Search: “kuwait”

Below is a list of buffet prices (and in some cases set menus) of various restaurants around Kuwait. I tried to get a variety of styles of restaurants ranging from American franchises, to hotels to Arabic restaurants but if you want to include a restaurant on this list, leave the details in the comments below. What I’ve done this year as well is mention how much the price has increased or decreased over the previous year just for fun. If you don’t see any red or green number next to the price it either means the restaurant kept the same price as last year or they’re new to the list.

Abdel Wahab
Buffet Price: KD10 (+1.250)
Telephone: 1821000

Al Noukhaza Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD11.950 (-2.000)
Telephone: 24757775 or 1823888

Avanti Palace
Set Menu Price: KD3.5
Telephone: 25751081

Cafe Blanc – The Avenues
Buffet Price: KD7.750 (Buffets only on weekends) (+0.250)
Telephone: 22597568

Courtyard by Marriott
Buffet Price: KD12 (+3.000)
Telephone: 22997000

Crowne Plaza – Al Ahmadi Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12.5
Telephone: 24757775

Hilton Resort – Teatro Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22256222

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Garden Cafe
Buffet Price: KD16 (+2.000)
Telephone: 22269600

JW Marriott
Buffet Price: KD13 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22455550

Leila
Set Menu Price: KD8
Telephone: 22996414

Movenpick – Free Zone – Bays Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD13.5 (+2.600)
Telephone: 24610033

Movenpick – Al Bida’a – Breeze Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 22253100

Naranj
Buffet Price: KD12.5 (+0.500)
Telephone: 22268666

Paul
Set Menu Price: KD7.900 (+0.650)
Telephone: 22597044

Qasr Al-Saraya
Buffet Price: KD8 (+0.500)
Telephone: 25711101

Radisson Blu – Al Bustan Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD13 or KD11 after 10PM
Telephone: 25673000

Red Lobster
Set Menu Price: KD7.950
Telephone: 22200536

Ruby Tuesday
Set Menu Price: KD5.750 (+0.750)
Telephone: 22444454

Sakura
All You Can Eat Price: KD14.950 1st 10 days of Ramadan (+2.000)
Buffet Price: KD15.950 11th day onwards(+2.000)
Telephone: 24757775 or 1823888

Sheraton – Coral Tent
Buffet Price: KD17.250
Telephone: 22422055

Symphony Style Hotel – Luna Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 25770000

THE One
Buffet Price: KD9.500 or KD4.750 for kids under 12
Telephone: 22244511

The Southern
Set Menu Price: KD9.5

Villa Fairouz – The Avenues
Buffet Price: KD12.5 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22597200

Zafran
Buffet Price: KD7.5 or KD4 for kids 5-10
Telephone: 25750647

Zahr El Laymoun – 360 Mall
Buffet Price: KD8 (+0.500)
Telephone: 25309511

Kuwait will tender the much-delayed USD multi-billion metro rail project in its next five-year development plan, according to the Gulf emirate’s minister of state for development and planning.

Hind Al Sabeeh said other major projects to be included in the 2014-2018 plan involve Mubarak port, the media city the privatisation of schools, university and cooperatives.

“The next development plan includes the tendering of large projects in Kuwait such as the Metro and rail projects,” she told the Saudi satellite TV new channel Al Arabiya on Sunday night. Her comments were published by Kuwaiti newspapers. [Source]

A couple of years ago the expected operational date was 2020 but I’m guessing that date will now be pushed back since they really haven’t started on anything yet. The above is a rendering of how a metro station would look like while the metro map below shows where all the metro stops will be located.

You can view a higher resolution version of the map [Here]

Finally below is a video presentation of the planned metro project.

Kuwait Rapid Transit & Rail Road Systems ENG from Designa Comunicacion on Vimeo.

Last week someone told me that the top floors of the Kuwait Airways Building in Kuwait City used to be a club called Al Hamra back when clubs were legal. So I spent all day yesterday trying to find information on it online but I couldn’t find anything. Instead, the whole research somehow turned into history lesson on Kuwait’s aviation history and I ended u finding a lot of interesting information most of which I hadn’t heard before. I already shared the vintage timetables in a separate post below but I’ll now combine the rest of my random findings here.

Al-Nugra Airport
This was Kuwait’s second airport and it was located in Nuzha.

1947-1948 KOC develops new Al-Nugra (Al-Mayass) airport, located in Nuzha district. Open for daylight operations only. Airlines open offices in Kuwait city to handle ticketing and cargo operations for the Arab expatriate community. Al-Nugra airport steadily developed with new concrete buildings and hangar. [Source]

I couldn’t find any decent photos of the airport but I did find the video below.

[YouTube]

Kuwait Airport 1975
I found the images below on Flickr and they’re dated 1975 but I’m not sure if they’re photos of Al-Nugra Airport or the location of our current airport which started in 1961.

1961 State of Kuwait declares independence. Phase One of new Mugwa Airport begins operation. Airlines serving Mugwa include BOAC, Lufthansa, KLM, United Arab Airlines, Saudi Arab Airlines, Syrian Arab Airlines, Air India, and Lebanese carriers MEA, TMA and LIA. Facilities comprise passenger terminal (Terminal 1), 2,200-metre asphalt runway, parking apron, and control tower equipped to handle operations round-the-clock. [Source]

Photos [Source]

It’s most likely the site of our current airport but the only reason I am having doubts on the location is because in 1979 the current airport was completed but in the aerial photo above I can’t see any signs of the new airport construction taking place.

Trans Arabia Airways
Trans Arabia Airways was a Kuwaiti carrier that started operating in 1959 out of Beirut to Kuwait with an ex-Australian National Airways DC-4. By 1964 the the fleet consisted of three Douglas DC-6Bs and they flying to: Beirut, Bahrain, Cairo, Jerusalem, Damascus, Doha, Jeddah, as well as Frankfurt, London and Rome. In 1964 they were purchased and absorbed by Kuwait Airways. [Source]

The Kuwait Airport by Kenzo Tange
This isn’t new information since I already posted it years ago but I still think the photos are worth sharing again. Our current airport was originally designed by the legendary Japanese architect Kenzo Tange and was completed in 1979. The airport originally looked completely different and a lot nicer as you can see in the photos below. The British architect and critic Stephen Gardiner wrote in 1985 that it was “the most beautiful airport in the world” because of its “breathtaking simplicity of color and shape.” It is “white sculptured space as cool as an ice-cube, as enormous as a vat intake of pure air, as light as a tent, as canvas hung from cables and sails.”

Photos [Source]

While I was researching for a post I found a page with old Kuwait Airways timetables dating back to 1959. According to that timetable Kuwait Airways was flying to the following destinations back then:

Abadan
Bahrain
Basra
Beirut
Bombay
Cairo
Damascus
Dhahran
Jerusalem
Karachi

I also found the image above of their fleet inside one of the timetables which I thought was very cool. Check out all the timetables [Here]

Last year Adobe stopped selling their software the traditional way and instead moved everything to their Creative Cloud where for a monthly fee you could rent their apps. Some people hated it others like me loved it because it meant instead of paying a large sum up front for their apps you could now pay a much smaller fee every month. So back in February of this year I tried to sign up to the Creative Cloud but because I was based in Kuwait, the only option I had was to go through one of the regional dealers and turns out because I was in Kuwait I couldn’t pay monthly and instead I was quoted KD175 a year. Obviously that pissed me off but there is good news.

Last week Adobe updated their Creative Cloud apps and also started offering the service in more countries including Kuwait. I signed up to their Creative Cloud a couple of days ago where for KD14 a month I have access to all their apps including their desktop and mobile ones. If you’re a student or teacher its just KD5.6 a month.

For designers who are interested, ME (Arabic support) versions of the apps are available. Once you install the Adobe Creative Cloud app on your computer go to the preferences and choose English with Arabic support as the app language and then download and install the apps. Check this help page for more info on this [Link]

If you’re into photography, Adobe have a special price on Photoshop and Lightroom, they’re giving both along with the Lightroom mobile app for just KD2.8 a month. So there really is no longer a need to pirate their apps. You’re also allowed to install the apps on two of your computers so I have them installed on my desktop and laptop which is perfect for me.

If you’re interested in signing up to the Creative Cloud follow this [Link]

Yesterday I had a meeting at the Kuwait National Library and to kill time before the meeting I wandered off into the small English books section and started checking out the books. I was pretty surprised that the majority of the English books were really old but then I found the advertising section and I knew I hit jackpot.

Right away I noticed, these weren’t just any ordinary advertising books, these were vintage advertising books from the 40s and the 50s! These are the books Don Draper would have on his bookshelf on the TV show Mad Men. I found an empty shelf and started collecting the books I liked and lining them up next to each other. In the end these were my favorite books that I found:

How to Build Modern Furniture (1957)
Five Hundred Years of Printing (1959)
The Watch Repairer’s Manual (1949)
Advertising – a guide for business man and student (1947)
Advertising and Psychology (1954)
The Technique of Advertising (1940)
Successful Television and Radio Advertising (1959)
Advertising (1953)
International Handbook of Advertising (1964)
Colour in Advertising (1956)

I thought they were all very fascinating so once my meeting was done I headed to the main office to sign up for a library card so I could check them out. Thats where I got an even bigger surprise, turns out the library isn’t open yet and is actually opening in two weeks and even once it’s open they won’t allow anyone to check out the books, you can only read them in the library.

I left the library in love with it but at the same time a bit confused.

If they’re not open yet, why are all the English books so old?
Where did they even get these books from?
and WTF?

But then it hit me, this is the perfect library. Other than the fact that old books are fascinating, by having all these old books, its as if the library has been around for 50 years instead of just opening now. You’re also not going to find these books on the Kindle so thats another reason to visit the library. Smart move. Once the library is open in two weeks I would definitely recommend you pass by. The library is pretty big and I’m not sure if there was another larger English section but even if there wasn’t, the small section is interesting enough to check out.

The library is located right next to the National Museum on the Gulf Road and here it is on [Google Maps]

PS: If anyone from the library is reading this, please PLEASE remove the horrible window sticker on your building and install a proper sign instead.]

BBC have an article and a short video report on De La Rue, the company that designed and printed the new Kuwaiti Dinars. In the video below the reporter is at the factory while they’re printing the Kuwaiti Dinars and you get to see her hold an uncut sheet of the notes as well as discuss the currency a bit with an employee. Check out the video below and then the article [Here]

Thanks Neil

Earlier today the BMW dealer launched the i8 Hybrid Supercar to the members of the press. Remember the BMW i8 that had arrived at the airport last month? Turns out it belonged to the dealer and the arrival of the car was meant to be a secret. Due to a nosey employee at the airport, that didn’t happen.

The cost of the car is currently set at around KD55,000 although it hasn’t been finalized. A source of mine last week told me that 10 cars had already been booked with 3 confirmed sold (this is before todays launch) but the dealer isn’t willing to confirm this to me.

Check out the Chris Harris review of the BMW i8 on [YouTube]

The popular social video sharing site Telly is currently featuring Kuwaiti Short Films on their website. There are 12 films available to watch and they are:

Heaven’s Water (May Aljannah)
The Sniper (Alqannas)
The Neighborhood Cop (Shurty Alfreej)
The Youngest Son (Ju3da)
The Detective (Thabet)
Mustache (Shanab)
Sneeze (3atsah)
Someone (Fulan)
Saloon
Vanish (Ikhtifa2)
Ka3bool
9oorat

So if you’re interested in watching some short Kuwaiti films check them out [Here]

Kuwait has the second highest number of millionaire families among the GCC countries and fifth highest internationally with 9 percent, which means 99,000 families are millionaires. [Source]

That’s insane.

via Expat and the City

According to a new study that was published in the the Lancet medical journal, the world is getting fatter. Since the study first started back in 1980 the largest increase in the rate of obesity were in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Honduras, and Bahrain for women, and in New Zealand, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the USA for men. I downloaded the PDF of the study and I’ve put together a top 10 list of the highest obesity rates in the world:

Obese Girls < 20 Years
1- Kiribati 36%
2- Federated States of Micronesia 32.4%
3- Samoa 29.6%
4- Kuwait 23.3%
5- Libya 22.1%
6- The Bahamas 20.2%
7- Uruguay 18.1%
8- Soloman Islands 18.0%
9- Qatar 15.5%
10- Syria 15.4%

Obese Boys < 20 Years
1- Samoa 23.7%
2- Kiribati 22.9%
3- Qatar 18.8%
4- Kuwait 16.7%
5- The Bahamas 15.9%
5- Lebanon 15.9%
7- Libya 14.5%
8- Federated States of Micronesia 14.5%
9- Syria 13.9%
10- Israel 13.9%

Obese Women ≥ 20 Years
1- Samoa 69.1%
2- Tonga 67.2%
3- Kuwait 58.6%
4- Federated States of Micronesia 57.9%
5- Libya 57.2%
6- Kiribati 55.5%
7- Qatar 54.7%
9- Marshall Islands 49.1%
10- Egypt 48.4%

Obese Men ≥ 20 Years
1- Tonga 52.4%
2- Samoa 45.9%
3- Qatar 44.0%
4- Kuwait 43.4%
5- Kiribati 39.3%
6- Marshall Islands 31.9%
7- USA 31.7%
9- Federated States of Micronesia 31.3%
10- The Bahamas 30.9%

Sadly Kuwait made it into the top 5 of every list. Although no countries had significant decreases in obesity, I would be interested to see if Kuwait’s obesity rate has at least slowed down over the past few years. Everyone is generally more health conscious today than they were a few years ago (me included) and there are a lot more gyms and healthy food options available now as well. You can download the full study from [Here] (signup required)

Thursday
Movie Night: “The Message”
SHREK The Musical
Exhibition: 50 Years of Printmaking
Exhibition: Once Removed – Kevork Mourad
Exhibition: The Tour – Barry Iverson

Friday
SHREK The Musical

Saturday
SHREK The Musical

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]

Based on data from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the home swapping site “Love Home Swap” compiled a top 50 up-and-coming countries to watch list and Kuwait came in #15 as a new and upcoming holiday destination. Business Insider has even picked up the story further adding to the credibility of the list. So strange, check out the top 50 destinations [Here]

Thanks Taz

According to an index compiled by Bloomberg, Kuwait is amongst the most expensive markets for hotel rooms coming in third place behind Geneva and Dubai. The reason behind the high prices is mostly likely because land is so expensive in Kuwait and the fact that there are a limited number of hotels. Still, it would feel pretty odd to pay so much more for a hotel here than one in London, New York or Miami. Check out the article [Here]

With the advent insta-twitter* there is a whole community of MD’s (and even more MD’s), pharmacist, dieticians and dentists giving advice on there on a daily basis through videos and pictures. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s actually a miracle if you work in healthcare in Kuwait because never in a million years would I have expected such a healthcare awareness campaign to actually work and be successful! I also love seeing old friends gain confidence I always knew they had as they reach out to more people.

But like the start of the internet, this trend poses alot of very interesting ethical and legal questions that I simply can’t find the answer to.

Instadocs is an interesting article written by a Kuwaiti doctor on the the local social media scene and how some doctors are using it to dish out advice. Check it out [Here]