Search: “salmiya”

I passed by the Panasonic dealer in Salmiya (Easa Husain Al-Yousifi & Sons Co.) and noticed they are selling the Pleo Dinosaur. They’re selling it for KD129 which is around KD50 more expensive than Amazon. If you don’t know what the Pleo Dinosaur is its basically a robot dinosaur that can see, feel and grow (mentally). Its extremely cute and intelligent, if I didn’t think my dog Geo would eat it I would have already gotten one. You can check it out in action on the Pleo website, just click on discover once you get there. [Link]

I needed to get a Polaroid camera today so I called all the Ashraf stores in Kuwait who are the Polaroid dealers and non of them had any cameras in stock except for the one in Salmiya who had two. I ended up passing by them and picking it up for KD20. On Amazon the same camera is being sold for KD43.500 so they are basically selling it in Kuwait for less than half the price. If you are interested they have one more in stock, their number is 5731372.

Over a year ago I posted “Elect me as mayor of Salmiya” because I was pissed at how the old shopping street in Salmiya was getting torn a part bit by bit and all my childhood memories were disappearing with it. Well since then things haven’t changed, I wasn’t elected as mayor and Salmiya is still losing its history.

The building that has Hardees, Tikka, KFC, Waleed Toys, Alamiah and The Family Bookshop is going to be demolished soon. Already Hardees, Tikka, KFC and Baskin Robbins have vacated the building and I am sure the rest will follow soon. What I heard is that whole block with the land behind it and to its sides plus the old souk in front of Marina Mall (Kaysariyah) will be demolished and turned into one giant super mall, as if we don’t have enough of those already.

I got my first computer, the Sakhr MSX2 from Alamiah, I had my first roast beef sandwich from that Hardees and I bought all my Peter and Jane books from The Family Bookshop. This really sucks.

My car speakers and multi-amp wiring harness arrived today. I now have everything I need to start the installation except for the RCA and speaker cables. I will get those from Mr System in Shuwaikh sometime this week. Yesterday I passed by Ace Hardware to get some pollyfill which everyone online advises to use to fill in the enclosure behind the speaker. Surprisingly they didn’t have any which is weird because they have everything. If you haven’t been to Ace Hardware recently you should because they’ve rearranged sections, canceled some unimportant ones and added new ones with more useful stuff. I really love the place. So after Ace I passed by Barakat in Salmiya which is a sewing store, I ended up finding pollyfill there which is basically pillow stuffing. 250grams for 750fils.

I also got a call from Cadillac today, I am going to be test driving the new 2008 CTS over the weekend. I checked out some pictures of the car online and it looks pretty interesting so I am looking forward to it. [Cadillac CTS]

George Bush is coming to Kuwait today (Friday) as part of his trip to the Gulf. I heard a lot of the roads will be closed, I hope that isn’t true since I don’t want to get stuck in Salmiya all day. [Link]

If I post something negative about a place in Kuwait, some people get the impression that I am out to hurt that place. If I post something positive about a place in Kuwait, some people get the impression that I was paid to do so. It’s pretty fucked up really.

Last week I posted two negative posts about Sultan Center, one regarding their eggs, the other about how they stole the Kellogg’s mascot. One reader told me if I hated Sultan that much I should just stop shopping there. What kind of mentality is that? Its kinda like how if I post something negative about Kuwait people come and tell me to get the fuck out if I don’t like it.

I only shop at Sultan Center and I have been a customer ever since they opened up their Salmiya branch back in the 80’s. When I encounter a problem at Sultan Center I complain, I have the right to as a customer. If I complain it doesn’t mean I hate the place, it means I want the place to improve.

Same with my Bazaar posts, some people get the impression I hate Bazaar. I don’t.

One reader asked why I don’t contact customer service when I have a complaint instead of posting it on the blog? Well three reasons. First the obvious which is I need content for the blog. Second is the fact that I am used to sending emails to customer service only to have them ignored and the third and final reason is that problems get fixed quickly after I post about them on the blog.

So from now on if I say good things or bad things about a place or product I hope there will be no misconception.

I got an email today from a reader informing me of a new burger place that opened up called Cheeburger Cheeburger. Its an American chain that opened up their first international branch here in Kuwait last month and according to their website, their burger was voted the best burger in 28 cities. The problem was where they opened up their location, Souk Salmiya. I hate that place, its probably one of the worst designed malls in Kuwait containing some of the crappiest stores and its always over crowded and parking is always nearly impossible to find. Still, I decided it might be worth the visit and so after work I headed straight to Cheeburger Cheeburger.

The place is located on the top floor in the food court and their location is surprisingly pretty big. The interior is themed like Johnny Rockets which is the 1940’s-50’s style although I doubt they copied Johnny since both restaurants launched around the same time back in 1986. When I got the menu I noticed they had a limited time special offer going on where 1/3 lb burger with fries and coke was priced at KD2.250 while everything else on the menu had 25% off. I decided to go with their combo and I ordered a side order of onion rings with dipping sauce. The way you order the burger at Cheeburger is you choose the thickness of the burger, you then choose the type of cheese you want on it (they have 8 kinds) and then you choose what toppings you want and if you want any certain sauce. I didn’t get too creative with mine since it was my first time, I just went with swiss cheese, ketchup, tomato and lettuce.

A few minutes after placing my order my coke arrived and it was in a jar! I thought that was pretty creative since I don’t recall ever getting my softdrink in anything but a cup. While waiting for my appetizers I noticed a bunch of Trivial Pursuit cards on the table near the salt and pepper shakers. At first I assumed that some kid had left them behind but then I noticed every table had a bunch of cards. Turns out they have them there for the customers to entertain themselves with while they wait for their food to arrive.

The first thing the waitress brought me were my onion rings and fries followed shortly after with my burger. The onion rings were skinny but delicious, the dipping sauce had a lot to do with it. Anyone who’s had the awesome blossom at Chili’s will recognize the sauce immediately, I love it. The fries were good but nothing to set it apart from the competition. My burger, well I can’t imagine it being voted the best burger in 28 cities. It wasn’t bad, on the contrary it was good, it just wasn’t special. Thats probably my fault though since I went pretty safe with the toppings. The bread was good, the meat was good, it was everything else in the burger that didn’t stand out. Maybe next time I could try their one pound burger, according to their website if you can finish it they would put your picture up on the wall and I can’t imagine it being that difficult to finish.

The place in general wasn’t disappointing, they had a lot of little things that made it special and thats what I liked about the place. For example nyone who’s eaten at Johnny Rockets knows how crap their paper napkins are, they are too tiny and too thin. Well at Cheeburger Cheeburger their paper napkins are kitchen paper rolls which is fantastic. I know napkins aren’t usually important in a restaurant review but I just wanted to use it as an example of the little things I am talking about. My biggest disappointment in the place is the location and location is everything. I hate Souk Salmiya and I know I am not the only one. If Cheeburger Cheeburger was open at say Marina Mall or in Jahra then I would go back again over and over but sadly I doubt I would go back to Souk Salmiya unless I really had to. If it was located anywhere else it would most probably get a 4 out of 5 but because its in Souk Salmiya I am giving it a 3. My bill came out to be KD3.150 which I think is a steal. You can check out their menu by clicking [Here]

I just got back from a late night ride. I hadn’t ridden since the beginning of summer and ever since TriStar had picked up my bike and serviced it last week my bike has been begging to be taken out. Tonight was his lucky night.

I was walking Geo and noticed the weather was just amazing so when I got home I suited up and went out for a ride. Salmiya was deserted and I had all the streets to myself so I took full advantage and rode up and down at my pace enjoying my time. I was a bit rusty so I felt a lot more comfortable riding alone with no traffic just in case I made a mistake.

One thing I realized, the weather is a lot nicer in shorts and a tshirt. My full bike gear which includes thick riding pants and a thick riding jacket kinda made things hot but it still felt great riding. I think I will do this every night, its very peaceful and mind clearing.

A few months back I noticed a new sports store was opening up in place of where Boushari was located in Salmiya. I was pretty excited because I thought it was a new franchise opening but then I found out it was just Sport Corner and I lost interest. Sports Corner was already open further down the street near Thuraya Complex and I didn’t like the place so I wasn’t expecting this new one to be better. I even got invited to the launch of the new store but I wasn’t interested.

Tonight though I decided to go in and it was pretty impressive. The store is 4 floors and although I don’t think the floor space is as big as GoSport, its still pretty packed with stuff especially in the basement. The ground floor is dedicated to Adidas, the second floor to Reebok, the third floor is Champions and the basement is packed with weight lifting, exercise equipment, bikes, punching bags, rackets and just a ton of stuff. The place is worth a visit if anything just so you know whats available in Kuwait in terms of sporting gear. GoSport still caters to a wider range of sports while I would say Sports Corner has a larger variety of weight lifting and exercise equipment.

Taken from the Little Treats website:

Pink Ribbon Awareness
It’s Breast Cancer Awareness month. we will be donating our profits from this line to Kuwait’s Cancer Association. Join us and be part of the community!!

You can order the cupcakes by phone or visiting their store in Wataniya Complex, Salmiya.

https://www.littletreats-q8.com/

A while back Villa Fayrouz Express opened up on Baghdad Street in Salmiya. It’s a take-out version of their popular Lebanese restaurant of the same name minus the express. Since the place is in my neighborhood I had to try their chicken shawermas and I have to say I was surprised.

I was surprised because each chicken shawerma cost 750 fils! That officially makes it the most expensive shawerma I have ever reviewed and it also makes it the most expensive shawerma I know of in Kuwait. 750 fils, thats three times the price of a shawerma at Badar Al Badoor and more than double that of Dodo. So is it worth it?

It takes only one bite to realize why the shawerma is priced so expensive. Its the quality of chicken they use, it tastes fresh and healthy. From the chicken to the garlic its all just top notch quality. They also aren’t stingy, I can barely finish two sandwiches at Villa Fayrouz Express while at Dodo for example I could easily have three in addition to a side order of fries. The sandwich isn’t huge mind you, its fat and short but not huge.

So back to the main question, is it worth 750fils? No, I personally don’t think so. I mean I really don’t care where I eat shawerma (except for this one place next to my office) as long as it tastes good. I have now had shawermas ranging from 200 to 750 fils and I can confidently say that I would rather have Badar Al Badoor’s 250 fils shawerma over Villa Fayrouz Express. Not because for the price of one shawerma at Villa Fayrouz Express I can have two shawermas and a kofta sandwich at Badar Al Badoor, but I also felt Badar Al Badoor’s shawerma was more fun. Shawerma isn’t meant to be healthy or made from great quality, its supposed to just taste good and thats it. Still though for people who care about hygene and are looking for a good shawerma Villa Fayrouz Express is highly recommended. My final score is a 4 out of 5.

My favorite thing about Ramadan is that I get off work at 3PM. This allows me to have a ton of free time to do stuff I wouldn’t usually do like riding my bicycle.

Yesterday I went riding with Nat and the weather was surprisingly great. We rode from Marina Mall to Scientific Center, a short route since we didn’t want to take a longer one in case our bikes had developed problems after a year of storage. Imagine riding all the way to the Kuwait Towers and then finding out the bike has a problem and you have to walk back all the way to Salmiya. It would suck…

Riding the bicycle is really different from the motorbike. For one thing falling off a bicycle is no longer a big thing. Nat crashed yesterday when her bicycle slid on a curve and she just got up and continued riding. When the same thing happened to me with my motorbike I ended up with road rash, a fractured wrist and a large repair bill.

There are two brands of bikes I would recommend people getting, Trek and Cannondale. I personally prefer and ride Cannondale. When it comes to road bikes I would go with Trek but for mountain bikes Cannondale all the way. The Cannondale dealer is located in Shuwaikh, you take the first right after McDonalds on Canada Dry street and once you reach the small round-a-bout the dealer would be on your right hand corner. Trek on the other hand is available at GoSport in The Avenues and eXtreme Sports at Marina Waves.

If you are looking for a place to ride, the Gulf Road is a good place to start. For a short trail you can start off at Marina Crescent and ride all the way to Scientific Center and back. For a longer trail you can go from McDonalds on the Gulf Road and head all the way to Souk Sharq and back. Both routes use a sea side trail away from dangerous car traffic.

Cannondale have soooo many hot bikes to choose from, my favorite being the Gemini but the prices can get ridiculous with models costing KD1000 and up. You can spend a lot less of course, a member in the forum recently purchase a Trek for only KD148 and you can even get bikes for under KD50 even although I wouldn’t recommend them at all. The difference between the cheap and expensive bikes is usually weight, quality of parts, the frame and the finishing. Cheap bikes are usually heavy, equipped with the crappiest brands and handle like crap.

There used to be a riding club that met up every Friday at like 7AM to go riding but I don’t think they do that anymore. If anyone knows of another riding club please leave it in the comments below.

Last year I posted about this very strange tourism video I found on YouTube in which three women try to convince the world that Kuwait is a great place to visit. You would think that alone was strange but the three women then take us on a tour around Kuwait highlighting some of its best parts which include Canary Restaurant, Taxi Al Resala and some unknown electronics store. It was extremely weird, cheesy and funny but now the wait is over, the full version of the film is out!

It’s 43 minutes long but you really don’t need to watch it all to realize how unbelievably bizarre it is. The whole time I am just thinking to myself what the hell are they talking about!? In one scene early on in the movie they point out how the new Kuwait is getting built side by side to the old Kuwait and how old and new architecture is merging and creating a new better future. It all sounds decent and corny except for the fact the video accompanying this theory is of the old back alley streets of Salmiya and their idea of old Kuwait are the 30 year old nearly demolished crack houses while the new architecture of Kuwait are the cheap ass multistory tiny bedroom built cheaply out of cardboard to make money apartment buildings. Actually, that does sound about right. A few minutes later into the documentary they take us to meet one of the “important faces in Kuwait”… the sales manager of Holiday Inn!

They are unpredictable and you never know where they will be taking you next but surprisingly I love it! It just keeps getting weirder and weirder and I can’t stop watching it. Although its a really really really terribly shot and produced movie and although their idea of whats cool in Kuwait is very demented, the documentary still manages to crack me up. It’s soooo unreal!

Full version of the documentary on Kuwait [Link]
Short version of the documentary on Kuwait [Link]
Website of people behind the documentary [Link]

I got a nice surprise today morning, a little cupcake from Little Treats. Turns out they are opening a store at the beginning of the month so they sent me and my partner at work an invite for the opening day. Their store is going to be located on the mezzanine floor in the Wataniya Complex in Salmiya. I think thats the small shopping center across the street from NBK. If you don’t know what Little Treats is you can check out my previous post on them. [Link]

I have decided to no longer listen to my friends when it comes to shawerma places. First I got sent to Happy Duck which turned out to be a disaster and then I got sent to Weekend which also turned out to be as bad. Weekend is located opposite AUK in Salmiya and although I’ve passed by it numerous of times before, I never thought about trying it until recently when a friend recommended I give it a shot.

I ordered two chicken shawermas and a coke. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity I got the sandwiches, drove a bit further down the road parked my car and started eating. Its always best to have the shawerma while its hot and fresh but in Weekend’s, case I don’t think that really matters. The sandwich wasn’t greasy but that’s the only thing positive I have to say about it. The garlic was too liquid like and didn’t really taste like garlic although it smelled like garlic. The chicken was too moist and tasted terrible. The quantity of the chicken in the sandwich was also little although thinking about it now, that might be a good thing since the chicken was really bad anyway.

The cost of the chicken shawerma is 250fils which is normal. My advice? Drive down a further 20 meters to Malek al 3aseer (King of Juice) who make a much better shawerma. Final score 1.5 out of 5.