall since they were on my way out when heading to my car, but during the pandemic, it was also my favorite supermarket to go to since it was always empty while most other places were overcrowded and chaotic. They were meant to open a new “Urban Market” in Shuwaikh but I’m not sure if that’s still happening. My contact at Saveco no longer works there and when I asked them on Instagram about it they didn’t respond to me. The sign is still up so maybe they decided to close all their locations and just focus on this new concept, we’ll have to wait and see.

No idea what’s going on but this weekend is jam-packed with events and things to do. Check out the full list below and as usual if I missed anything, let me know!

Thursday
Exhibition: I Am Here – Manuella Guiragossian
Exhibition: My Name Is Woman – Maha AlAsaker
Exhibition: Deconstructed Phyche – Sheikha Al Habishi
Perfumes, Cosmetics & Watches Expo
French Diwaniya
Dear Zoo Live!

Friday
Perfumes, Cosmetics & Watches Expo
3rd GCC Games
Kids Workshop: What is a Rainbow?
Kids Workshop: What is Light?
Suns of Beaches 2022
Dear Zoo Live!
TrashTag Beach Cleanup – Shuwaikh Beach
Kuwait Music Academy Gala Concert 2022
SUP Race Series

Saturday
Exhibition: I Am Here – Manuella Guiragossian
Exhibition: My Name Is Woman – Maha AlAsaker
Exhibition: Deconstructed Phyche – Sheikha Al Habishi
Grand Mosque Tour
Perfumes, Cosmetics & Watches Expo
3rd GCC Games
Peak 2022 Vertical Race
Summer Music Nights
Shakespeare By Candlelight
International Museum Day Art & Eco Friendly Bazaar
Authenticity Storytelling with Bibi AlSabah
Artists & Muscians Open Day
Our Coffee Trip
Dear Zoo Live!

Four years ago while in Los Angeles, I stayed at my cousin’s place in an area called Sun Valley. It’s just a random area, nothing special about it but one day I found out about a small pizza place in his neighborhood called 786 Degrees. I ended up trying it out and loving it, not only because the pizza was so great but also because of the excellent customer service. I ended up leaving the Yelp review below:

Since I last visited the place they’ve won a number of awards and even opened a second location. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, I get a totally random message from the chef and owner on Instagram telling me he’s coming to Kuwait for a pop-up event.

I ended up finding out the chef (Ali Haider) actually grew up in Kuwait and lived here until he graduated high school and then moved to the States for university. Over the years he stayed in touch by following various Instagram accounts and eventually met the owner of a local Italian restaurant called Grano and now he’s going to be having a pop-up over two days. Like how random is that? The chef from a tiny little pizza place I tried 4 years ago in Sun Valley is coming to Kuwait for a pop-up?

I’m hoping he’ll be using his own dough recipe and tomato sauce since I’ve had the pizza at Grano before and it wasn’t that special. The pop-up is on May 20 and 21 and I’m trying to find out what the plan is exactly since Grano is pretty tiny so can’t fit that many people. Once I get anymore details I’ll update this post but for now you can check out the Instagram account of @786degrees and the Instagram of Grano @grano.restaurant.

The 3rd GCC Games started yesterday and the dust storm didn’t stop them. You can check out some pictures from yesterday’s events on the @kuwaitolympic twitter account. Currently, Bahrain is leading the games with 6 gold medals while Kuwait is in fifth place with 2.

The games are being broadcasted on KTV3 so if you can’t attend the games you can still watch it on TV or online via the MOI website. If you want to stream the games online, click here.

Tomorrow night (Wednesday) a comedy show is taking place at AUK with a celebrity line-up from LA, featuring Tacarra Williams, Melinda Hill and Nina Kharoufeh. Local artist Zahra Al-Mahdi will also make an appearance as a special guest. Tickets start at 25KD and they’re selling fast, so if you want to go you need to book right now.

It’s been a while since I last posted a restaurant review, but there really hasn’t been any that interested me until now. Midar is a new Kuwaiti restaurant opened by the team behind some of our favorite places like Burger Boutique, White Robata and Slider Station. I passed by Friday for lunch and left wanting to go back.

Midar opened during Eid a couple of weeks ago in The Gardens area of Avenues phase 4. I had seen pictures of the space ahead of time and it looked really pretty but in person, it looks even better. The restaurant was smaller than I imagined it being but I liked it more this way since it felt cozy. I had a reservation that I had made a couple of weeks earlier so I was seated as soon as I arrived. We were given a choice of either sitting inside or in their outdoor space, I chose inside and that’s what I would recommend. The outdoor space is pretty generic and so you’d miss out on the beautiful interior.

Once seated it took a pretty long time to be attended to by a waiter. Service was actually the only issue I had with the place, not because the service was bad or the waiters were not any good, they were just not attentive. Their menu like most places today was digital and you can check it out by going to midar-me.com/menu. Midar is a Kuwaiti seafood concept so all their dishes are seafood related and you won’t find any chicken or beef on their menu. I ended up ordering Jahra St. Hummus to start with and then a Grilled Medium-sized Seabass and Fresh Shrimp Mumawash for our mains, followed by the Sticky Date Cake for dessert. Oh and we also ordered their super spicy Special Mabooch on the side.

The food all looked great, the portions were fairly big, and everything we had ended up being delicious. The fish was brought next to our table and then cut open and plated, it reminded me of the one I have at Shemam except this one was obviously elevated and better. The Mumawash when mixed with the special mabooch and the sauce they bring with it on the side was my favorite thing (and really spicy). Finally the dessert, I mean it’s such a basic thing, a sticky date cake, but it was easily the best one I’ve ever had, it actually caught me off guard since I’m not really a sticky date cake guy. Once the meal was done we had a choice of complimentary regular or lumi tea which is a nice touch.

The final bill, including a mocktail, soft drink and water came out to around 35KD which is pretty reasonable for a place like this. Really the only odd thing was the service. The waiters just never seemed to be around even though the place isn’t that big. But, they also just opened and the whole restaurant industry is suffering with a lack of staff so it’s understandable and I’m sure they’ll work out the kinks quickly (their concepts tend to have the best service in the industry). I’d definitely go back and I actually have a to-do list of things I want to try next time.

Since Midar just opened they’re going to be really busy during prime hours, so even though they do accept walk-ins, you’ll have a better chance of getting a table if you reserve through their website midar-me.com

Below are various events that are taking place this weekend. If I missed anything let me know.

Thursday
Music: Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Exhibition: ‘Graduation ceremony’ by Aseel AlYaqoub (extended)
Glow City

Friday
Music: Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Workshop: Make your own Dinosaur
Glow City
3rd GCC Games

Saturday
Grand Mosque Tour
Workshop: Make your own Dino Mask
La Caro Designs Open Studio
Glow City
3rd GCC Games
Trash Hero: Free Trade Zone Beach Cleanup

Fresh, a cafe that has been around since the 90s at Al-Khalid Complex in Salmiya has closed down. I’ve never been to it, I don’t even know how it managed to last for so long but I do know it’s one of those places a lot of people went to back when there was very little to do in Kuwait.

As I mentioned in another post, Al-Khalid Complex recently went through a major refurbishment and new places are opening up including Boost coffee shop. Another place similar to Fresh that also is surprisingly still open is Astra Lounge. I guess old-school places like these still have a cult-like following helping them stay afloat.

The 3rd GCC Games will be held in Kuwait in three days’ time and the Kuwait Olympic Committee yesterday published the schedule of events on their Instagram account along with the venues. Sadly the schedule isn’t very legible because it’s too tiny and it also doesn’t include any timings. They also haven’t updated their website with any information yet nor is there any mention if people can attend the events or if we need to get tickets.

Also, how come the streets aren’t decorated with flags and posters celebrating the event? It sounds like a big event but you wouldn’t tell that it’s taking place in Kuwait.

The GCC Games include a number of sports including sailing, basketball, swimming, tennis, gymnastics, weightlifting, futsal, padel, ice hockey, table tennis, esports, and more. The games are held every 4 years but the last one was held in 2015 in Saudi Arabia. At the first GCC Games Kuwait came first with 14 gold medals, 8 silver, and 7 bronze.

For more information visit @kuwaitolympic

Update: Thanks to a reader I found out that the games have an official website that includes the full schedule including the timings and venue locations. No mention of tickets so I’d assume it’s open for all on a first come first serve basis. The GCC Games website is kuwait2022.org

Photo by Ahmad Dashti

Back in 2015 I posted about an abandoned zoo project off the 6th Ring Road. Turned out the abandoned project was a small zoo. Around 10 years ago there used to be a small zoo in Fintas called The Little Jungle but it closed down when the government took over the land to convert it to a residential area. To compensate the owner, the government gave him a much larger land off the 6th Ring Road so he could rebuild his project. I guess the owner ran into financial problems and the project was abandoned until last month when the project was completed and The Little Jungle finally opened its doors again.

Photo by Abdulghani Abulkareem

The Little Jungle is a mini zoo with various exhibits holding a variety of animals including giraffes, zebras, kangaroos, and even weirdly, a Pomeranians exhibit. I haven’t passed by the place but I had a couple of friends visit during Eid and one complained about the terrible organization while the other told me it’s no better than our main zoo but can still be fun for really young children.

Photo by Khaled Aljeeran

The weather has gotten pretty warm but they are opening in the evenings from 4PM to 9PM so it still is doable. Entrance is 2.5KD per person and they have a bunch of videos and highlights on their Instagram account that showcases the zoo @littlejunglekw. If you want to visit the place, here is their location on Google Maps

If you’ve been there let us know about your experience in the comments.

The Ahmadi Music Group have been pretty active this season, I think they’ve had three events already this year and this weekend they’re having another one. This coming Thursday and Friday, AMG will be holding a lecture concert about Beethoven and the 5th symphony which many consider being the best-known piece of classical music ever written. The event is taking place at JACC and tickets are on sale now starting at KD10. Click here to book.

Not sure what feels weirder, the fact that Slider Station has been open for 15 years, or the fact that I’ve been blogging for so long that I have a review of Slider Station when it first opened. Time does fly!

Back in 2007 the food scene was a lot different in Kuwait, there were definitely not as many burger places or cool restaurants as there are now. It’s not easy for a restaurant to stay consistently good or relevant for so long, and the fact that Slider Station has managed to accomplish that is incredible.

The same company that owns Slider Station just opened up a new restaurant last week in Avenues called Midar that serves authentic Kuwaiti seafood. I booked a table for this weekend and can’t wait to try the place out.

Yesterday the non-profit media organization NPR posted an audio and written newstory on the Bidoon hunger strike that recently took place in Kuwait. If you’ve always wanted a better understanding of the situation with Bidoons, it’s worth a listen and at just 5-minutes long it won’t take too much of your time. Link

Photo by Dave Tavani

The LEGO store at The Avenues moved to a new larger location closer to the food court, the same location where Tim Hortons (RIP) used to be.

Judging by the photos, it doesn’t seem to be that much larger than the older space, but the storefront is definitely bigger and since it’s on a corner, the space looks more inviting with all the glass windows. The store officially opens later tonight.

Update: Just got the press release and it seems the new store isn’t larger than the older one, just a different location with a new look. There is a replica of the Kuwait Towers made using 21,591 LEGO bricks, a LEGO magnifying glass that allows you to view a model in detail, and there are hands-on play opportunities.