Back in April I noticed a large area of land was being cleared opposite The Green Island on the Gulf Road. The area turned out was being prepped for a new real estate project by KIPCO and a few days ago they launched the project officially with press releases and interviews. KIPCO are aware of how unique and rare this plot of space is which is why they will be setting an example with the high level of planning and construction and from what I’ve read and seen, looks like they’re on track. They’re basically building a whole neighborhood from the ground up. This was my favorite bit from the press release:
The land plot measures 227,066 sqm, of which close to 50% is dedicated to public services and amenities. This includes gardens, open public spaces, urban plazas, streets, multi-story public parking and utilities. Gardens and green areas across the project have been allocated 23,400 sqm. [Source]
Finally someone is doing it right and based on the photos it looks like there will also be sidewalks. You would think sidewalks would be something common but just try walking around a residential neighborhood like Salmiya or Salwa, no sidewalks to walk on.. at all. Also good to see lots of space being utilized for gardens and public spaces. In the 80s when I was a kid, me and my friends used to play in empty sand lots in our neighborhoods, football, marbles, whatever but today kids don’t have those spaces. All the empty plots have either been replaced with towering buildings or are filled with cars so it’s great that KIPCO are putting aside 50% of the land for public services and amenities.
Check out the video of the project below which should give you a much clearer overview of the whole project.
Yoo!! It’s Amin Fari, or MR.FARI, or just plain Fari. You might’ve caught a few of my shows here in Kuwait, (I’d be the one with a guitar, rocking a man-bun and a fedora), but, just in case you haven’t, I’ll do the one-liner quick intro. I’m a singer/songwriter who studied music in LA and moved to Kuwait in 2013 wanting nothing more than to see the Kuwait music industry grow. Mark has graciously allowed me to contribute to the blog to keep you posted on what’s going on in Kuwait, musically speaking, and to help get the word out. Let’s Jam!
As the temperatures in Kuwait begin to drop, and the weather starts to get better, a few things start to happen; people become friendlier, they become more outgoing, and more outdoor events start to pop up – and in those events, musicians come out to play. It’s as though musicians are birds that come out to serenade the people, making their experience of being outside all the more enjoyable.
And, like every bird-watcher, I observe, looking for new trends. I look for new musicians making their way onto the scene, possible venues where musicians can play, their social media presence, and how they’re promoting their work. This column is really about an observer of Music Culture, one who also happens to participate in the scene, giving you the inside scoop.
Now, in keeping with this bird metaphor, the summer season provides a time for birds to hideout, (I know, this is getting a little too deep with the bird metaphor, but stay with me). Given Kuwait’s scorching summer temperatures, it’s the perfect time for musicians to step back from the performing scene, work in the studio, and publish their music online. So, let’s talk about some of this summer’s latest additions to the scene.
First up, “EE LAA”, a song by Flipperachi and Daffy. Why am I talking about “EE LAA”? Because, you guys know Daffy from his other hit, “Samboosa”, and this summer he gave us “EE LAA”, which took over the Middle East. He put together a great campaign which revolved around people breakdancing to the song, got KIA and a whole bunch of others to sponsor, and it went viral. And thus, I cannot talk music in Kuwait without tipping my hat to them, and giving them props for their success. Here is the link to check out their music video “EE LAA”:
Another great upcoming musician that I highly recommend you check out is Mahmoud Kamel – you know, the guy who coordinated the music programs for Bayt Lothan. Since the closing down of Bayt Lothan, he seems to be concentrating more on his own music, and, because his role at Bayt Lothan was one of our main support systems as musicians in Kuwait, I think it’s only fair that we return the favor. Here is his cover of “ROXANNE” by The Police. Enjoy:
The next premiere I’d like to talk about is the album RUSH by Omar Afuni. I am really excited about this project because it is a great expression of Pop, and I know that he wrote himself, taking on, pretty much, all the work, with only 2 or 3 key people, putting out a really great body of music. You can check out his music video here, which is really cool because it pokes fun at all the generic ideas of what Pop is, and what makes a great video, and, you should just watch it, it really is worth it.
Next up, Adel Qattan’s Born Digital. I think it’s really interesting because he takes Omar Afuni, takes him out of Pop, and puts him in a whole different type of Rock world. Now, I’ve seen Adel work with Jazz, Reggae, Latin music, but Born Digital is really the expression that he loves the most. So, I’m excited for his project, and to see where it goes. Please check it out and let him know what you think.
Now, before I let you go, we need to talk. It’s about us. Yes, “us”. “You” the fans, and “us” the musicians. As I work in the music industry, I hear a lot of commentary from people and artists that there is no music scene in Kuwait. But, I believe, that in order to have a thriving music scene, there needs to be a loyal fan-base helping to build it. So it is important that you take the time to link up with these artists, because one cannot expect to have a strong music scene with fans only coming out to show their support at its prime. We are all used to being fans of a particular artist or venue, but what I am asking of you is a little bit different. I am asking you to be a fan of a scene. Go support all the musicians and the venues that you can, whether or not they hold a special place in your heart, that way, the whole music scene can feel that they are being heard and supported. Take the time to engage with these artists and comment on their social media, be friends with them. Follow their links and their performances because, even though without them there is no music, more importantly, without fans music doesn’t live, either. So, you guessed it, the scene needs you to survive. So go support local music.
Love, Music and Peace
Post by Amin FARI Are you a musician looking to perform? On the flipside, are you a host looking for musicians to book? Or maybe you’ve just got an awesome idea you’d like to share? Get in touch [email protected] / Instagram: @xxmrfarixx
Table Otto is the new restaurant by Kuwaiti chef Faisal Al Nashmi, the same guy behind Street by Almakan. I was invited to a tasting last night and I think it’s one of the nicest looking spots in the city.
The restaurant is an American Brasserie which I know sounds odd but from what I tried last night, it works. Table Otto is currently set to soft launch this coming Sunday from 7PM to 10PM and they’re located in Al Shaheed Park opposite the Habitat Museum. Once they officially open up I’ll pass by again so I could write a proper review but for now you can check out their instagram account @table.otto
Back in August I posted that a Wataniya Airways representative contacted me to let me know they were planning to make a comeback sometime around December/January and it looks like they’re on track. Although no official announcement has been made, the Wataniya Airways website is now up and they’ve listed their flight destinations which are the following:
Bahrain
Egypt
India
Jordan
Lebanon
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Sadly, no European destinations which is what I think was their issue the first time around. Instead of competing with Kuwait Airways with direct flights to European destinations, they were flying regional and competing with a bunch of low cost airlines. I’m sure it has to do with the fact their current planes can’t do long haul flight but if they did fly to London for example, they would only be competing with Kuwait Airways and British Airways with direct flights. On the other hand, by flying to Dubai they’re competing with Kuwait Airways, FlyDubai, Jazeera Airways, Air Arabia and Emirates.
But I’ve never run an airline so I’m probably wrong. Here is a link to their [Website]
For those of you who don’t know Wataniya Airways, they’re a local carrier that launched back in 2009 as a premium airline but ended up losing money and shutting down. Wikipedia have a good summary of the airlines history which you can read [Here]
Elite Swim Team Kuwait (ESTK), founded in 2005 by Cal Jungquist and Mishari Razouki, is Kuwait’s leading Swim School. ESTK focuses on a reputation of developing a First Class, Middle Eastern, Year-Round Swim Program. We offer a variety of guided age-group programs for children starting from the ages 3 and up, from beginners to the most competitive and skilled swimmer.
ESTK, views swimming as an important part of the overall development of a young boy or girl. Besides the most obvious benefit of physical conditioning, swimming fosters the personal discipline required to persevere, the confidence building of progress in competition, the social growth from travel, learning to accept winning and losing with equal grace, and the sense of values gained from competing as both an individual and a team member
The ELITE programs strives to instill in young swimmers an understanding of, and appreciation for such concepts as high self-esteem, personal accountability, constructive self-motivation, goal-setting, and goal achievement as their ideas relate to their success in training and in competition. It is our belief that the process of achieving is as significant as realizing the achievement itself.
The new Four Seasons Hotel is expected to open up in Kuwait early next year and one of the most anticipated things about the hotel is their fine dining options. Below is a list of all the restaurants that I’ve been told will be part of the new Four Seasons in Kuwait:
Sintoho – A Pan-Asian restaurant
Dai Forni – An Italian restaurant
Elements – A buffet restaurant
Al Bandar – Poolside lounge/restaurant
Al Sour – Lobby Lounge
I tried to find renderings of the two main restaurants Sintoho and Dai Forni but wasn’t able to. If by any chance someone has copies or finds any, then please share them.
Like every manly man, I have a thing for heavy machinery and I’ve always been kinda been curious to know where one can get lessons. Not only that but I’ve already collected 2 out of 4 possible licenses (check below) and I kinda feel obliged to get the other 2 because I’m OCD like that. Turns out Kuwait Motoring Company (KMC) offer truck driving and heavy equipment operation lessons.
KMC is who ProDrive is partnered up with for their drifting lessons which I posted about a couple of weeks ago. I called them up to get details on their truck/heavy equipment license lessons cost and it’s KD145 and includes 4 lessons (2 hours each), the driving test and the vehicle for the test. Since there is a separate license for truck driving and operating heavy equipment you would have to select which one you’re interested in before hand.
So if you’re interested in getting lessons you can contact KMC on 1878888 or visit their instagram account @KMCKuwait. They also provide regular car driving lessons and motorbike lessons and based on their instagram account seem pretty professional.
PS: That’s not my real birth date on my license. My passport has the correct date of birth, my civil ID has the correct day but the month of birth as September instead of August while my residency has neither the correct day or month. This actually caused me an issue for the first time two weeks ago when I got back from Sofia, the immigration officer was like you have three dates of birth and only allowed me to enter the country after checking with his superior.
The Staged in Kuwait IMPROV Comedy Night is back for a new season and their first show is this weekend. This is by far my favorite comedy show in Kuwait and one I highly recommend checking out if you’ve never done so before. They’ll be introducing a whole bunch of new comedians this year and I’m interested to see how they turn out.
The shows previously used to take place at the Live Theater in Discovery Mall which I liked but the last one and this weekends show is being held at the new Crowne Plaza Auditorium in Farwaniya (pictured above). Nice auditorium just horrible parking outside. Last time I was lucky and since I pulled up in an intimidating yellow Lotus Exige S so managed to convince the valet guy to let me park right at the entrance, don’t think I’m going to be as lucky this time around.
Anyway for more information on the comedy night as well as a link to buy tickets click [Here]
I’m a tea guy, anybody who knows me or anybody who’s been reading my blog for awhile would know that, but recently that changed and I think I am now a coffee guy. I’m still trying to get a grasp on how this is possible since I used to really hate coffee. This all started when Arabica got in touch with me for a quick meeting around a month ago.
Arabica are opening two new locations and wanted to fill me in on them in case I’d be interested to post about them. So I met up with them and during the meeting they asked me why I didn’t drink coffee. I responded telling them I loved the smell of coffee I just couldn’t stand the flavor to which I was then asked when was the last time I had tried coffee? I couldn’t remember, I figured I must have when I was a kid or something. They told me they wanted to turn me into a coffee drinker and the next time we would meet it would be at the Arabica branch for a little tasting. I didn’t think that would be possible but I told them ok since I didn’t want to seem impolite. So a few days later I end up at Arabica trying a bunch of their different coffees and I strangely found myself attracted to their Spanish Latte which is a regular latte but with their secret sweet syrup. I think I liked it the most because it didn’t taste like coffee, it’s what I now call coffee for beginners since its what got me started on coffee.
A couple of days later I popped back in and ordered another Spanish Latte, then I came back again and started ordering their regular latte, then again the day after. I’m now passing by once or twice a day for my fix. Not only that but wherever I go now I order a latte just so I can taste the difference and try to understand the different flavor profiles. I’m still on lattes, haven’t really “leveled up” to straight up coffees yet but thats because I’ve just been enjoying lattes so much. So much so that I’ve started researching bean to cup coffee machines (got my eye on you DeLonghi XS) so I could just start buying beans from Arabica and making my own lattes at home.
Another thing I’m enjoying is social coffee drinking. Previously I used to tag along with friends to Vol.1 and Richards Coffee all the time and just watch them drink their coffees while I sip on my water. But now I can finally go to these places and have coffee like everybody else. What I find super odd though is that since I started drinking coffee I’ve completely stopped drinking tea. I used to average around 6 to 8 cups of tea a day but since I’ve started drinking coffee a month ago, I’ve had just 2 cups. I’ve just lost all interest.
Brands are always trying to connect with me but it rarely ever works. This is one of the very few times where a brand not only has managed to grab my attention, but they’ve turned me into a huge fan and even a self proclaimed brand ambassador. I’ve been dragging friends to Arabica with me and telling everyone how great I think their coffee is. As I’m sitting in Arabica typing this my brother who I introduced to Arabica recently walked in to get coffee for himself and his office. And now I just ordered my second latte and need to end this post so I can head to work. If you haven’t tried Arabica yet you should, they’re located in Kuwait City [Google Maps] and you can find them on instagram @arabicakw
Back in August a new Italian restaurant opened up called Vigonovo and I wrote about it on the blog a couple of days after their opening. I didn’t mention anything about the food back then since they had just opened but now that I’ve been there a bunch of times I can say Vigonovo has become one of my favorite restaurants in Kuwait.
The food first of all is really great, its Italian but its light with simple ingredients so you never leave in a food coma no matter how much you eat. The menu is always changing and the portions are tapas sized which means you get to eat more than one dish (my average is 3 dishes). But, my favorite thing about Vigonovo has to be the chef, Marco. Its become a habit for me and my friends now to just go there and have him whip up whatever he wants for us. Since the cooking is homestyle it just feels natural to let Marco tell us what we are having that night, as if we’re visiting his home. And I don’t think we are the only people who do that, I think most of his regulars let him just decide what they’re having, it’s more fun. Speaking of his regulars, I didn’t realize we had such a large Italian community until I started going to Vigonovo. Every time I’m there at least two or three other tables are filled with Italians.
I don’t really have anything negative to say about the place, I think the lights could be dimmer in the evening and I find the blue walls weird (when you see it you’ll understand) and thats about it. Oh and their instagram account is private which I’ve told Marco I find annoying because it means I need to follow them to find out about new dishes.
If you’re looking for an authentic Italian restaurant in Kuwait then this is it. The place is located in Salmiya next to Gia. They’re right next door to Lorenzo in the shop called “Rose Gathering” (they’ll be changing the sign soon). Vigonovo is currently open daily from 5PM onwards except on Fridays when they close. Definitely worth checking out. Here is their location on [Google Maps] and their instagram account is @vigonovo_kw
Tavola is one of my favorite kitchen related stores since they carry a number of great brands like WMF, Wilton, Zwilling J.A.Henckels, Le Creuset, Cuisine Art, Bodum, Peugeot mills and Joseph Joseph. The only issue I had with them was that they were located in the industrial area of Shuwaikh past highway 60 and so getting there was always a journey.
But, just before the Eid holidays Tavola opened a new much larger location in Tilal Complex, which is also in Shuwaikh but an easier location to get to. The new location is divided into two floors with all their brands located on the lower floor while the top floor is dedicated to their Wilton baking products as well as two large rooms where they hold baking workshops.
If you want to know what brands they carry the full list is available on their website [Here]. On the other hand if you want to know more on their baking workshops they’re posting the schedules up on their instagram account @tavolakuwait
A contact of mine sent me the picture above of a new speeding speeding camera being installed on highway 50. According to my contact the new cameras are able to capture speeding motorists from a kilometer away but I haven’t been able to confirm that. The only thing that I have managed to confirm is the fact that these new cameras are digital and transmit pictures wirelessly, eliminating the need to retrieve film negatives.
I did a bit of research and turns out he new cameras are called the T-Series and produced by a company called Gatso. According to Gatso these are some features of the cameras:
– Violations are captured regardless of whether the vehicle is approaching the speed camera or receding from it and only one camera is required to enforce multiple lanes of traffic.
– Integrated Wi-Fi and a web based user interface provide easy and secure control from any web enabled device.
– The RT4 tracking radar simultaneously measures the speed and position of up to 32 vehicles in the coverage area. This technology allows even the busiest of intersections to be effectively enforced.
– The 20-megapixel CMOS camera is designed exclusively by GATSO, combining 30 frames
per second (fps) full frame image capture with unrivaled photosensitivity.
So basically we’re pretty screwed mostly since these cameras are hard to spot. On the bright side (if you can call it that), because the images are new wirelessly transmitted, this means we should get the fines sooner then before.
Thanks Dragos
Update: Ok, looks like this picture was NOT taken in Kuwait. I usually double check stuff like this but since my contact on two previous occasions sent me speed camera information that was accurate, I didn’t think to verify the image. In this specific case it was a picture sent to him from a friend and after looking up the image it seems to be old and taken in Bahrain. So false alarm sorry.
The Onam Festival is back and will be taking place tomorrow Wednesday the 14th of September. Onam is the biggest and most important festival of the state of Kerala in India and it’s also celebrated here in Kuwait. A few Southern Indian restaurants in Kuwait offer the traditional vegetarian dish the Onasadya during the festival and below are some of those restaurants.
Caesar’s Dakshin Restaurant – Jeleeb Al-Shuyoukh – Al Jawhara Building
Price: KD3.500
Telephone: 24319191, 24310303 [Map]
Here is another activity to add to the list of things to do in Kuwait. ProDrive Academy recently soft launched and are offering drifting and manual transmission driving courses.
Drifting Courses
They have four stages of drifting courses with each stage being more advanced. You learn to drift in a Nissan 370z and the prices are as follows:
Stage One: 3 hours long, costs KD130 and includes 2 new fresh tires
Stage Two: 1 1/2 hours long, costs KD100 and includes 2 new fresh tires
Stage Three: 3 hours long, costs KD130 and includes 2 new fresh tires
Stage Four: 3 hours long, costs KD100 and includes 2 new fresh tires
They have a package deal where if you decide to go with all four stages then the total cost would be KD400 instead of KD460.
Every Tuesday from 5PM to 11PM is an open drift day in which anyone can bring their car to the ProDrive circuit and drift. The cost to take part in that is KD30.
Manual Transmission Courses
With manual transmission courses they charge by the hour and depending on how quickly you learn the less time you need. They offer lessons with three different car options:
I’m always trying to find new and interesting things to do in Kuwait and since I like baking I found this interesting. Local company FAME are offering pastry classes taught by a French pastry chef and chocolatier. They have a bunch of classes from how to make Macaroons to puff pastry, truffles and other desserts.
The classes are one on one, are 4 hours long each and cost KD80. The classes can be maximum two students if the students know each other so say you and a friend want to take the class together. If you want to find out more you can check out their classes [Here]
