Search: “kuwait”

I just got an email telling me that in a few days time the first ever PUMA store is going to open up in Kuwait and also for the first time, a Nike concept store. The email didn’t mention where in Kuwait they’re opening but I am assuming The Avenues. Here are two exclusive pictures of both stores.

update: They will either be opening today or tomorrow and it’s confirmed, they are opening at The Avenues.

update 2: OK, another update, turns out they already opened up today morning. Both stores plus an Adidas store are all inside the new concept Athlete’s Foot store next to Va Va Voom. Doesn’t sound as exciting as having individual stores but will pass by for lunch and check it out.

update 3: Hopefully the final update. The stores are SIS (stores in stores). They carry the same exclusive stuff as the individual Puma and Nike stores. Problem with Puma and Nike is that if they open a flagship store they have to be the actual owners which is not possible in Kuwait. So in Kuwait this is the closest we are going to get to having individual stores. Adidas on the other hand are ok with selling you the franchise hence the Adidas store at Marina Mall.

And I am here in Kuwait! Tara Reid, will be hosting Beirut VIP parties, this weekend.

Here is her schedule:
C Bar Dubai on Thursday July 26
Crystal Beirut on Friday July 27 and Saturday July 28
La Plage on Saturday July 28
Crystallized La Plage pool party on Sunday July 29th
White on Sunday night July 29th
Crystal Beach Club St Tropez from August 1st to August 5th.

BuzBerry, a blog run by a group of young Kuwaitis are trying to encourage people to read. To accomplish that they’ve set up a competition in which to enter you need to read and review one of the following four books:

1) A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
2) As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
3) Night by Elie Wiesel
4) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Now here is where things get interesting, there will be three winners who will win one of the following prizes:

First place: Nokia 8600 Luna
Second place: Apple iPod
Third Place: Apple iPod Shuffle

If you are interested in participating in this competition you need to email them by August 8th informing them. The deadline for entering your review will be September 1st.

For more information on this competition check out the BuzBerry blog. [Link]

A user called Rakkan posted this picture on his Facebook account. He ordered KFC here in Kuwait and found what looks like a caterpillar on one of the chicken pieces. Check out the picture by clicking [Here]

Warning: After viewing the picture you will never want to eat KFC again.

Thanks Anas

Z District has an interesting post about a post by K.theKuwaiti which he found really funny called Kuwait Blogs 101. Check it out. [Link]

I am a big fan of the chocolate cheesecake from Lorenzo but today I decided I am not going to have it anymore. I was at The Avenues killing time and on my way out I decided to pick up some cheesecake from Lorenzino Cafe so I could have them at home. It wasn’t my first time, its become a habit for me every time I visit The Avenues.

Today though there was a new manager there and he was a total dick. I went up to the counter and the manager came up to me, I told him I needed cake to go. He was like full cake or slices? I told him I needed two slices. He told me he wouldn’t be able to do that. I was like huh? Why? He told me he didn’t have any staff to action my order. I was like you have that guy (I pointed to one) putting cake on a plate, can’t he also put cake in a box? He told me no he couldn’t. I stood there for a few seconds bewildered before I decided to walk away.

I thought about getting into an argument with the manager because what he was saying didn’t make any sense but then I was like fuck it, its there loss if they don’t want to sell me cake. I should have gotten his name though so I could make an official complaint but I didn’t. All I remember was that he was Lebanese and had a shaved head.

I think this was one of my worst customer service experiences because it was such an avoidable incident. Usually I complain without offering a solution but today I decided I would.

What the manager should have done was the following:

a) Action the order himself which is what I would have done. At work when something needs to go out urgently in my department and there isn’t anyone to action the job then I would do it myself. Last Friday when Lorenzino was MUCH more packed, the manager (a different one) gave us the slices of cake himself. Its not brain surgery, its just taking cake from the fridge and placing them in boxes.

b) If he was too lazy to give us the cakes himself he could have at least told us that we could have the cakes but it would just take a bit longer then usual because they were really busy. Or maybe told us to come back in 15 minutes.

Anyway, I don’t need their cheesecake and I don’t need Lorenzo. If anything I am better off now since cheesecake is fattening.

I don’t know if anyone has any details on this or if they can confirm it, I heard that Easa Husain Al-yousifi & Sons Co. lost the brand Panasonic and instead now have Sharp. If this is true, who will get Panasonic?

update: Turns out they didn’t lose Panasonic but just added Sharp:

Dear Mark,

Thanks for the concern. We are still the agents of Panasonic in Kuwait. As for Sharp, we have created a joint venture with Al-Mulla group to better promote Sharp in Kuwait. We are dedicated to bring the best products with the highest quality to our customers.

Feel free to drop me a line at
[email protected]

yours,

Abdulaziz Al-Yousifi
Retail Manager

Just found out from a friend that Taco Time is coming back to Kuwait. They used to be open before in the mid 90’s but then shut down and now it seems they are reopening again. According to their website they will be opening 4 branches, one in Salmiya, one in Souk Salmiya, another in Hawalli and one more in Salwa. The Salmiya one is supposedly behind Johnny Rockets and the signage seems to be up. The launch according to their website is third quarter of this year. [Link]

The BeerBelly is a fake belly you wear under your clothes and it has a container which stores your cold or hot drinks. I could imagine people trying to sneak alcohol into Kuwait with this. Since Kuwait is the 8th fattest country in the world you wouldn’t even stick out. [Link]

Thanks Nibaq!

Two years ago I posted about the signs on the Gulf Road that are placed before the exits that take you to the sea side restaurants like Chili’s and Fridays. Well today I noticed they have new signs in place and they look even worse! Not only that but they have two of the signs mixed up, they have the Fridays sign at the exit for Johnny Carino’s and the Johnny Carino’s sign in front of the exit for Fridays.

Instructions on how to make caffeine Jello shots. Rated safe for Kuwait. [Link]

I’ve had my eye on the Sonos digital music system for awhile now but I never bought it because I simply don’t listen to music at home. Today while I was at Alghanim Electronics I saw the device in person for the first time and it actually looks as pretty as in the pictures.

I don’t know how long they’ve been selling it for since I don’t frequent Alghanim, but the Sonos was priced pretty expensive at KD436. The newer and larger bundle on Amazon costs only KD288.

Last night I had dinner at the Al-Muhallab Seafood restaurant at The Palms hotel in Bida’a. Since it was a business dinner and I didn’t pay the bill, this isn’t going to be a full review meaning I won’t give it a score at the end.

The restaurant is located right at the back of Palms and I imagine during the day you could most probably see the sea. They tried to make the restaurant look Kuwaiti but I didn’t feel it. When you first come into the place you go through an old wooden door which leads you to believe you will be walking into an old Kuwaiti house but once you are in the place opens up into this large cold space and it just kills the mood. I found the place too bright and not very cozy. The place should have looked like Oum Habib but instead you are greeted with a high ceiling, and old Kuwaiti artifacts hung around the walls in very Fuddruckers and Chilis style.

Now on the other hand, the food was really delicious. We chose a couple of hamours, lobsters, crabs, shrimps and zbeydi and then had them grill it for us. When the food arrived the waiters cut up the fish and served them to us which made dinner more enjoyable. The grilled shrimps was my favorite followed closely by the hamour.

Its a pity the place wasn’t designed nicer, thats the biggest let down. Even though the food was good I doubt I would go back. For me the atmosphere of the restaurant is as important as the food, they compliment each other and in this case the food was much better then the restaurant.

You can check out the Al-Muhallab Seafood website by clicking [here]

In June I posted about how a group of us applied for the Red Bull Flugtag which is going to be held in November at Marina Waves. Well today we got word that our application and plane design got approved.

Our team is called Imperial27, in remembrance of Imperial Airways which was the first airline that flew in and out of Kuwait back in 1927. The team will be composed of lead pilot and magician Nibaq, accompanied by conspiring engineering extraordinaries Marzouq, Mark and K.

During lunch break we usually go out have lunch at Souk Sharq but every now and then we go do something like ice skating, rock climbing (Marina Waves) or bowling. Today we wanted to see if we could actually go, jet ski and come back to the office in under an hour. The result? It’s doable!

I first used Google Maps to find out what beaches near our office rented jet ski’s. I found two beaches on the map that looked like they had jet ski’s parked on the sand, the first was right next to Fridays (TGIF) and the second next to Le Notre. We decided to head to the one next to Firdays. At 1PM we left the office (we’re situated near Muthana complex), took the first ring road and headed out onto the Gulf Road. There wasn’t any traffic so we were there in under 10 minutes. We parked the car and headed towards the beach where we spotted the jet ski place with around 10 jet skis parked. Half an hour of jet ski is KD7.5 so we took two and headed out to the open sea.

The weather was amazing and the water was soooo refreshing. The whole experience was surreal especially since it all happened during our lunch break. We were able to go, jet ski, quickly clean up and get back to the office in 1 hour. This is definitely THE summer lunch break activity of the year. Easily beats ice skating. Next up… wakeboarding!