Search: “salmiya”

This is an interesting and random project, BBT is opening a haunted house next month on the Gulf Road. The project is in collaboration with TEC and is located near where Jeans Grill used to be in Salmiya (the good old days).

The haunted house looks to be hospital themed which gave me Raccoon General Hospital vibes from Resident Evil. In addition to the haunted house there will also be a new BBT location right next to it.

Both the haunted house and the new BBT are expected to open mid next month. Tickets to the haunted house will be through the TEC app. If you want to check the place out it’s still under construction but here it is on Google Maps.

Dubai’s beach-born concept SALT is coming to Kuwait next month and they’ll be popping up at the new Blajaat project in Salmiya.

Although SALT is mostly known for their iconic Airstream trailer, over the past few years their pop-ups have turned into beautiful and elaborate setups, so should be interesting what they’re planning for Kuwait.

The exact date hasn’t been finalized but they should be popping up the last week of November.

Kuwait is currently holding the 2023 IBF World Bowling Championship and I don’t think anybody knows. The international sporting event which started on October 4th and is ongoing until October 15th is taking place at the Kuwait Bowling Sporting Club in Salmiya. The bowling alley is one of the largest in the region with 48 bowling lanes and when I passed by yesterday, they were all being used for the event.

The men’s competition includes teams from Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, UAE, Oman, Iran, Jordan, Malaysia, Czechoslovak, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Colombia, Canada, Egypt in addition to Kuwait.

The women’s teams include Korea, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, China, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Denmark, Germany, Colombia, Canada in addition to host Kuwait.

There is plenty of seating if you want to go and watch the event live. When I passed by there were multiple matches taking place simultaneously and I just moved from one area to another to watch the games. Entry to watch the event is free and the matches start at 9AM and continue throughout the day till around 5PM. You can check out the schedule below.

The event is also being streamed live online. They have 4 cameras streaming simultaneously and you can watch those on YouTube. Link

From all the projects currently taking place in Kuwait, I think this one is the one I’m most excited about.

Back in June I posted about the new 9.7-kilometre-long waterfront project that stretches from the Yacht Club in Salmiya all the way to the Kuwait Towers. The project involves facelifting the waterfront while also offering essential amenities for people which includes a dedicated bicycle and jogging path among other things.

We now have a first look at how the new pathway is going to look like and I’m super excited!

This small strip in the photo is not a rendering, it’s a real strip that was constructed for testing purposes. I’ve been told this is the final approved design that will now be implemented along the whole waterfront.

What I love the most about the design is how the walk path and bike path are separated with plants, benches and other amenities. This means you can’t accidentally walk into the bike lane which is what I tend to do when I’m in Europe.

Another cool thing I like is the bike racks which you can barely make out in the photo, they’re on the top left next to the bench and black colored street light. This means I can now park and lock my bicycle if say I want to take a quick dip in the sea (something I’m probably never going to do but I like the option). The whole thing looks really tastefully done, it looks really great.

Maybe the best part about this project is that it’s real, it’s already under construction and they’re targeting to have it completed by February. As someone who rides their bike all the time on the Gulf Road, you don’t understand how much I’m excited about this.

A new Korean supermarket opened up last week next to my place in Salmiya call Haeng Bok. It’s a pretty tiny place and it opened in the same place where the clothing store Rima used to be located for nearly 50 years.

Because of the size of the supermarket they only sell Asian products, so you’re not going to find Pepsi for example or any item you can find at your local Coop. That makes it easier to shop but I’m not sure if they have anything you haven’t already seen in Singarea. Because the store is smaller, it just feels more curated than Singarea.

For me this place is convenient because it’s a 2 minute walk from my place so I can drop in pick up noodles or chips easily. Not sure I’d recommend you drive all the way to old Salmiya and spend an hour looking for parking just to shop there, I think it opened just to cater to the neighborhood. If you want to pass by, here is the location on Google Maps. At the moment they’re open from 4PM to 12AM.

This is one of these posts that will mean absolutely nothing to everyone except me. When I was a kid back in the 80s I remember there was a fish and chips place in Salmiya on Baghdad Street that had a wooden interior. That’s all I remember of the place and the fact the name had the word “Captain” in it. I’ve been searching for YEARS trying to figure out what the place was and never could. Until today.

Randomly, while flipping through some old Kuwait Times newspapers from 1984 I came across the ad above for Captain D’s. I was like WTF, right away I noticed the address of the Salmiya (spelled Salmiah) location was Baghdad Street. This was it, I finally found out what the place was called.

Back in the 80s there was a company called “Al-Kazemi Food Company” which had the franchise in Kuwait. I don’t think the company exists anymore today since I couldn’t find any trace of them online but back then they had three franchises: Captain D’s, Popeyes and Pizza Inn.

Interestingly if you notice in the ad above it says that they were opening Captain D’s in Carlton Hotel. Thats the hotel that now has the Korean restaurant KOREA GWAN (previously called Koryokwan).

Anyway, if anyone has any more info or photos please let me know.

There are plenty of public beaches in Kuwait but not that many swimming pools you can access without being a member or staying at a hotel. But, some hotels do offer day passes to their pools so I called as many hotels as I could until I had enough to put a list together.

The pools guide list below is singles friendly, and arranged from least expensive to most expensive:

Al Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort
Telephone: 24590000
Price: 10KD

Seashell Julaia Hotel & Resort
Telephone: 1844444
Price = 15KD

Crowne Plaza
Telephone: 1848111
Weekday 20KD
Weekend 25KD (Includes meal)

Millennium Hotel
Telephone: 22050505
Weekday: 20KD
Weekend: 25KD

Symphony Style Hotel
Telephone: 25770000
Weekday: 20KD
Weekend: 25KD

Holiday Inn Salmiya
Telephone: 25760000
Weekday: 20KD
Weekend: 29KD

Mövenpick Hotel Resort AlBidaa
Telephone: 22253100
Price: 25KD

Hyatt Regency Al Kout Mall
Telephone: 23931234
Price: 30KD
Ladies only on Monday and Wednesday

Hilton Resort
Telephone: 22256222
Weekday: 30KD
Weekend: 35KD
Weekday/Weekend for Couples: 45KD

Marina Hotel
Telephone: 22230030
Weekday: 35KD
Weekend: 40KD

Waldorf Astoria (pictured at the very top)
Telephone: 24774444
Price 1: 40KD (Inc. 2 Cocktails)
Price 2: 50KD (Inc. Food + Cocktails)

The Gulf Road is one of my favorite places in Kuwait but the lack of a bike path is very frustrating. I ride my bicycle on the walkway close to the water but the path isn’t wide enough for both bicycles and people when it’s busy and even when it’s empty the pathway is fairly rough to ride on using a road bike. Because the only other alternative is riding on the road with the cars ,I put up with the issues because I don’t really have another choice.

But looks like we’re finally going to get a dedicated bicycle path.

SSH, the architecture and engineering consultant firm have just taken over the waterfront project. SSH are the same people behind such projects as the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre (JACC) and the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre (ASCC) so I’m very excited about this.

The 9.7-kilometre-long waterfront project will stretch from the Yacht Club in Salmiya all the way to the Kuwait Towers and offer essential amenities for visitors, over 60 commercial and investment opportunities for local businesses, various sports activities, swimming areas, a bicycle path, a jogging path, and a recreational area for children.

The project timeline is 1 year.

Those of you who remember when the Korean supermarket Singarea was in Dajeej might remember they had a very cool Korean restaurant upstairs. That restaurant closed in 2012 and since then Singarea has moved out of Dajeej and opened several stores around Kuwait including their most recent one at Boulevard in Salmiya. When I first visited that location, I noticed they had an area in the back for a small restaurant and I got excited since I used to be a fan of the one in Dajeej. Yesterday morning the owner of Singarea got in touch with me and invited me to pass by for a tasting.

The whole invitation thing happened quickly and last minute since I’m traveling this weekend and we were trying to make it work before I left. I even struggled to find a friend to come a long but luckily I did because there was a lot of food to try. Since I was a fan of the previous Singarea restaurant, I didn’t really ask any questions about the place, I just headed there not knowing what to expect but figured it would be the run of the mill Korean restaurant.

But, when I got there and sat down, a few things caught my attention. The first were the expensive Devialet Phantom II speakers hung around the restaurant, then I noticed the heavy brass side plates on the table with handmade lacquered chopsticks. I didn’t think of it much until they brought out the first dish and my friend was like Mark, I think this is fine dining.

They didn’t have a menu because it was still being worked on so they brought out dishes for us based on their recommendation. The first dish was a custard egg with seafood, something I’ve never had before and the presentation looked pretty fancy. Right away they captured my interest and I was now really intrigued about the place. One by one the dishes started coming out, we got a grapefruit yuza salad next, then a seafood pajeon, tteokbokki (the best rice cakes I’ve had), both a beef and seafood Albap served bento box style, and more. It was a lot of food and a lot of different and exciting flavors to try. The seafood pajeon (the pancake like dish) is now probably my favorite Korean dish ever, it was so good and bursting with so many different flavors, it’s the dish thats going to keep me going back. But really everything we tried was visually interesting and delicious except for probably the galbi steak dish which I felt needed some sauce on the side to dip into.

Once we were done I sat with Penny the owner of Singarea, a young trendy looking guy with long hair and cool kicks. His father opened Singarea in Kuwait over 40 years ago and now he’s taken it over. He explained to me his concept of wanting to serve premium Korean dishes but without the high prices usually associated with it. He’s starting off small (the restaurant has only 6 tables) but has the ability to expand later. They hadn’t finalized the prices or menu yet when I visited, but they’re aiming for an average paycheck of around 8-10KD per person.

KI:WA (or just Kiwa) is aiming to open next week on June 1st. It’s located at the back of the Singarea store in Boulevard next to the lake, and they’ll be open for both lunch and dinner. You can stay posted on the restaurant and the opening by checking @singareamarket or @kiwa.q8

Update: So turns out the galbi steak dish came with a pepper cream sauce but I didn’t see it since it was hidden from my sight behind the dish 😅

There are 4 interesting things happening this weekend:

Music of Gratitude
Tonight the Ahmadi Music Group choir and orchestra along with the Kuwait Chamber Chorale will be performing seasonal music by Mendelssohn, Bach, and Handel.

Sunset Hike
On Friday, Outdoorish.kw are having their weekly sunset hike and you can tag along.

Once Upon a Time
Also on Friday, Art N Dine are having a unique artistic and holistic Ghabga experience at the beautiful beach in Argan Albidaa Club.

Makers Pop-Up Shop
Finally, this Saturday the Makers Pop-Up Shop is taking place at the Marzouk Pearl building in Salmiya. There will be arts and crafts, jewelry, homewares, textiles, sweets, and more on sale.

If theres a cool event you think people should check out this weekend, let us know in the comments.

This idea is so absurd but so great at the same time. For a limited time only, Johnny Rockets in Salmiya have what they’re calling a “Truffle Table Experience”. It’s a set menu that you need to pre-book ahead of time and includes your choice of truffle fries or onion rings, a Wagyu truffle burger or a truffle portobello burger, a luxury shake, and a cookie for dessert. I booked it and went last night with a couple of friends and we had a blast

My first date ever was at Johnny Rockets back in 1996 and I wish they had this setup back then since I might have been able to impress my date. The table was covered with a white tablecloth and set with a pink cloth napkin, plates, and cutlery. There was even a flower and a candle that further added to the romantic vibe. Obviously, you’re not supposed to take all of this very seriously and everyone else there who had booked this dinner looked like they were also having fun with it.

The burger itself is more elevated than the usual offering and they got a legit chef (@chef_ak) to develop it. Even the onion rings weren’t their usual frozen ones but instead freshly hand battered with sourdough crumble. Honestly, if they had stuck with their usual items I wouldn’t have been disappointed since I was there to have a bit of fun, but the fact they went all out to elevate the food just for this occasion is impressive.

As I mentioned earlier, this fine dining experience is for a limited time only, it started a few days ago and lasts till April 17th. It’s 10KD per person and you need to pre-book using this link.

It’s a do you remember this kind of morning. There used to be a huge tree inside Fashion Way (Mothercare) next to Sultan Center in Salmiya. I never thought much of it until a reader asked me if I had any photos of it since he couldn’t find any. I thought it was weird he wasn’t able to find any photos so I look myself but I also couldn’t find any.

Luckily another reader had a photo of it and sent it to me. I don’t know the story behind the tree but I do remember it was animated, and thinking about it now while looking at the photo, it was actually pretty impressive.

Thanks @janna_xxx

I’m not really sure how I initially found out about this specific yellow pages directory from the American Women’s League of Kuwait, but it was on my watch list for some time and one eventually popped up for sale a few weeks ago. I tend to find out about random books and then add them to my watch list and wait patiently, usually, years before a copy eventually/hopefully pops up somewhere online and I get a notification. When this book popped up on eBay and knowing how difficult it is to find because it really isn’t a book you’d generally save, I quickly purchased it without even trying to negotiate on the price. I like directories because they usually help me connect various things together.

For example, on the Salmiya map on one of the pages it showed a “Camping Area” which confused me, how did Salmiya have a camping area? Then a follower on Instagram helped me figure out where that area was (Google Maps) and I realized that was the location of the Salmiya Youth Hostel which was supposedly run by the Kuwait Boy Scouts.

Then under the grocery store section, it listed various supermarkets, many I actually need to research especially New Supermarket because I remember the Salmiya location from the early 80s. But one of the supermarkets listed was Khalaf, which last year I happened to find photos of their Salmiya location.

Since I felt this was worth sharing, I took photos of the most significant pages and turned them into a 44MB PDF. You can download it here.

The Q8 Comedy Club have a show tomorrow night and as of this post, tickets are still available (they’re free). The show is a combination of improv comedy and stand-up and is hosted by Ahmad Alshammari (@ahmad_comedy) from @shenoya3ni_tv. He’s obviously extremely funny, but so are the rest of the comedians, especially when you consider the fact we don’t even have a comedy scene in Kuwait.

The show is in Arabic and is taking place in Salmiya inside Dalal Complex. As I mentioned, tickets are free and if you want to get them you need to hurry up, the link is in their profile @q8comedy1

Update: It’s now sold out but you can follow them to stay posted on their next show.

If you’re a customer of the main Sultan Center in Salmiya you might have noticed how the upstairs area was pretty dead. Xcite and Intersport opened there a few years ago but the homeware section was pretty poor, like they stopped caring about it.

Well yesterday I found out that True Value has now taken over that department so I decided to check it out. Basically the whole top floor of Sultan Center Salmiya is divided between Xcite, Intersports, Dawa Pharmacy and True Value. True Value takes up majority of the space and covers all the homeware items with a very tiny hardware section.

It’s a pretty good idea and great for shoppers, but mostly because they’ve restocked the area and its packed with stuff now instead of it looking abandoned.