Search: “kuwait”

This actually makes me want to fly with Kuwait Airways. Check out @dali_duran’s instagram account for more of his videos. [Link]

Local newspapers today are reporting that the Ministry of Commerce and Industries is working on providing a service for locals to apply/obtain commercial permits online. The Municipality, Fire Departments and Civil Services will all be connected online. It should be up and running early next year and it will take a lot less time and a lot less paper work to get things done. It’s a system that’s already in place in neighboring countries like UAE and Qatar. [Source]

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

According to Kuwait Times, the zoo is going to start selling some of their animals because they have too many of them and not enough space. My recommendation is to go for a Pygmy Goat, they’re just too damn cute (they’d make great funny YouTube videos). [Link]

Does anyone remember when the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show came to Kuwait? It was back in the 80’s and I think it was held at the Mishref Fairs Ground. I just remembered it today for some reason and I can’t find anything on Google about it. If you happen to remember it or have any photos leave a comment below.

Update: A reader found the following quote in an article about Kuwait from the Chicago Tribune back in 1987 which I thought was hilarious..

When an American Wild West show visited recently, cowboys were forced to ride around an arena pointing their fingers in the air and shouting “bang, bang,“ because Kuwaiti authorities would not permit them to bring in their blank-firing six-shooters.

Kuwait’s Zaid Ashkanani secured his first race win in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East in race two of round two at Dubai Autodrome on Friday, in what was the closest contest of the series’ fifth season so far.

Starting from pole on the 16-car grid, Ashkanani led throughout and took the flag despite immense pressure from reigning champion Clemens Schmid. Al Nabooda Racing’s Schmid almost snatched victory on the final lap, but the Kuwaiti kept his cool to cross the line first. [Article]

If guys are winning without a race track in Kuwait, imagine how much better and much more drivers we would have if we did have a track.

Note: That’s Askhaknani’s car on the left. Download the wallpaper sized version of the photo [Here]

Last night the updated Kuwait Blogs iPhone app became available in the Apple Store. This update fixes two things, the app now works with iOS7 and the app now runs in full screen. There were a bunch of blogs that were no longer being updated and I also removed those while updating the app.

To download the app just search for Kuwait Blogs in the Apple Store or click [Here]

Yesterday I was invited to pass by and try the newly opened Margherita pizzeria at the Arabella project. It’s a Lebanese franchise that I had already tried a few years back in Lebanon for the first time so it wasn’t really new to me. I ended up going with two of my friends who love my food reviews (not really) and whom I love taking with me when I’m going to review food (also not really). Even though they’re very difficult to please we all ended up leaving the place with the same impression, that we would definitely go back again.

Arabella is a fairly new project, it’s been open for a few months now but the majority of the restaurants there are not open yet. Currently the biggest two are Red Lobster and Olive Garden but there are a whole bunch of Alshaya restaurants opening there soon including Texas Roadhouse and The Cheesecake Factory. Margherita is located on the ground floor of the project and has a beautiful wooden façade that wouldn’t look out of place on a street somewhere in Europe. Once you walk into the restaurant you have the pizza kitchen on the right hand side and the dinning area on the left. We ended up sitting next to the window overlooking the inside of the still quiet and vacant Arabella project.

Since we were three people we ended up ordering a whole bunch of things inclduing:

Minestrone soup
Burrata cheese with cherry tomatoes
Grilled calamari with a side salad
Prosciutto E Funghi pizza (Tomato sauce, mozzarella, turkey ham, mushrooms and basil)
Diavola pizza (Tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy beef pepperoni and basil)
Homemade oven baked beef lasagna
Grilled beef “Tagliata” with sautéed spinach and mashed potatoes
Classic Italian Tiramisu
Lemon crème brûlée
Hazelnut chocolate fondant with ice cream

I think from everything we had the only thing we didn’t like was the Lemon crème brûlée. I really enjoyed my minestrone soup especially since it was freezing cold outside, the grilled calamari was a great healthy starter and the burrata cheese was delicious although I don’t think I’d be willing to pay KD8 for it (or any starter for that matter). The pizzas followed quickly right after. While we were on our way to Margherita I was telling my friends that the only issue I had with the pizzas in their Lebanese branches was the fact their sauce was a bit too strongly flavored. Thankfully that wasn’t the case here and I made sure I told the chef that I preferred his tomato sauce at Margherita Kuwait more than the one at Margherita in Lebanon.

We also shared a lasagna which although it was good I’d probably always choose a pizza over it. Finally our last main course arrived which was the grilled beef “Tagliata”. We had asked for it medium rare but our steak arrived partially medium rare and partially just medium which wasn’t an issue as soon as we started eating it since the beef was really really tender. The desserts turned out to be the biggest surprise of our lunch. If you put aside the Lemon crème brûlée which neither of us liked, the tiramisu and the chocolate fondant were ridiculously good. My favorite was the chocolate fondant which I was having alone mostly since my friends were attacking the tiramisu which according to one of them is the best tiramisu he’s had in Kuwait. To quote him, “this isn’t a classic Italian tiramisu, this is better than classic”.

For those of you who used to frequent Al-Forno in the Avenues when they first opened and up until three years ago will recognize the chef, Marcello Piazza. I used to see him the whole time while I was dinning there so I recognized him when I spotted him in the restaurant. Turns out he left Al-Forno three years back and moved to England, but now is back in Kuwait and working at Margherita.

Anyway, the food was great and when I go back next time I’d probably just have the soup (if it’s cold outside), one of the pizzas and the chocolate fondant. To give you a general idea about the price, the pizza’s were around KD5, the lasagna KD4, and the steak KD9. I’d definitely recommend the place. Here is a link to their [Website]

Update: I went back to Margherita on a Saturday for lunch and the place was packed and the service was horrible. Although the food was good the experience made me really dislike the place and if I was to ever go back it would not be on a weekend.

The large UAE based sports chain Sun & Sand Sports will be opening up in Kuwait soon. They have exclusive retail and distributorship rights across the region for over 50 sporting brands including Nike, Timberland, Columbia, Vans, Dunlop, Kettler, The North Face, Icon, Babolat and what I’m looking forward to the most… Under Armour. Their first store is going to be located in Salmiya behind Zahra Complex facing the Gulf Road.

Kuwait was the first Gulf country to grow a motor racing industry. But it lost out and these days, Bahrain and the UAE host prestigious Formula One races while the last proper track in Kuwait closed a few years ago.

Kuwait actually has a motor racing heritage dating back to 1964 not 74 (like mentioned in the news report) if you consider the Ahmadi karting track. [YouTube]

Felix Baumgartner who became the first human to break the sound barrier without vehicular power is coming to Kuwait next week. Among the activities he’ll be taking part in there will be a meet and greet with fans at 360 Mall. Here are the details:

Date: Wednesday, 11th December 2013
Time: 7:00PM
Location: 360 Mall

Now Red Bull will also let you win a small part of history. The original Red Bull Stratos helium balloon was cut up into small pieces and turned into a small souvenir. There are 1,500 limited editions of this souvenir which is pictured above. If you’d like a chance to win this souvenir as well as meet and have your photo taken with Felix Baumgartner, then leave a comment below. Sunday night I’m going to close the comments and randomly choose a winner. Good luck!

Rules: Only one entry per person and please make sure you use a working email since the winner will be contacted by email. If winner doesn’t respond within 12 hours another winner will be randomly chosen.

Update: I closed the comments and using random.org, the winner of this contest is #52, “Aziz mma”. Check your email.

Kuwait Mapping Meetup is a meetup for mapping enthusiasts. They’ve already held four previous mapping meetups and their fifth meetup is this coming Sunday. If you’re interested in maps, then this is a great way to socialize and network with like minded people.

Kuwait Mapping Meetup 5
Date: Sunday, December 8th 2013
Time: 6:30PM
Location: Costa Coffee Starbucks in Al Bida’a

Also for those interested, here is a link to the Kuwait Mapping Meetup [Facebook Group]

The 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index is out and Kuwait is still dropping down the list every year. In 2011 Kuwait was ranked 54th place worldwide, then last year we dropped down to 66th place and this year we dropped down further to 69th place. Below are some of the rankings:

1- Denmark
14 – United Kingdom
19 – United States of America
26 – United Arab Emirates
28 – Qatar
57 – Bahrain
61 – Oman
63 – Saudi Arabia
66 – Jordan
69 – Kuwait
94 – India
94 – Philippines
114 – Egypt
127 – Lebanon
144 – Iran

You can check out the full list [Here]

Thanks Tariq

While checking the Qout Market instagram account I found out that there is a local dealer for Pure Fix Cycles. I had seen the bicycles online before on a bunch of lifestyle websites, they’re very minimal in design and are great simple city bikes that look great. Right now they don’t have a physical store just an instagram account (@pfcycles_kw) and they only have three bike models with two models costing KD120 and the one pictured above with glow in the dark wheels for KD150.

If you’re interested they’re going to have a stand at Qout Market this coming Saturday where you will be able to check the bikes out in person.

Found this interesting article on Reddit about a female mechanic in Kuwait. A female mechanic is a rare sight anywhere in the world so you can imagine how difficult it must be being a female mechanic in Kuwait.

Being a Female Car enthusiast is tough, especially since it’s a male dominant field. But you know when it becomes even more tougher? Being a Female Car Enthusiast, in Kuwait.

In Kuwait, “mechanic” and “girl” are not mutually exclusive states of existence. In fact, the number of girls I personally know who are interested in cars and mechanics, is next to zero. It’s not to say that they don’t exist, because they do, and some of them are getting up there. Girl Street Racers, Drifters, Dragsters, Motorcyclists., and a couple of others who also work in this line of work/own autoshops. However, they are, we are, the minority. Being a female in Kuwait is hard enough. But being a Car Enthusiast and a female. Is even more harder.

Check out the full post on her blog Autoholics 965 [Here]

This is an interesting initiative, instead of illegally spray painting on private property, a bunch of graffiti artists are looking for people who are willing to donate a wall to spray on. The general idea is they want to make Kuwait a more colorful place and graffiti is one way of going about it. The group have only two requirements, one being that the wall has to be outdoor, and two is that they won’t graffiti any sort of advert. If you’re a property owner and are interested in donating a wall contact AbdulRazzaq on [email protected]

via @razzag_