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As some of you might have read on SomeContrast, Mishary posted pictures and information about the availability of new gasoline and diesel introduced at the Bayan Station. The prices are 120fils for pink gasoline and 100fils for orange diesel.

I initially thought that this would be a step-up from the current green gasoline, ultra (98 octane). It turns out that someone (insert big name) requested that Kuwait should introduce Euro-Spec petrol (environmentally friendly); and KNPC agreed. Afterwards KNPC realized that their refineries are not ready for producing Euro-Spec petrol, so they imported it from the Q8 system in Europe; hence the higher costs.

The pink gasoline (Ultra-Euro) is 95 octane (lower than green) and the orange diesel is most likely the same as the Kuwaiti garden variety. The only unproven benefit if used on our engines is lower emissions.

Link to SomeContrast. [Here]
Link to Al-Watan (arabic article). [Here]

Posted by K.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted about Cinemagic’s weekly film screening so in case you don’t know about it, here is the latest film they will be showing:

Cinemagic is delighted to announce the return of our weekly screening program. Screenings will continue to take place at our new location in Old Salmiya, above LG Electronics.

This week, we will be screening “Children of Men”. The Screening will take place on Thursday, April 10th, at 7:30 p.m.

Y Tu Mamá También and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuarón returns to the helm to tell this futuristic tale in which society is without hope since humankind lost its ability to procreate. The year is 2027, and women can no longer give birth. The youngest inhabitant of the planet has just died at the age of 18, and all hope for humanity has been lost. As civilization descends into chaos, a dying world finds one last chance for survival in the form of a woman who has become inexplicably pregnant. Now, as warring nationalistic sects clash and British leaders try to maintain their totalitarian stronghold on the country, a disillusioned bureaucrat (Clive Owen) is brought back into the fold of activism by his guerrilla ex-wife (Julianne Moore). Reluctantly, he takes on the daunting task of escorting Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), the refugee who represents humankind’s last hope for survival, out of harm’s way and into the care of a mysterious organization known as The Human Project. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, and Michael Caine co-star in this adaptation of author P.D. James’s gripping 1992 novel.

For its part, Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of filmmaking.

As always, attendance is free of charge (but seating is limited). Snacks and refreshments will be served.

Totally awesome video, it can’t be all real though, I don’t think it can at least. [YouTube]

Update: Here is the Kuwaiti version [YouTube]

I was talking to a friend who is trying to get her driving license here in Kuwait and she told me its as if the system is set up to fail you unless you have wasta. That comment reminded me of the written test Nat and I took over a year ago when getting our motorbike license in which we both got the same question in the test except my question didn’t have a right answer. Here is a larger picture showing what I am talking about. [Picture]

Nat’s MacBook Pro arrived to Kuwait but got held up in customs so today I woke up early and headed to the cargo terminal outside the airport to clear it. I was expecting the process to be long and difficult but surprisingly it was pretty easy. The hardest part was knowing where to go first after that everyone just points you in the direction you have to go next. These are the steps I had to take, click on the map for a larger version:

1) I headed to the NAS building (National Aviation Service)
2) Once you go up the steps into the NAS building you will be greeted by a security desk where you have to exchange your civil ID card for a pass
3) You then have to walk through the cargo bay and head to the back offices
4) Once you enter the office head to the counter marked on the map. I paid KD3 here.
5) After paying the KD3 fee and getting a print out I was sent to an adjacent window to get another stamp
6) I then had to go back to the cargo bay where I gave my papers to a worker who went and got my package from inside their warehouse. Once the package comes out a customs officer has to check it. After checking, the package was taken away again and I got another paper which I needed to take to the building across from NAS.
7) When I entered the building across from NAS I headed to a window at the far end corner where I presented my papers. I had to buy a stamp for KD1.
8) After getting another paper with the stamp I had to go to the window in front of him where I handed in my papers and paid KD1.
9) I then headed back to the NAS offices and back to the window on the far end where my paper was stamped one more time.
10) I then had to take that paper into the cargo area and get another stamp from this small desk in the middle.
11) They sent me to a window in front of them where I got another paper printed out
12) I finally went back to the middle desk where I got my last stamp and they told me to pick up my package.

All in all it took me around an hour to clear my MacBook Pro and only paid KD5 in total. Now that I know what I have to do I think I could clear a package a lot quicker next time around. Everyone there was pretty helpful and it was very crowded. I was there around 9:30-10 but the earlier the better I guess.

We would like to take some time off from eating burgers and posting YouTube videos to wish our good friend Marzouq congratulations on getting engaged. It feels like just yesterday we were sitting in the diwaniya discussing the realities of life and eating machboos diyay while wondering why anyone would get married at such a young age. The allure of the single life with its motorcycles and Friday breakfasts has faded.. leaving us alone in our diwaniyas with an xbox unable to play hi-def content.

May your pants be passed upon others to slide and crash on.

Posted by K

Update: This was just an April Fool’s prank

I’ve never liked Applebee’s because I never had a good experience there. Whatever I ordered I ended up hating and their menu just didn’t have as much variety as I wanted. Yesterday I passed by for the first time in over a year ago and things have changed considerably since my last visit. The menu has a lot more interesting stuff on it and probably the most shocking thing of all, I actually left the place satisfied and thinking about going back.

They had four burgers on their menu but I decided to go with the cheese burger since the other options were a classic burger with no cheese, a cheese burger with bacon, and the last burger was I think a Hawaiian burger with Pineapple (gross!). All the burgers are made using a 100% Angus Beef and cooked medium well.

My burger arrived 10-15 minutes after placing my order and after a few bites I realized that although the Applebee’s burger isn’t good enough to be a contender for the top spot, it was a pretty good burger. It tasted and smelled like it was grilled on a backyard barbecue which is a good thing because barbecued burgers always taste good. The burger was not super thick but was still very juicy and the cheese melted perfectly. Now one thing I found weird although it didn’t have an effect on the taste was that it felt like I was biting into a steak and not a burger. I don’t know if thats normal with Angus beef but it just felt weird.

Overall though there wasn’t much wrong with the burger. It didn’t have this “oh I need to have another one right now” taste to it which is why it didn’t score any higher. But it did score pretty high because I’m giving it a 3.5 out of 5 which puts it inline with the Fuddruckers burger. That alone is an achievement.

Applebee’s is located on the Gulf Road, Mishref and Souk Sharq.
The cost of the Angus Cheese Burger was KD2.150

Previously Reviewed:
Bredz
Fuddruckers
Hashi
Johnny Rockets
Munch
Prime & Toast
Slider Station
Sheraton Hotel
The Little Oven
Wimpy

The picture above is taken from someone’s flickr account and its of a diwaniya in Kuwait with cheetahs. Only in Kuwait? Marzouq you need to get a polar bear! [Link]

Thanks Nibaq

A few readers recommended I try the Hashi Wagyu burger so yesterday for lunch I passed by them. I had never been to Hashi so I was looking forward to trying them out.

The interior of Hashi looks like a warehouse thats been vandalized by graffiti which is a nice idea although one that I’ve seen before. They had two burgers on the menu and I decided to go with the Wagyu Beef Burger which is made from freshly ground Wagyu beef hamburger filled with wasabi creamed mushrooms.

When the burger arrived it reminded me a lot of the Munch burger. It was small and the bread looked generic so at first glance I was thinking to myself “not again”. Luckily the similarities stopped there because the burger tasted better than Munch. The meat Hashi use is of better quality and juicier. But, being better than Munch isn’t really a compliment, I felt the herbs mixed in with the beef really overpowered the burger and the small bread made things very sloppy. They also had tomato and iceberg lettuce which felt out of place, I don’t even know what it was doing there since the waiter told me there wouldn’t be any lettuce or tomato in the burger.

I no longer have patience for burgers that don’t have the basics at least right. Is it really that hard to make a good burger, come on people! I am going to give this burger a 2 out of 5. Now burger review aside I think Hashi is one of the cheapest sushi places in Kuwait. I ordered an 8 piece Lobster & Crab maki and it cost only KD2.750. That I think was the most expensive maki they had and on Fridays its even buy one maki and get one free. So I will be going back again to try some more makis but I won’t be having their burger again.

Hashi is located in front of Salhiya Complex.
The cost of the Wagyu Beef Burger was KD5.950

Previously Reviewed:
Bredz
Fuddruckers
Johnny Rockets
Munch
Prime & Toast
Slider Station
Sheraton Hotel
The Little Oven
Wimpy

I’ve got a thing for hotel burgers. I guess its because burgers are the safest thing on the menu to have when traveling because no matter what country you’re in and you order a burger you know exactly what to expect. Now I don’t want to review all the hotel burgers in Kuwait so I decided to go with the one hotel which has never disappointed with their food, Sheraton. Some people say they’ve got the best shawerma and I wanted to see if they had the best burger.

They only have one burger on the menu and I ordered it medium well. When the burger arrived I think around 15 minutes later I was surprised to see that instead of one larger burger the dish was made up of two medium sized ones. They’re too big to be sliders but too small to be a regular burger, strange size but I didn’t care. The burger had cheese, tomato, chopped up lettuce and what looked to my like mayonnaise, I added ketchup myself and took my first bite. The beef tasted really fantastic and was cooked perfectly even though it was pretty thick. The only problem was everything else. The bread started falling apart half way through because it was getting really soggy and that made it very messy to eat. In the second burger I decided to remove the tomato in hopes of solving that problem but still, half way through the bread started getting soggy and falling apart again. I concluded it must be from the mayonnaise but I didn’t have a third burger to try my theory. The cheese although there and melted beautifully was nearly non existent taste wise. I think the cheese slices they use are too thin resulting in it melting better but not having enough presence to actually make a difference.

I think the Sheraton burger is the best hotel burger I’ve ever had. But outside the hotel circle the burger doesn’t shine. I’ve had better burgers since I’ve started this challenge and I’m expecting to have some more good ones. I’m going to have to give a 3 out of 5, a very respectable score.

Sheraton Hotel is located in Kuwait City.
The cost of the burger was KD5.600

Ten days ago I placed an order for five steel Cragar wheels for my Wrangler from Quadratec and today they got delivered to me. They would have gotten here sooner but they were out of stock and had to wait till Quadratec received a new batch. As I mentioned previously, the five wheels cost me KD57 combined, shipping them to Kuwait cost me KD94 and I just paid KD22 for customs. So after shipping and customs each wheel ended up costing me nearly KD35 which isn’t that bad.

Now I need to have the wheels painted matt black since they’re currently glossy black and have blue and red retro looking lines. I will probably have AutoTech in Shuwaikh do that since they will be installing my suspension lift once it arrives.

Update: Just dropped my wheels off at TriStar to get painted since they gave me a price that was 70% cheaper than AutoTech. It should get done in 2 days and then I will have the tires mounted.

Found out about this exhibit through Facebook:

The essence of living in an urban environment is the forced interaction between people of different social backgrounds, outlooks etc. In Kuwait, where pedestrian culture is nonexistent, people are trapped, encapsulated in bubbles: in walled-off homes, cars, diwaniyas and beach houses. Chronic boredom is rampant. Music video channels, for example, are mushrooming due to their role as a platform for anonymous public communication. Confessions of love and notes of introduction appear as scrolling text messages at the bottom of TV screens. Cruising is a lifestyle, where the geezi, the young, idle male, is the ultimate cruiser. What this show proposes is that everyone is a geezi, by cruising through the filters of the internet, TV, cellphone-to-cellphone Bluetooth technology and other forms of indirect contact.

A group show featuring the work of Khalid Al Gharaballi, Fatima Al Qadiri, Tareq Al Sultan, Bassem Mansour, Monira Al Qadiri, Lauren Boyle and The Bruce High-Quality Foundation.

Curated by Fatima Al Qadiri and Khalid Al Gharaballi.

Event Info
Name: Eb Beiti, Aana Geezi
Tagline: “In my house, I’m a Cruiser”
Host: the sultan gallery
Type: Music/Arts – Exhibit

Time and Place
Start Time: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 6:00pm
End Time: Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 9:00pm
Location: the sultan gallery

Here is the map [Link]

I’m having mixed thoughts about riding recently. I like riding my bike to work, I like riding it to the super market or to Hawalli whenever I need to get something from Rihab or Ibn Khaldoon street and I like riding it whenever I am bored and have nothing else to do. Problem is the weather in Kuwait is terrible. This year has to be the worst so far. The weather is always dusty and winter was pretty much non existent. I hate riding the bike in the heat because it doesn’t make sense to me, why ride to work all sweaty when I could drive to work with my AC on?

Now though I’ve also gotten pretty bored of my bike. Last year when I had just started riding I was thinking about how fast my bike was and now this year since I’ve started riding a lot more I’ve been thinking about how slow my bike is. This is why I passed by TriStar today who are the Ducati dealers and the place where I had gotten my bike from previously. I didn’t know what I was looking for but I think I’ve found it.

They offered me a really great deal on a brand new glossy black Ducati 999. They’ve got an excellent buy back program so they would be taking my current bike for a really good deal and I would just have to pay the difference on a new bike. I’ve always wanted the smaller version of the 999, the 749 and never considered the 999 until today. Its a brutally violent and unforgiving machine which is why I think I’m attracted to it.

But, when am I going to ride it? Its already hitting 38 degrees so riding season is nearly over and when riding season starts again end of the year it will only last for 3 months tops (ok maybe a bit more I’m spoilt). Its a gorgeous bike though that scares the living hell out of me in a good way.

Just a small commercial break here, if anyone is thinking of buying a motorbike definitely pass by TriStar. They’ve got a really large collection of new and used bikes plus they offer training. Here is a link to their website www.tristarkw.com

I’ve been looking forward to Munch for a while now since I’ve been hearing a lot of good stuff about them. Sadly, my burger experience with them wasn’t that good.

I passed by Munch today for lunch and the whole Dar Al-Awadhi mall where Munch is located was empty. It was nice and peaceful and since the mall was empty so was Munch which was great since we ended up sitting in a very cozy corner. The interior of Munch is simple yet trendy and I like their color combination of white and green. We sat down and I flipped through the menu to find a choice of two burgers, the Kobe Beef Burger and the Classic Cheese Burger. I decided to go with the Kobe since someone had posted that I should try it.

I ordered my Kobe burger with swiss cheese and portobello mushrooms. The burger arrived 10 minutes later and at first glance it was disappointing. The burger looked like something I could have prepared at home. Looks aside the patty also tasted like a cheap COOP burger, if they had used the frozen Kobe burgers available at Sultan Center it would have been wayyy better. The bun also looked like the new burger buns from Kuwait Flour Mills which is very unexciting. I ate it but I wouldn’t have it again.

On a positive note the fries were great, the service was good and as I mentioned earlier the interior of the place was pretty cool. Actually service was not that good, I ordered my burger with a side order of fries and the waiter didn’t think to inform me that my burger actually came with fries. But anyway neither of these things can have an effect on the final score which is 1.5 out of 5. There really wasn’t anything great in the burger, it was also very small and just felt too home made. That can be a good thing but not when I can make a better burger myself.

Munch is located in Dar Al-Awadhi.
The cost of the Kobe Beef Burger is KD3.950

I was planning on having a burger at Applebee’s today when in the last minute plans changed and I ended up at Fuddruckers. Thats a good thing of course since Fuddruckers is one of my favorite burger places in Kuwait and they actually have my favorite burger, the Triple Cheeseburger. When I first decided on this burger challenge I had a winner already figured out in my head, it was going to be Fuddruckers. Things have changed though.

As I said my favorite burger is the Triple Cheeseburger so thats what I went ahead and ordered. At Fudd’s you can choose the thickness of your patty, I went with the half pounder cooked medium well. I’ve tried all the thicknesses and found the half pounder to be the perfect size for their bun. More places need to offer different thickness patties, especially the burger joints. Anyway the burger arrived open bun without any garnish, you then have to go up to the garnish bar and manually put whatever you want on your burger. I usually put just ketchup on my burger and hot melted cheddar cheese on the potato wedges which is what I did.

I think Fuddruckers might have the best classical burger and even though I had figured before this challenge that it would score the highest, I don’t think thats going to happen. I don’t think its exciting enough, I love it, I think its my favorite burger and although this doesn’t make sense I don’t think its THE best burger. I prefer the Black Widow for example and I also really like the Little Oven burger, two burgers which I hadn’t tried before this challenge. I also have a whole list of burgers I still need to try and I am expecting some really great ones. I really like the Fuddruckers burger bun and I think the beef patty is the perfect thickness although its pretty fatty. The size of the burger is also huge which is why it easily fills me. All this wasn’t enough to earn it the highest score. I am being super tough with these burger reviews so thats why I’m giving it a 3.5 out of 5.

I still have the following burgers I need to try, am I missing anything?
Gaucho Grill, Sheraton, Applebees, Chilis, Ruby Tuesday, Burger Hub, Burger Bar, Burger Boutique, Munch, GBK and Hashi.

Fuddruckers is located on the Gulf Road, their telephone number is 2460110
The cost of the 1/2lb Triple Cheese Burger is KD2.950