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Metal detectors may soon be installed at all mall entrances in Kuwait following the fatal stabbing of a man on Thursday.
Minister of Interior Major Raed Buslaib said the ministry had agreed to increase security at malls after residents were shocked by the public killing.
“The ministry is now discussing the security systems in the malls. We agreed that the number of surveillance cameras should be increased and alarms and metal detectors should be installed at mall entrances and maintained regularly,” Buslaib told the Kuwait Times. [Arabian Business]

I hope that’s not going to happen just because based on current security setups around Kuwait at hotels and even at the airport, I don’t think it’s going to be effective since security tends to slack off. Also even if they did stop people bringing knives in from outside the malls they could still buy them once they’re inside.

Kuwait Times also have the full story on this weekends stabbing, turns out it wasn’t over a girl. [Link]

I spotted this photo at the Bait Al-Othman Museum and posted it on my Instagram account last week. I don’t know who the original photographer is but if you want a higher resolution version of it click [Here]

In case you haven’t been following up on this story check [this post] and [this post]. Last night I passed by the store with @neatkw since they offered to help tidy up the old man’s store. Yesterday was the first time I actually got to see the store properly from behind the counter and also upstairs and I am at loss for words. The place needs a lot more than just tidying.

Originally I thought that the old man was sleeping in his studio upstairs but when I went up I realized there was no bed and there was no studio. The top floor was just full of random junk, garbage, dust and even an old fridge that was over 40 years old. From what we could gather from the old man, he was sleeping on his chair on the ground floor of the store. The whole shop is just covered with a very thick layer of dust, there is barely enough room to walk and just two chairs to sit in. While trying to talk to the old man he casually pulled out a bunch of crisp 1/4 dinar notes dating back to the pre-1990 invasion like he just popped out of a time machine. He then proceeded to rip the notes up because he said they were illegal and he didn’t want to get arrested. Randomly all over the store are black and white photos probably dating to the 60s covering random events in Kuwait like sports, fires and even a flood. Communicating with the old man is difficult, he doesn’t have a timeline and he forgets a lot. You can’t tell if an incident that happened to him took place last week or took place 20 years ago.

So this is what’s happening now. The two kind ladies from @neatkw are going to try and find his sponsor and get more details off him. Then based on that conversation figure out what to do next. I personally think the old man needs proper care, somewhere like an old people’s home. He needs people around him to talk to and he needs someone to take care of him. If that doesn’t work out the idea is to make his store (which isn’t really a store right now just an indoor junkyard) more comfortable for him like replacing the old broken down film developer with a bed and clearing out all the garbage and adding other amenities like a proper bathroom.

Bait Al-Othman Museum opened earlier this year but I only got to pass by and check it out yesterday and to my surprise, it turned out to a lot bigger than I was expecting it to be. The museum covers various aspects of Kuwait’s history and showcases them in different rooms that are spread out across the museum. I loved walking around the place because I didn’t know what I would see next, they had a room about Kuwait Airways, a room with old currencies, an old barber shop, a drama room and a lot more other ones all covering historically important aspects related to Kuwait.

Entry fee was just KD1 and there’s a ton of parking outside where you could also see some old vehicles and even a plane. The museum is located in Hawalli behind Al Othman Complex on Bin Khaldoun Street. Visiting hours are 9:30AM to 12:30PM and 4:30PM to 9:00PM. They are open daily except for Friday mornings. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

The photos above are just some of the stuff you will see there since I didn’t want to ruin the experience for you by posting everything.

I’m going to start my review by saying I don’t have any pretty food pictures to go with this post. I didn’t have my camera with me because I wasn’t planning to write a review and even though I had my phone I couldn’t use it to take pictures during dinner. Since everyone is usually anti-socially glued to their phones during lunch or dinner, me and my friends have this thing we do where we pile our phones facedown on top of each other on one side of the table and no one is allowed to check their phone until the bill comes. If you touch your phone before the bill arrives then you get to pay the whole bill yourself. Not something you want to do, especially when you’re at a pricy restaurant like The Peacock.

I don’t want to talk about the food anyway which was delicious (as expected). Most of you already know Peacock from before they closed down and their menu is basically 99% the same as it was before. For those of you who’ve never been to Peacock then it’s basically one of the best Chinese restaurants in Kuwait and also probably one of the best restaurants in Kuwait overall. It’s definitely in my top 3.

Now the reason I changed my mind and decided to review the place was because of the service. Hands down I think Peacock have the best dining service in Kuwait. It’s just ridiculous the amount of waiters that appear out of no where to service you. No one is hovering and you don’t notice them but when you need a waiter they’re there before you even call them. A friend arrived late to dinner and when he sat down at the table I just watched as four different waiters surrounded him to take care of him as he was being seated. One had hot towels, the other filled his glass with sparkling water, a third poured jasmine tea and the fourth handed him the menu. It’s like being pampered at a spa.

Another great thing is how well the waiters know the menu. One of my friends is allergic to wheat so she asked a waiter about various dishes and he knew the exact ingredients. He was able to tell her if one dish contained corn starch or if another used wheat or not. They know their stuff. Also, all the items on the menu are numbered and the waiter knew what each number corresponded to which dish on the menu. And the menu his huge with like 80 or so dishes yet I somehow can barely memorize my phone number.

The only negative really is that with the reopening they’ve also increased the prices of their dishes. That was to be expected because of inflation and so the prawns dishes for example are around KD9 now. Other than that we had an amazing dinner and I’m so glad they haven’t changed much about the place.

The Peacock is located at the newly renovated Radisson Blu Hotel. If you’re interested in passing by you need to reserve by calling them on 25673000.

Interior shot taken from the Radisson Blu [Facebook Page]

British Council is hosting their annual Education UK Exhibition which invites you to visit and speak with over 40 universities and colleges from the UK. EDUKEX 2013 will be held on the 2nd and 3rd of October in Sheraton Towers, Diamond Ballroom.

Entry to this event is free of charge but registration is required. Log on to the following website to register prior to the exhibition https://kw.edukexhibitions.org/

For more information please contact us on the following channels;

Telephone: +965 2251 5512
Fax: +965 2252 0069
Website: https://www.britishcouncil.org/kuwait-education-edukex.htm
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/britishcouncilkuwait
Twitter: @kwbritish
Instagram: @kwbritish

Note: Not related to the post below. Ok maybe just a little bit.

Over the weekend I got to try AJ’s Food Truck and although I didn’t think much of the food I do love the idea of food trucks and I hope it catches on (and I’m guessing it will). With AJ’s Food Truck you have two options, you can either book them to come over with their truck and cater to you and your friends or you could follow them on Instagram and keep an eye out for when they park their truck somewhere so you could go and find them.

AJ’s Food Truck is a burger truck with a menu consisting of two kinds of burgers, a steak sandwich and a chicken burger. They also have sides like fries, onion rings and chicken tenders as well as drinks. But food trucks can of course be more than just burger trucks and I’d love to see a Chinese or Mexican food truck roaming around Kuwait.

If you want to find out more about AJ’s Food Truck you can check out their Instagram account @ajsfoodtruck

I found out last night that Katsuya by S+ARCK will be opening in the middle of October. Katsuya by S+ARCK is a Japanese restaurant that is designed by the famous product and interior designer, Philippe Starck. The franchise was brought to the region by Alshaya and their first location in Kuwait is located in Avenues Phase III near Gaucho Grill.

Picture above taken from the Philippe Starck website.

Update: Katsuya is now open [Link]

Back in 2011, someone decided it would be smart to reduce the size of the middle sidewalk in old Salmiya by creating a dirt pit around all the trees. I guess the idea was that they would plant these pits with greenery which I was against since I knew no one would maintain it. I received some criticism regarding my views because I wasn’t being optimistic.

Well the picture above is how the median looks like over 2 years later. This is why I was suggesting the other day they plant fake grass in old Salmiya instead of destroying the beautiful Gulf Road with fake grass.

The Instagram blog and official account featured the account of Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah a few days ago. Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah who was the person behind Villa Moda has been taking photos of household objects on stark white backgrounds which has proven to be popular with his followers.

I’m not aware of any other Kuwaiti account that has been featured on Instagram before. The photo they featured has already received over 300,000 likes while the article on the blog has received over 1,000 notes. You can check out his account by following him on @majedalsabahkuwait and you can also check out the feature on him [Here]

Thanks @geekinkuwait

I just upgraded my iPhone to iOS7 and realized both my 248AM and Kuwait Blogs app now no longer work. I need to update them so will be doing so this weekend. Once the update is available I’ll let you know.

[YouTube]

Firas Assaad is an expat born and living Kuwait and works as a software developer in a small company in the city. Firas had always wanted to make games and so for the past 2 years he’s worked on a side project called Octopus City Blues.

I found out about Octopus City Blues last night when I got an email from a reader telling me about a Kickstarter project based from Kuwait. Firas went on Kickstarter to secure funding to help pay the other team members for their time and was hoping to get just $7,000 but with 6 days left he’s already gotten pledges of nearly $17,000. The game looks super cool and trippy plus it’s 2D which I love. You can watch the trailer on top to see the style of the game and below are some links with more information on Firas and the project:

Octopus City Blues on Kickstarter
Octopus City Blues Interview: Grab that Tentacle!
Octopus City Blues website

Thanks Hish

There will be music, face painting, a puppet show and other activities.

Date: Saturday, September 21st 2013
Time: 5:30PM to 9:00PM
Location: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP)

The Peacock which was unarguably the best Chinese restaurant in Kuwait is reopening its doors this coming Saturday. The Peacock was located in Radisson Blu Hotel which recently reopened after going through a complete overhaul. To reserve you need to call them on 25673000.

FYI: For Saturday they’re already fully booked and currently have just one more table left for 8

I’ve already posted about this before but since schools just started it would be a good time to remind everyone about it.

The Regional Center for Development of Educational Software (ReDSOFT) have created a pretty amazing iOS App which allows you to download all the books for all grades required by of the Ministry of Education in Kuwait. You just have to tell the App which class you’re in and then you will then have access to all the books that are required by the Ministry for that year. The App is called “كتابي” but if you don’t have an Arabic keyboard setup on your iPhone or iPad then you can search for “nader marafie” in the App store and you’ll find the app or even better here is the direct link to the App Store [Link]