Search: “kuwait”

The Gulf Road waterfront from the Yacht Club in Salmiya all the way to the Kuwait Towers is currently going under a major facelift to include amenities like a dedicated bicycle and jogging path among other things. I posted about that project back in September (pictured above) and you can read more about it here.

Last week while digging near TGIF, workers came across a large number of projectiles and cluster bombs dating back to the invasion. If you’re too young to remember, or you weren’t here back in 1990, the Iraqi army had assumed the allies were going to invade Kuwait from the sea. So they dug trenches, planted mines and had tanks and artillery lined up all across the Gulf Road.

It’s kinda unreal to imagine just a few decades ago the Gulf Road waterfront was covered in mines and trenches. The bombs found were all safely defused but the idea that I was riding my bicycle all these years near unexploded bombs is pretty freaky.

Here is a link to two articles that covered this story. Link 1 and Link 2.

And just to clarify, only the first photo on top is new, the rest were taken in 1991.

Jamie’s Italian by the popular British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver opened yesterday at The Warehouse Mall.

The franchise was brought to Kuwait by Apparel Group, the same group that are bringing Nando’s to Kuwait.

If you haven’t been to the Warehouse Mall it’s actually really nice. Here is the location on Google Maps.

Because of my Popeyes post this morning a few people asked me if I had any updates about ALBAIK opening in Kuwait. ALBAIK is a very popular Saudi fried chicken concept and from what I’ve been told, they’re planning to open in Kuwait next year with the first two locations in Al Khiran and Aswaq Qurain. They also have plans to open two more locations in the north but they haven’t decided where yet.

Last year I visited Riyadh to check out the Noor Festival, the largest light art festival in the world. Noor means light in Arabic and last year they had 44 different light installations spread across Riyadh and some were really epic. This year the festival is going to be even bigger with over 80 artists invited to participate.

Monira Al Qadiri (@moniraism), the Kuwaiti visual artist whom I’ve previously featured on the blog before is one of the artists invited to take part in the festival this year which starts on November 30th and continue till December 16th.

Visiting the different light installations is free and finding them is easy using the festival app.

If you’ve never been to Riyadh it’s a fun road trip if you want to drive down. Any resident of Kuwait can also apply for a Saudi tourism eVisa no matter of your nationality. There is a lot to do in Riyadh in terms of things to see and restaurants to experience. Last year I went for one night only because there were a handful of light installations I wanted to see but it was really hectic and I wished I stayed a night longer. You can do it in just a night if you really want but two nights would be much better experience.

For more information on the festival, visit @noorriyadhfestival or riyadhart.sa/en/noor-riyadh

Yesterday I experienced the worst rain I’ve ever experienced in my life. It was insane, and it feels like it only hit Salmiya.

Last night I decided to walk to Marina Mall but as I left my apartment it started to drizzle and my Apple Watch told me there would be light showers. So went back home, took my car and drove to Marina and then Symphony Mall since I needed to pass by AAB World.

While in Symphony I started hearing loud bangs, one of the shops under construction hoarding was fluttering from the wind. I looked at my Apple Watch and it said the windspeed was 24km/h which wasn’t that bad. But then I noticed people starring up at the glass roof and thats when I realized it was raining, heavy.

My car was parked a short walk from the mall and because I didn’t have an umbrella, I kinda was waiting for an opportunity to get to my car when I got a call from my building guy telling me I should get home and move my cars because the parking was starting to flood.

My underground parking is 3 basements, the last basement usually floods ankle deep during storms and so I tend to move my cars up to the middle or top level basement. When there is a storm warning, I sometimes move my cars to a multistory lot down the street and park it on the high floors. This time I didn’t get any warnings (light showers my ass weather app) and ALL my cars were parked in the most bottom basement.

Realizing the urgency of the situation I ran to my car (getting super soaked in the process) and drove back as quickly and safely as possible. Traffic was moving slow on the Gulf Road but thankfully it was moving. The water was so deep you couldn’t tell where the road ended and the sea began. You also barely could see because it was raining so heavily and there was even hail.

By the time I got to my neighborhood, the rain had stopped but the roads were all flooded but I was in my lifted Hilux so I wasn’t too worried (thank you Hilux for being a beast). I knew I didn’t have much time, I only had three out of seven car keys with me with the rest up in my apartment, but my priority was the Lotus since it’s the lowest of all my cars and I had that key on me. When I got to the basement the water was still shallow but there was a river coming down the parking entrance and a pipe in the basement had burst.

I first moved my Lotus up right away and then I’m not sure how, but I managed one by one to move all my cars up to the higher floors safely. I started with my lowest car and moved to the next tallest car until they were all on the safer higher floors. My Datsun had a fuel leak which I luckily just repaired this past weekend. My BMW M3 had a dead battery but I knew that and had a battery booster with me so managed to start the car easily. Suburban I hadn’t started in months and luckily just started. I feel really really lucky all the cars started and I was there in time to save them.

The water eventually got knee deep in the basement to the point even my tall knee high Hunter boots were filling up with water. I actually had four shoe changes starting with the sneakers I was originally wearing, to my water proof ankle hhigh hiking boots, to tall knee high boots to finally realizing I should just be in shorts and flip flops cuz the water was too deep.

I’ve never seen a storm like this. Sadly one of my neighbors wasn’t home and couldn’t get his car out in time and it’s now half deep in water and flooded on the inside.

After I calmed down and my adrenalin rush subsided, I decided to get online to see how the rest of Kuwait coped. To my surprise, all the drama seemed to have just been in Salmiya. wtf!

Khalifouh Village opened this past February, but I only found out about it in April and by then the village had already closed down for the season. Now the village is getting ready to open again and I was lucky enough to be given permission to pass by and get a sneak peek.

The village is owned by the popular Kuwaiti actor Khalifa Khalifouh who is known for his roles on a few popular tv shows and plays. Khalifa is very passionate about the Kuwaiti heritage and while working on shows involving old Kuwaiti villages, he didn’t like the way they were being poorly built so he decided he wanted to build a proper village, which he did. Khalifouh Village isn’t the first village he built, he originally built one in Salmi but then decided to knock it down and build another one in Wafra to make it more accessible to people.

The village is big with lots of buildings and alleyways connecting them all. The village has the basic necessities that a real village would have like a mosque, a baker, a tea shop, a theater and a main square. When the village officially opens for guests it will have more props and activities happening, but since it was closed when I visited, it was just me and an empty village.

I really wanted to visit the village for two reasons. The first is obviously to post about it, but the second reason was to take one of my classic cars so I could take photos of it with the village as a backdrop. Driving through the village in my old car felt weirdly real, like I had stumbled upon an old, abandoned village in the desert. Because the village is in Wafra where there are no tall buildings, once you’re inside all you see is the village and nothing else from the outside world.

There is no set date for the reopening of the village. They were targeting this month, but the weather hasn’t really cooled that much so it now looks like it will be in December. To stay posted on the opening, follow their account which also has some great photos @khalifouhvillage

Here is their location on Google Maps.

Backburner the coffeeshop quietly opened a new location last week in the old-school neighborhood of Souq Altujjar (the old traders market) across from the Grand Mosque and Seif Palace.

What’s very interesting about this location is they have a nostalgia room on their second floor. The room has shelves filled with a variety of old items from our childhood, some from the 80s, some much older. They have a Hungry Bunny section, a small Showbiz section, Sakhr (MSX), Ifta7 Ya Simsim and more items all from our past and all on display.

I actually sold them one of my very clean and copies of the 1955 Violet Dickson book “The Wild Flowers of Kuwait and Bahrain”. It’s a very rare book so if you’ve wanted to check it out, this is your chance.

If you want to check it out they open daily from 7AM to 10:30PM, and they’re located next to the Seif Palace roundabout in Block 4 of Souq Altujjar, the same block that has Starbucks. Google Maps

This is just a quick update on my 9 year long ordeal with the garbage dump behind my house. Next year will mark the 10 year anniversary of my first post on the issue. It’s basically the same crap over and over.

9 years ago there weren’t enough bins, since then more towers have come up and Barayih Salem was built and so the area is more popular than its ever been. As you can imagine that means more waste and more garbage.

Even though the garbage dump is my view every morning as I grab my coffee and sit down on my computer to post about Kuwait, it only really starts to bother me when the weather gets nicer and I start taking out my classic cars. The cars don’t have AC and so I need to have the windows open but as I drive by this garbage dump on my way home, I have to put up with the horrendous smell.

So I decided to send a WhatsApp to the 139 Baladia number to complain. There were originally 5 bins with garbage overflowing. First day they came and cleaned up the overflowed garbage.

Next day it was the same issue so I sent them another message. They came back but they ended up removing one of the bins bringing it down to a total of 4.

Next day the garbage problem was worse because now we were down a bin. So I sent them a WhatsApp again and they removed 3 bins and left just 1.

I swear I’m not exaggerating, I have this all documented with photos and text messages. As you can imagine I sent a complaint again. So I wake up next day and we have no bins at all, just a pile of garbage all pilled up on the ground.

It’s both funny and sad at the same time. I sent them another complaint today, not sure what they might do since they’ve already taken all the bins. I’ll let you guys know tomorrow!

Cantina is a new restaurant that I’ve been looking forward to opening for a while now. It’s for Chef Basmah Marouf (@chefbasmah) who I’ve known since she got back to Kuwait from culinary school and was part of the Madison & Heig launch team. I’ve been a fan of her food and flavor profile ever since, and she’s now opening her own restaurant which she’s calling Cantina.

Cantina is a Mediterranean restaurant with heavy Italian influence. I first got to try a few items a couple of weeks ago when I passed by to see the progress of the space, and then last night I was invited along with some other close friends for a private tasting. Firstly, the space looks amazing, it has a very ‘Mad Men’ feel without being too retro. I love the colors used and I love the cafe curtains all around that help cozy up the place.

I got to try a lot of different things, but I already have my favorites. For starters, I highly recommend the ‘Whipped ricotta with crispy pasta sheets’ and the ‘Sea bass carpaccio with chili and coriander.’ For the main course, my favs were the ‘Chicken Milanese with preserved lemon aioli and radicchio salad’ and the ‘Ricotta Ravioli.’ The Ricotta Ravioli I first tried a couple of weeks ago when I passed by, and since then it’s become my favorite dish in life right at this moment. I’d go back just for this dish over and over again.

Basmah is set to launch Cantina next week and is currently accepting bookings, but due to limited staff, the seating capacity initially will be very limited. Cantina is located inside the new Lot90 complex in Shuwaikh which is right behind the restaurants Cure and Ovo. If you want to book a table, you need to DM her @cantina.kw

So it’s been around 1 year since I launched the @248am Instagram account, and I kinda wanted to do a year in review post. In summary, it’s been a pretty intense experience but one that I’m starting to enjoy a lot more.

First some interesting stats…

Posts with the highest number of likes
Photos from the 1976 National Day Parade – 9,280 Likes
Chipotle if Officially Coming to Kuwait – 6,414 Likes
New English School Photos 1974 – 5,093 Likes
1973 Fashion Shoot Around Kuwait – 5,020 Likes
The Sadu Brick Road – 3,791 Likes

Posts with the highest number of comments
How to Watch Barbie if you’re in Kuwait – 356 Comments
Chipotle if Officially Coming to Kuwait – 248 Comments
694KD for a T-shirt? – 234 Comments
Nando’s is Coming to Kuwait – 172 Comments
Do you Remember this Tree? – 170 Comments

Clearly people care a lot about food and nostalgia. Even though I know that, I actually do try to limit those number of posts since in the end, I don’t want to be categorized as a food blogger, nor do I want to turn into one of those accounts that just posts nostalgic content.

Posts that go viral are also a love and hate thing with me. I love it when my posts get attention, but I dislike some of the attention it brings. Posts that go viral tend to attract all sorts of random people and that mostly gets reflected in the comments section. I read and moderate my comments section, but trying to moderate a post that’s gone viral is not easy, especially since Instagrams comment management system isn’t great. Also those posts tend to attract a lot more non-English speakers who end up skipping my caption and then leave comments in Arabic which I have to try and read or translate to English to understand.

Oh, and I still have no idea what goes viral and what doesn’t. Whenever I think I’ve figured it out I get proven wrong. I’ve had posts I thought would blow up but nobody ended up caring for, then I had random posts like my Meteor Showers post that went viral for some reason with over 2,800 likes. That post going viral actually gave me anxiety because a meteor shower isn’t something I could control and I felt like it had to perform or else a lot of people would have been let down.

Generally though a year later I’m much more relaxed and comfortable with instagram and I’m starting to enjoy it more.

Financially the Instagram account has been great for me. I mark all my ads as a “Paid Promotion” and I also include the “Promoted” word in my post icon. I wasn’t sure how advertisers or readers would feel about this when I started, thankfully it’s been a positive experience from both sides. I think readers appreciate the fact that I’m not passing ads off as my real opinion which is what 99.9% of local influencers seem to do. On the other hand, advertisers have been supportive of this as well with only one that decided not to advertise with me because I wouldn’t agree to not mark the post as paid for.

So yeah that’s pretty much it, 1 year on instagram summarized.

Kuwait Airways recently launched three weekly non-stop flights to Barcelona. I just checked the ticket prices and they start at 99KD. The flight time is 7 hours going, and 6 hours coming back.

Barcelona is one of my favorite places since the food is great, the city is not too expensive, and there is so much to see and do. If you’ve never been I highly recommend it. Here is a link to my Barcelona Guide.

The Palestinian Culture Center has been operating in Kuwait since the early 1970s. Every year they hold an exhibition with the aim to keep the vibrant Palestinian culture alive, and support underprivileged women and children in the camps.

This will be the 58th exhibition held by the Palestinian Culture Center and all net proceeds from it will be dedicated to humanitarian aid for Gaza.

The exhibition starts tomorrow and will have hand-stitched dresses, shawls, and cushions for sale, as well as handmade ceramics, books, and food aimed to preserve the Palestinian national identity and showcase how it adapts to modern times.

Place: Women’s Cultural & Social Society in Khaldiya
Date: Tuesday Nov 7th – Friday Nov 10th
Time: 10AM – 8PM

For more information or photos, visit @palestiniancc

Photo on top by @prettygreenbullet

Starting tomorrow Sunday, November 5th, the American International University Film Festival 2023 will take place for the second consecutive year.

There are various activities you can participate in during the film festival, including film screenings, lectures, workshops, and discussion panels. Best of all, they’re all free to attend and participate in! Whether you simply want to watch movies or you’re an aspiring filmmaker looking to attend a workshop or watch a lecture, this is an event you definitely shouldn’t miss.

The film festival will be held at the AIU campus from November 5 to 11, 2023. Cinescape is their strategic partner, and as a result, film screenings will take place both on the AIU campus and at selected Cinescape theaters. There is also no registration requirement for any of the Cinescape venues.

There are 12 speakers, 7 lectures, 4 workshops, and over 40 film screenings all scheduled for next week. The director of the Kuwaiti film “How I Got There”, Dr. Zeyad Alhusaini is also going to be one of the lecturers at the festival. His movie got significant international attention making this a great opportunity to pick his brain.

So one more time just to be clear, ALL events during the film festival are open to the public, are free, and do not require prior registration.

For more information visit aiu.edu.kw/film-festival or head over to @aiu_kw

Strategic partner:
@cinescapekuwait

Sponsors:
@debenhamsmiddleeast
@weyaybank
@alialghanimandsons

Earlier this year, I discovered the Sahara Golf Club driving range, and it turned into a fun outdoor activity that I enjoyed a couple of times with friends.

The driving range is located inside the golf course and you are driven to it on their golf carts. You don’t need to know how to play golf to be able to enjoy the driving range, it’s just an open area where you hit balls as far as you can. It’s a popular activity in the States and can be something you do alone or with a group of friends.

The cost for using the driving range is surprisingly affordable considering it’s at the Sahara Golf Club. For non-members, it’s 10KD for 2 hours and that includes 150 balls. If you don’t have a golf club, you can rent one for 3KD while an additional 150 balls are also 3KD.

The Sahara Golf Club is open daily from 5:30 AM, and the last check-in time for the driving range is 8 PM. To use the driving range just head to their golf shop or book ahead by calling them up on 22203410/11.

There is a basic dress code which I’ve shared above. They also offer lessons if you’re interested. At just 13KD, I think this is one of the most affordable and fun outdoor activities in Kuwait. Here is the link to their website.

Photo on top from @itsgee98

You might have noticed that Elevation Burger recently went through a major rebrand. The Elevation identity was given a much needed facelift by Farelo Studio, a design studio based in Portugal. The new look is not only cleaner visually, but also environmentally.

Pedro Farelo, the creative director of Farelo Studio, explains that the central idea was to take the Elevation Burger motto “ingredients matter” and expand it to “everything matters” encompassing health, the environment, and the community. This is because being a market leader comes with a responsibility of setting high standards for everyone else, which is why the new Elevation Burger packaging uses recycled paper, while the new minimalistic design helps reduce ink usage by up to 95%.

Farelo Studio aren’t strangers when it comes to Kuwait based projects, their first client in Kuwait was back in 2015 and since then have helped create several other local brands. If you’re looking for a talented and creative design studio with local experience, reach out to Farelo by sending them an email to [email protected] or check out their website farelo.com