Search: “kuwait”

Yesterday I headed to Em Sherif with Fajer the lawyer for futoor. I had pre-booked a few days earlier but was on a waiting list and luckily a table freed up so we went. If you’ve never been to Em Sherif before in Beirut or Dubai, it’s basically an upscale Lebanese restaurant with a set menu. The Kuwait location just opened up a few weeks ago in Bida’a behind Palms and I’ve been meaning to try it ever since I found out about it.

Photo from their instagram account @emsherifkuwait

The interior is beautiful and very tastefully done but star of the evening had to be the food. The amount of food we ate last night was just insane, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that much before. The dishes kept coming one after the other and by dish #22 I had to ask the waiter how many dishes in total they were. They serve a total of 35 dishes, thats basically a 35 course meal and it’s crazy. I was falling into a food coma before I even finished having lunch. They really should give you a medal or some sort of certificate for completing the set menu, kinda like how you get a medal just for completing a marathon.

The service was also superb and just the overall experience was fantastic. The cost is KD25 per person (soft drinks not included) and it really is great value for money. Right now, this is by far my favorite Lebanese restaurant in Kuwait and I’ll definitely be going back.

For reservations you can call them on 90977997.

Flight compensation legal services company AirHelp ranked 76 airports by punctuality, quality, service, as well as the social media sentiment of over 130,000 tweets over three months this year. According to the final result, the Kuwait Airport ranked the worst in the world.

I mean I agree that the airport is not the best in the world but the worst seems pretty harsh. Somehow Dubai also came 7th which doesn’t make sense and Los Angeles which I think have a great airport came in 10th. Check out the full article [Here]

Thanks AJ

The video above is an interview that Generation Iron Fitness Network held with Arnold Classic winner, Brandon Curry on why he thinks Kuwait produces so many great body builders (specifically Oxygen Gym).

Brandon lived and trained in Kuwait before and he thinks Kuwait produces a lot of amazing body builders because of two things; The first is that Oxygen is one the best equipped and body building focused gyms in the world. The second is that when body builders move to Kuwait from their home countries, they are a lot more focused. There aren’t as many distractions like family and the whole social life they had back home. In Kuwait its basically eat, sleep, train and repeat. That actually makes a lot of sense.

New bylaws were passed yesterday that now allow some businesses to operate legally with a license from their homes (aka home business). There are some requirements to obtain this license including the following:

– Kuwaitis only can apply for a home license
– Must be older than 21 years old
– You need permission from the home owner
– The license is mostly for services such as designers, calligraphist, illustrators, photographers, web and app developers, watchmakers, gardeners, technicians, event planners, translators, museums, and so on.
– No cupcakes, or burgers or any other food businesses can be licensed from homes

The Ministry of Commerce does not want to turn residential areas into commercial areas, they still want homes to be homes but a lot of businesses don’t involve a lot of interaction with customers or require customers to come over and so it doesn’t make sense that those businesses require a commercial space. The ministry has stated that the above law will come into effect first day after Eid.

I want to dedicate this post to my dear friend Ahmed Al Gharabally who recently passed away. Ahmed was a lobbyist and an activist that worked really hard on bringing this law to life through @legalizekw, a campaign that was launched to make home business in Kuwait legal. May you RIP Ahmed. It is great to see young Kuwaitis actively suggest new laws, and the new and young minister of commerce and industry Mr. Khaled Al Roudhan has done a wonderful job listening to their suggestions and attending their events.

For any legal inquiries, please email me on [email protected] and my team or I will get back to you within 24 hours.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

eSports is a form of competition that involves video games and it’s a scene thats blowing up pretty big worldwide with teams making millions of dollars off of sponsorships and prize money. If you do a quick google image search for esports stadiums you’ll find photos of large stadiums and arenas packed with people watching gamers compete against one another (similar to the one below). It’s pretty insane really and regionally it’s also starting to blow up. A number of eSports competitions are being held locally and around the region, and one Kuwaiti team has been making waves recently, Evolve Gaming.

Evolve Gaming was formed early this year and is composed of 6 members aged between 17 and 26. Recently they came first in the largest Overwatch tournament in the Middle East and Africa destroying the competition. Overwatch is a multiplayer first-person shooter and Evolve Gaming beat the popular and more established Dubai based team YaLLa eSports 3-0. Even though YaLLa has sponsors, a large fanbase, more support and a proper e-gaming atmosphere, the Kuwaiti team managed to beat them with ease and just a couple months after being formed.

Evolve Gaming is currently ranked as the #1 Overwatch team in the Middle East and Africa and so I got in touch with them recently to get an idea of what our local scene lacks and how I can help. According to a team member I spoke to, one of the biggest issues we have locally is the lack of awareness. Even though the eSports scene is growing rapidly abroad, locally not a lot of people know about it although its starting to pick up with a few gaming tournaments taking place locally like the Kuwait’s eSports Tournament and the Hydra Entertainment Tournaments. Evolve Gaming is hoping large companies will realize this is a growing market and help it grow even quicker by sponsoring local teams and tournaments. By having large companies sponsor local teams and events, it would bring a lot more attention to this sport which will also encourage more teams to formed and more events to take place.

Hopefully my post will help bring a bit of exposure to their community. If you’d like to follow Evolve Gaming they’re active on twitter @EvolveGamingKW. If you’re also a company that is interested in sponsoring Evolve Gaming or a tournament, get in touch and I’ll pass you their contacts.

I had no idea Em Sherif was opening in Kuwait so I was pretty surprised to find out they had recently opened up. Em Sherif is an upscale fine dining Lebanese restaurant that offers a set menu for lunch and dinner. I’ve been to their Dubai location and it’s always a fantastic experience with really amazing food accompanied by a beautiful interior and mood. In Kuwait they opened up at Palms and costs KD25 per person.

If you’re interested they’re on instagram @emsherifkuwait

Photo by @Greytriangleee

I just heard the great news today, a bylaw has been approved from the municipality to allow food trucks to operate with a license. I know many of my clients are going to be happy as previously only restaurants with a physical location were allowed to have food trucks. This is great news for Kuwait but I hope they don’t put a limit to the number of food trucks like other GCC countries (one country only allows 10 at a time!).

For any legal inquiries, please email me on [email protected] and my team or I will get back to you within 24 hours.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

The movies below are now showing at either Cinescape, Grand Cinemas or Sky Cinemas:

New This Week:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (3.6)
Fireman Sam: Alien Alert! The Movie (7.7)
The Exception (6.5) ♦

Other Movies Showing:
Alien: Covenant (7.0) ♦ ★
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (3.3)
Everything, Everything (6.2)
Fast & Furious 8 (7.5)
Gifted (7.8)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (8.2) ♦ ★
Here Alone (5.2) ♦
Jurassic World [Re-Release] (7.0)
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (7.2)
Minions [Re-Release] (6.4)
Smurfs: The Lost Village (5.8)
The Bleeder [Chuck] (6.8) ♦
The Boss Baby (6.5)
The Circle (7.5) ♦

The movies below are now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Flying Monsters 3D with David Attenborough (7.6)
Humpback Whales 3D (7.2)
Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Secret Ocean 3D (N/A)
Journey to Space 3D (6.5)
Kenya 3D: Animal Kingdom (6.0)
Mysteries of the Unseen World 3D (7.5)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

Every year I put a list of Ramadan buffets together and every year the list grows. Since it was becoming a bit cumbersome to navigate, I’ve decided to split the list up this year into two to make it slightly easier to go through. Below is this years list, the first half is a list of hotels with their buffet prices while the second half of the list are restaurants. Like always I’ve highlighted the price increases over the previous year in red, and the decreases in green. Check out the full list below:

Hotels

Al Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort – Taima’a Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD10 (-2.000)
Telephone: 24590000

Courtyard by Marriott
Buffet Price: KD14 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22997000

Crowne Plaza – Al Ahmadi Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14.950 (+0.950)
Telephone: 1848111

Hilton Resort – Teatro Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD17.500 (+2.000)
Telephone: 22256222

Inn & GO Hotel – Al Dallah Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD9.9 (+0.900)
Telephone: 22436686

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Garden Cafe
Buffet Price: KD19
Telephone: 22269600

JW Marriott – Al Thuraya
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22455550

Millennium Hotel & Convention – Lamar International Restaurant
Set Menu Price: KD14
Telephone: 22050505

Movenpick – Free Zone – Bays Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12
Telephone: 24610033

Movenpick – Al Bida’a – Breeze Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22253100

Radisson Blu – Al Bustan Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 25673000

Safir Hotel – Fintas
Buffet Price: KD14.500
Telephone: 25455555

Sheraton – Coral Tent
Buffet Price: KD17.750 (+0.500)
Telephone: 22422055

Symphony Style Hotel
Buffet Price: KD12 (+1.000)
Telephone: 25770000

The Regency Kuwait – Silk Road Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD18
Telephone: 25766880

Restaurants

Abdel Wahab
Buffet Price: KD10
Telephone: 1821000

Al Noukhaza Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14.950
Telephone: 24757775 or 1823888

Al Sanawbar Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD9.000 (-0.950)
Telephone: 25756273

Applebee’s
Set Menu Price: KD7.950
Telephone: 1844466 or 25381481

Assaha Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD10 (-1.000)
Telephone: 22533377

Avanti Palace
Set Menu Price: Vegetarian KD3.100 – Non Vegetarian KD3.500 (both min 4 people)
Telephone: 25751081

Burj Al-Hamam
Buffet Price: KD12.5
Telephone: 22529095

Dar Hamad
Buffet Price: KD15 (+1.500)
Telephone: 22275555

Enab Beirut
Set Menu Price: KD12
Telephone: 90009874

Jeans Grill
Buffet Price: KD8.500 (+0.550)
Telephone: 22264503

Kababji
Set Menu Price: KD5.950 (+0.450)
Telephone: 1861616

Kosebasi
Set Menu Price: KD9.750 (+2.250)
Telephone: 22251303

Kuwait Towers
Buffet Price: KD11 (-3.000)
Telephone: 22081999

La Brasa Argentinian Grill
Set Menu: KD11
Telephone: 99052419

Leila
Set Menu Price: KD10 (+0.500) – min 6 people
Telephone: 22996414

Naranj
Buffet Price: KD12.5
Telephone: 22268666

Palm Palace
Buffet Price: KD9.250 (+0.350)
Telephone: 67009575

Pop A Loop
Set Menu Prices: KD9 to KD14 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22271439

Qasr Al-Saraya
Buffet Price: KD9 (+0.500)
Telephone: 25711101

Ruby Tuesday
Set Menu Price: KD7.950 (-2.000)
Telephone: 22444454

Saladworks
Set Menu Price: KD2.750 to KD4.750
Telephone: 22201888

Tallu Hbabna
Buffet Price: KD10
Telephone: 51113700

Tandooriwala
Set Menu Price: KD6.750
Telephone: 25745458

Vapiano
Set Menu Price: KD6.000 (+0.450)
Telephone: 22597171

Veranda
Set Menu Price: KD12.450
Telephone: 22283141

Villa Fayrouz
Buffet Price: KD9.500 (-0.500)
Telephone: 22650052

Zafran
Buffet Price: KD8 (+0.500)
Telephone: 22285203 or 97281007

If you’d like to add a restaurant to the list above [Email Me]

Note: The prices listed above are for adults. Some restaurants offer special prices for children. I will add more restaurants to this list as I find out about them.

Since Ramadan is starting this weekends list of events is pretty small. Check out whats going on this weekend below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Blue Nights curated by Mark Dean, New York
Level 44 Exhibition
Graish Shuwaikh
The Divan Movie Night: Naked Lunch
Movies at the Park: Lawrence of Arabia

Friday
Hatha Yoga in the Park
Good Game: Magic – The Gathering

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double check with the organizers.

The movies below are now showing at either Cinescape, Grand Cinemas or Sky Cinemas:

New This Week:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (3.3)
Gifted (7.8)
The Bleeder (6.8) ♦

Other Movies Showing:
Alien: Covenant (7.0) ♦ ★
Everything, Everything (6.2)
Fast & Furious 8 (7.5)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (8.2) ♦ ★
Here Alone (5.2) ♦
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (7.2)
Monolith (4.7)
The Boss Baby (6.5)
Smurfs: The Lost Village (5.8)
The Circle (7.5) ♦

The movies below are now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Flying Monsters 3D with David Attenborough (7.6)
Humpback Whales 3D (7.2)
Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Secret Ocean 3D (N/A)
Journey to Space 3D (6.5)
Kenya 3D: Animal Kingdom (6.0)
Mysteries of the Unseen World 3D (7.5)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

The Civil Aviation authority has banned illegal parking at the Kuwait Airport. Previously the long term parking lot would be filled with cars parked on top of curbs and in no parking areas, but this will no longer be allowed. Parking attendants will no longer let you in if the parking is full and if you do park illegally, you will now be fined KD150. Like most new decisions in Kuwait, I doubt this will last long.

Equinox is a popular luxury gym chain in the US and according to a reader, they’re going to open in Kuwait (and most likely the region). Alshaya are bringing the brand which will most likely compete with the likes of Inspire, The Burrow and Elite Fitness.

No information on when or where they’re planning to open as of now.

Thanks Andrew

The alarm has been sounded again in Kuwait after figures for 2017 show that around 60 per cent of Kuwaiti marriages have ended in divorce.

Figures released by the Ministry of Justice indicate there were 2,001 marriages in January and February, down from 2,425 in the same period last year. The figures also show there were 1,193 cases of divorce in the first two months of 2017, up from 1,180 last year. [Source]

That would put Kuwait with Luxembourg in 6th place on the World’s Most Divorced Nations list:

1- Belgium (71%)
2- Portugal (68%)
3- Hungary (67%)
4- Czech Republic (66%)
5- Spain (61%)
6- Kuwait and Luxembourg (60%)
7- Estonia (58%)
8- Cuba (56%)
9- France (55%)
10- Lithuania (53%)

Over the weekend I was told that preliminary approval from the Ministry to bring Adele to Kuwait was given. If everything works out she’ll be performing at the Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre which has recently hosted other big name musicians like Yanni and Googoosh. Although, bringing Adele would be on a completely different level.

I wasn’t given any dates on when this might happen, but based on her schedule, it would be safe to assume that if it will happen, it would be sometime in the second half of this year.