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On Thursday night k.thekuwaiti and Nibaq picked me up to go have dinner at Al-Ghader in Salwa. Many people were recommending I try Al-Ghader shawerma so I really was looking forward to it.
The place isn’t easy to locate but I will give it a shot. You know the street in Salwa where you have the Salwa co-op, police station and gas station? Well if all of those are on your right hand side and you are driving towards the Fahaheel Expressway, take the last right on this street just before the traffic light. Then, drive straight and take your 6th right. Then drive in a bit until you find Al-Ghader on your right hand side. Here it is on Google Maps.
The shawerma tasted very similar to Badar Al Badoor’s. It had the same taste which I liked except that Al-Ghader was much more stingier. The portion of chicken in the shawerma was half the amount of Badar Al Badoor’s. That kinda sucked since the taste of the bread was over powering the chicken. On a positive note though, Al-Ghader’s garlic tasted slightly better than Badar Al badoor’s but it wasn’t enough of a flavor difference to make the sandwich better. By default they put garlic, pickles and tomato in the shawerma but I had mine just with just garlic. The price of the shawerma is also 250fils. The place was very packed but it wasn’t all on the shawerma, they have a nice variety of food at the place and people were spread evenly across them.
Al-Ghader has good shawerma and if you are located near it then its worth the drive to have it. But, if you have a choice between Al-Ghader and Badar Al Badoor then I would recommend the later since you are basically getting the same shawerma just more of it for the same price. This is why the final score for Al-Ghader’s shawerma is 3.5 out of 5.
update: Since writing this review I’ve frequented Al-Ghader numerous of times and if I was to write the review today I would give it a 4 out of 5.
I passed by Badar Al Badoor yesterday. They supposingly make the best shawerma in Kuwait but when I passed by they still hadn’t started making shawermas so I couldn’t try them out. Will try to pass by tonight.
To get to Badar Al Badoor you take the Gulf Road as if going from the Kuwait Towers toward Salmiya. Once you pass Fuddruckers on your left and Safir Hotel on your right you take a right following the Commercial Bank of Kuwait signage. Once you take the right (Safir Hotel is now still on your right hand like this) you take your first right again and you will spot Badar Al Badoor in front of you.
update: here is it on google maps [Link]
There is a new mall opening near AUK in Salmiya called Symphony Mall. A friend of mine was telling me today that its supposed to be the most luxurious mall in Kuwait. According to what he heard they will have the worlds most expensive bathroom at this mall. Woman would be able to get foot massages in the bathroom. There will also be a water bar at the mall with a whole variety of bottled water from around the globe. Carrying your own bags will also be a thing of the past, Symphony Mall will provide shoppers with their own slave personal assitant who will carry the bags for them.
Should turn out to be an interesting place..
The 248AM Meetup is going to be held tonight (Monday, August 7th) at 9PM at the Starbucks in front of Al-Fanar Complex in Salmiya. We will gather upstairs and me and Nat will probably be the first people there.
If you don’t know anyone thats fine, no one knows anyone anyway and the purpose of this meetup is to meet new people and just hang out. So don’t be shy or anything like that, its just a gathering not a blind date.
Date: Monday, August 7th 2006
Location: Starbucks opposite Al-Fanar in Salmiya.
Time: 9PM
Here is a crappy map if you need one. [Map]
note: you can bring a friend with you if you want.
note2: if you have a Nintendo DS, bring it along with you.
I am a big fan of Gulf Royal Chinese Restaurant, you know, the one located in the Marina Mall food court. Anyone who is a regular there recently would have noticed that the prices were increased. A combo before that cost KD1.750 now costs KD1.850. The combo that cost KD2 before now costs KD2.150. It seemed acceptable and reasonable with all the recent price increase in the market.
So this is where the story gets interesting, yesterday I went to Souk Salmiya since I needed to pass by the appliance section in City Center. When I was done I was hungry so I figured I would go have Chinese at the Gulf Royal Chinese located at the Souk Salmiya food court. I go up, I order the exact same thing as I always do (sweet & sour chicken, Kindu chicken and rice) and I give the guy KD2 and he gives me back 250fils. I check out the price on the menu and its STILL KD1.750. So I ask the guy “what the prices are cheaper here then Marina Mall?” and he tells me yeah they are.
I found that odd. Usually when a franchise increases their prices they increase them at all the branches. So how come it costs more to eat at the Marina Mall then it does at the Souk Salmiya one? I am sure it costs more rent at Marina but they also get wayyy more foot traffic. And if you increased the price at Marina wouldn’t you just as well increase the price at your other branches to make them unified? Is it because people who visit Marina Mall have more money? I am not really complaining here but I am curious..
It’s hard to write this review because whatever positive thing I will say people will assume its because I got it for free or I am just kissing ass to get more free stuff. This is not true and I will tell you why…
Usually someone emails me or calls me asking for my office address so they can send me stuff. It could be anything from Donuts like today or vouchers for dinner like last week. The first thing I tell these people is that if I end up not liking your product then I won’t post about it. If your product turns out crap I will just not mention it at all on the site. On the other hand if its good I will post about it and try to encourage people to try it. The reason I don’t post negative reviews of items I get for free is simply to keep getting more stuff for free. I wouldn’t want to scare away people and I want to continue trying new stuff so that I could share it with my readers.
Now the reason I said all the above is to prepare you for what I am about to say now. I am a big fan of Dunkin Donuts and my favorite two donuts there are the glazed and the cholcolate. Today I had the “Choco Mallow Frost” from Go Nuts Donuts which is pictured above and its basically a chocolate donut with marshmallow and nuts on top. I have to say this donut was better then the chocolate donut at Dunkin. Its that fucking good. I never tried Krispy Kreme so I can’t compare to that but I have tried Planet Donuts, Donut King and La Baguette’s donuts and I can easily say they suck compared to Go Nuts.
Usually I have one donut and feel like I overdosed on sugar but today I had two of those Choco Mallow Frost and I didn’t feel sick at all. At first I thought maybe its me, maybe I have a bizzaro donut taste issue, but every time someone took a bite out of their donuts in the office all you would hear is hmmmm. So its not just me, the donuts are actually really good.
I was really not expecting these donuts to be good or for me to even end up posting about them. But, the donuts are good and the only thing lacking I think is a location in Salmiya near Starbucks and Johnny Rockets. The thing is people don’t just go to Dunkin Donuts for the food, they go there to chill out and waste time. Currently Go Nuts is located in Hawalli in the new Al-Bahr Center that just opened. Take it I haven’t been to that mall yet but I have been to Hawalli and I don’t want to go there unless its an emergency. Now the good thing is they deliver.. wherever you are. If you want to have a dozen donuts for breakfast and you work in Kuwait City, just call them up and they will deliver it to you. As a final score I am going to give them a 4 out of 5. Give them a call and try them out. Their telephone number is 2670671 or 72.
The past week I have been driving to work using the Gulf Road. On my way I kept spotting this group of American looking people on the side of the road (on the side going towards Salmiya) with their GMC’s parked up on the side walk and a little shade setup. I thought maybe they were shooting a TV commercial but then I noticed that everyday they would move a bit. First time I saw them they were in front of Burj al Hamam restaurant, then I saw them near Fridays and just now on my way back from the beach I saw them near Marina Mall. So, I decided to u-turn and stop and ask them what they were doing.
I park the car and open my window and a guy comes towards me, I ask him if he minds telling me what they are doing since I keep seeing them in a different spot every day. The guy replies back to me with an Australian accent that they are installing fiber optic cables. I thank him and drive off.
So mystery solved, now if you see the SUVs parked on the side of the road you know why they are there.
update: a reader mentioned the following article related to fiber optics in Kuwait. Looks like we might be getting some good stuff. [Link]
While leaving home today to come in to work I saw a 2007 yellow Toyota FJ Cruiser parked at one of the second hand car dealers in Salmiya (next to Mr Baker, near Kababji and Shaab Park). I thought these cars were coming out in 2007…
Update: Here is a picture of the FJ I took on my way back home [Picture]
Update 2: I called the guy on 5629429, he is asking KD13,000 for it.
Yesterday night I went to the bakala (local word for very tiny mini markets) under my building to get KDD Silver icecream. To my surprise the guy didn’t have any left, just the Gold one. So I went to the second bakala near by and he also didn’t have Silver. Luckily there are like 20 bakalas in a 5 meter radius behind my building (I love Salmiya) so I went bakala jumping trying to find one that still had Silver left. Luckily I found a box full at the 4th bakala and decided to buy it all and take home. Don’t know if this is a problem around Kuwait or just in my street but maybe the country is running out of Silver??
update: just went and got myself a Raspberry Lolly
Is there someone in Kuwait that imports the Vespa brand of scooters? I think it would be cool to travel around Salmiya in a baby blue Vespa. No more looking for parking at Sultan Center..
Don’t do it in public places. I was just walking in Salmiya while video calling and I was getting a lot of stares. Walking with my hand out in front of me, phone open and talking out loud is just too weird in public.
I don’t think I will ever have McDonalds again because of this extremely cheezy and poor advert. Come on, with all this improvment in advertising in the region this is what McDonalds is advertising? This is what McDonalds in the Arab world thinks is trendy? I can’t think of any brand that would suit this advert yet alone McDonalds! This advert wouldn’t even work for those cheap ass bargain bin stores in Salmiya. I am seriously shocked at how terrible this is. [Larger Picture]
Note: The headline roughly translates to “Keep your taste big”
On Friday I picked up my friend and we went and had lunch at IKEA before heading off to the H3 Ride & Drive event. When we got to the location it was like arriving in the middle of no where, we couldn’t see anything it was all desert and hills. Then we noticed some dust coming up from behind one of the hills and we decided to go and investigate. Luckily I was in my Wrangler because there was no paved road, its like you needed an H3 to get to the H3 event. I didn’t mind that since it felt like a true off road event even before I got to the place. When we reached the top we found the H3 camp, it was located at the bottom of the hill surrounded by a ton of Hummers and random visitor cars. We drove down to the camp and parked the Jeep… first impression was very positive so far.
We walked into the tent where we were greeted by some cute girls who took our names and made us sign a disclaimer stating if we got hurt they wouldn’t be responsible. I found that odd since its supposed to be just a test drive.. how bad could things go you know? Once we signed the papers they gave us a goodie bag and pointed us to another person who would put us into a Hummer.
This is where the fun starts. We get into the Hummer and drive off a hundred meters down the road where the Hummer driver tells me to swap seats so I could drive. I get into the drivers seat, adjust everything to my liking and then drive off towards a Hummer flag further down the road. When I first was told about the event, they told me that there were two tracks, a soft one and a hard one. I would be allowed to drive on the soft one while a professional driver would drive on the hard one. So automatically I assumed the soft track would be a stupid flat circle where I would safely drive around looking like an idiot. Well that turned out to be a completely wrong assumption. When I got to the Hummer flag I saw a deep fucking ditch in the ground filled with water. I figured that was the end of the test drive and I probably need to swap seats with the Pro driver so he could take me around the hard track. To my surprise the driver was like ok go in. I was like where, in that ditch? He was like yeah so I was like fucking cool. At first I thought this was a privilege I got because I knew the organizers but it turns out it wasn’t a privilege but in fact this was actually the start of the soft course! I got down the ditch and drove through the water till the end where I reached to a wall. I am not exaggerating here it was a nearly vertical sand wall that was soo high up I couldn’t see out of the ditch. The driver told me to step on the gas and not to press the brakes. I thought for sure the front end of the car would hit the wall before the tires but it didn’t. Up the wall I went and out of the ditch I drove. It was very cool and kinda unreal. I drove down to the next check point and this time the road ahead turned into holes. Each hole was maybe around 40cm deep and they were placed on both the left and right sides of the track. We drove through the track without any problems and very smoothly. Sure the car was moving up and down like a fishing boat in a perfect storm but we were driving through a track filled with 40cm deep pot holes! The whole time I was thinking shit my Wrangler can’t do this…
When we were done from the soft track which involved numerous impossible to climb looking obstacles, it was time to give the control back to the pro. He drove us to the hard track and put the H3 on 4x4low and told us to fasten our seat-belts. The first obstacle involved the H3 driving across two small dunes where half way through the driver stops and explains to us how the H3 at this point has only 2 wheels touching the ground. We then continue off to what I can only describe as a roller-coaster ride. We went up and down so many obstacles that were so high up and so steep it was just unbelievable. I tried to take pictures out of the window but all I could capture was either the sky or the ground. It was seriously jaw dropping. Once the drive was over I called up Nat and told her to get ready because I was going to come and pick her up. I drove all the way to Salmiya and back just so she could experience the drive. That ofcourse was a big mistake because now she can’t stopped nagging me about how she wants an H3 and when I could take her to the showroom.
I took a lot of pictures that day but something happened to the memorystick and all my pictures got erased. But, Alghanim sent me pictures yesterday that were taken by a photographer who came in from Dubai and they are way better pictures then the ones I had taken. Check them out, they are all from the Ride & Drive event here in Kuwait. The H3’s have Dubai numbers because they were brought in from Dubai. [Pictures]
I had a lot of fun.
