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I’m pretty sure that I’m butchering the pronunciation of the restaurant but, USQUYU (oos-ku-you?) is a new restaurant that just opened up in Shuwaikh. The food is inspired by Peruvian cuisine and the interior looks pretty interesting based on the photos I’ve seen.

I haven’t had the time yet to pass by and try it, but if you’re looking for something new, you could check this place out. They’re currently only open from 6PM to 11PM. They’re on instagram @usquyu and here is their location on [Google Maps]

Photo from @ralfadalah

A couple of weeks ago I got back from LA and brought back with me the Google Home Mini and the Amazon Echo Dot. I actually got two Amazon Echos, I put one in my bedroom and the other in the kitchen while I put the Google Home device in my living room. After using them for two weeks I sadly can’t tell you which is better because I don’t think there is a clear winner. But what I’ll do is explain how I’ve decided to use them and the issues I have with both of them and hopefully, that will give you an idea on which one you should get.

Firstly for those of you who have no idea what the Google Home and Amazon Echo are, they’re voice-controlled devices like Siri on the iPhone. Amazon’s assistant is called Alexa while Google’s is simply called Google Assistant. Recently Apple released the HomePod which uses Siri. The reason I didn’t get that instead is the price. At $350, the HomePod would be pretty expensive to add to every room in the house plus, I already have a legit speaker in every room of my apartment anyway the HomePod would make them redundant. On the other hand, both the Echo Dot and Home Mini cost $50 each, so the three I got cost less than half the price of one HomePod. I connected the bedroom Echo to my Bang & Olufsen Beolit 12 speaker and the kitchen one to my Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A2 speaker. I left the Google Home as is because I wasn’t planning to use it to play music.

Let me take the opportunity now to explain how I’m using the devices.

In the morning I tend to wake up and play music on the BeoLit 12 in my bedroom. Before I got the Echo, I used to launch Spotify on my phone and then AirPlay the music onto my bedroom speaker. My phone also used to be my alarm. Now on the other hand, I set the alarm on the Echo and when I want to play music I just go “Alexa, play music everywhere”. Everywhere is a group I created that includes my bedroom and kitchen Echo. So now I get music playing in my bedroom, and my kitchen downstairs. Then just before I leave my house I go into the kitchen, get my car keys and say “Alexa stop” and it stops playing music in my apartment. I also have Alexa setup to work with both my Amazon Music account and my Spotify account. When I say for example “Alexa play jazz”, it will connect to a jazz radio station on Amazon Music, but when I say “Alexa play music” or “Alexa play my discovery weekly playlist on Spotify”, it will either continue playing where I last stopped on Spotify, or play the specific playlist I asked for.

While I use Alexa for music, I use Google for questions, like I do on the web. I have it set up in my living room where I spend 90% of my time in. So far it’s been super helpful while friends were over. For example, I was sitting talking to a friend and they asked me how long the flight from NY to LA was. I estimated at around 5 hours but then I was like “Hey Google, how long is the flight from NY to LA?”. Within an instant, Google replied that a non-stop flight was 6 hours and 15 minutes long. Another time I was watching a movie and someone mentioned a banana daiquiri. I was curious to know what alcohol is used to make a daiquiri so I was like “Hey Google, whats in a banana daiquiri?”. A second later google responded back with the ingredients of a banana daiquiri. I’m picking up my phone to google stuff a lot less now because I can just ask Google a question verbally. And unlike with Siri, it just feels more natural to talk to Google. It just understands normal dialogue like a real person while with Siri I sometimes feel like I have to talk to it knowing she’s an AI. Not only that but Siri barely understands me sometimes and a good example is now while typing this post, I just asked Siri whats in a banana daiquiri and she responded with the weather report. Like WTF Siri?!

Another cool feature with Google Home is it can tell me if there is traffic on my way to work. Since Google knows where I live and where my office is (I had this setup on Google Maps from before), I can just ask “Hey Google is there any traffic on my way to work?” and it will respond with an answer and then tell me which is the fastest route to take and how long it will take me to get there. Not only that but I could ask it where the closest McDonalds is and how far it is to walk to and it will tell me!

I haven’t really asked Alexa a lot of questions but I did try the banana daiquiri question on her and she struggled. She struggled mostly to understand what I was saying and then told me what was in a daiquiri but not a banana daiquiri.

So you’re thinking Google Home is clearly the winner here. It’s not since I’ve had some weird issues with it. Firstly I can’t seem to set Spotify as my default music player so when I tell Google to play music, it replies saying I need to set up my default music player. But when I go to that section in the app, it won’t let me pick Spotify. To play music I have to say “Hey Google, play music from Spotify” which is annoying cuz its easier to just ask “Hey Google, play music”. Then the worst part is, Google Home doesn’t work with G-Suite. Since my Gmail account is connected to my 248AM domain I have a G-Suite account and it won’t work with Google Home. I can’t connect Google Home to my Calendar or email which is so bizarre. Amazon’s Alexa, on the other hand, connects to both my Gmail and Google Calendars! How weird is that? Alexa also has a ton of plugins so say we had Uber working in Kuwait, you could install the Uber plugin and then be able to call an Uber by talking to Alexa. I’m using Uber an example here but there are plugins for everything imaginable.

So which device to get I really can’t tell you. I like having both. Between the two, the Google Home Mini sounds a lot better than the Amazon Echo Dot but really if you want to use it as a speaker, both Google and Amazon have much better-sounding devices. You can also do a lot more with both devices like control home automation, have them tell you the news and with Google Home you can even play games with it or use it as a doctor (say “hey google, virtual nurse”). But my needs are very simple as you can see above. Both Google and Amazon devices are available in Kuwait, Xcite sell both at KD20 each and you can most likely find it at other stores as well. If you have any questions, let me know below.

Lots of events taking place this weekend! Tonight is the last night of the Palestinian Cultural Exhibition and they’re having a bake sale. Friday you have the Kuwait Rising Music Festival which features Grammy award-winning artist Joss Stone among others. Finally, on Saturday you have a full day of activities taking place during Soul Fest. Check out the list below for all the events taking place this weekend:

Thursday
FUSE X COMMONS Pop-Up
Raclette & 3 Short Films
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Monsoon Wedding
48th Palestinian Cultural Exhibition

Friday
Kuwait Rising Music Festival

Saturday
Peak Vertical Marathon
Soul Fest
Yoga with Cats
Market Space
8th Annual CELL Conference
Perspectives in Kuwaiti Art
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Buena Vista Social Club

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.

Last night I was invited to drop by the new VOX Cinemas in Avenues phase 4 to get a tour of their space. This is their first VOX Cinemas location in Kuwait, and since there are three other cinema chains already in Kuwait, they know they’ve got to bring their A-game if they’re hoping to succeed.

VOX is nearly ready to open up to the public and tonight they will be premiering the new Avengers film with an invite-only affair. The only area that was still under construction and one that I wasn’t able to take photos in was the THEATRE by Rhodes section.

Tickets + Food
When you first go up the escalators into the VOX Cinemas you’ll find ticket machines on the sides and the food area in front of you. Ticketing and food are combined into one, so you can buy your tickets and popcorn at the same time. That’s pretty great and convenient if you didn’t buy your ticket online since instead of waiting in line to buy tickets and then a second line to buy food, you’re combining it into one line. The disadvantage is to those who already have their tickets. The food line is usually pretty long anyway but now you have to also wait for people to decide what movie they want to watch and where they want to sit. So I’d imagine trying to get food is a longer process with this system.

THEATRE by Rhodes
This is VOX’s equivalent to VIP theaters in other cinema chains. There are 4 small theaters located in a separate section and the reason the area is called THEATRE by Rhodes is because the food menu was created by Michelin star chef Gary Rhodes. THEATRE by Rhodes will have reclining seats with adjustable footrests, blankets, pillows and, a waiter service which you can call via a button on the seats. This area of VOX should be completed in two weeks time.

Their Largest Theater
The picture above is of VOX’s largest theater, they have two of those. It was huge, filled with seats and yet it still felt so spacious because of the fact they’ve left a really large gap between the screen and the first row of seats.

I liked the color scheme as well which was all black with red accents. The seats were comfy, large and had a pretty good amount of legroom as well as cupholder and a side table for your food or phone.

If you arrive to the theater when dark, you’ll be able to find your seat easily since the aisle and chair numbers are lit up.

Their Regular Theaters
VOX has 17 theaters in total, 4 are the Rhodes theaters, 2 are their large theaters which I’ve posted about above, then they have 2 more kids theaters (more on those in a bit), 1 rentable theater and finally, 8 regular theaters. These regular theaters are smaller in size, have smaller seats compared to their larger theater and, less legroom. If you notice in the picture above there are two colors of seats, black and blue. This is to separate their VIP or premium location seats (in black) which cost more than the seats in the not so prime viewing area (in blue).

The theaters I used to frequent in London had a similar setup, if you want to sit in the prime area you’ll have to pay more for the ticket. I’m not a fan of this system although in London it was great since nobody wanted to pay for premium seats so I always got great seats, even though I booked late.

Their Kids Theaters
VOX have a separate area for kids. The area is colorful with a play area and a separate entrance. You’ll be able to book the area for your kids birthday and they can run around and scream without bothering the rest of the movie goers.

The theaters themselves are small and have multi-colored seats. They look tacky but I guess kids will love it.

Thier Millennial Theater
It’s not really called the millennial theater thats just what I’m calling it because that’s the age group they’re targeting with it. The small theater is filled with reclining sofas and the concept behind it is that you would be able to rent it out for you and your friends to watch a movie or even to play video games on the large screen.

VOX Cinemas is opening tonight but like I mentioned already, it’s invite only. Once they’re done with tonight’s opening they have a few more things they need to finalize before they open to the public. No specific date has been set but it’s probably happening in the next week or two. Here is a link to their web site [Link]

Update: I went last night to watch Avengers and here are some observations. They don’t have any IMAX theaters. They have MAX theaters that sound like IMAX but are just regular theaters. I wish the chairs in the MAX theaters were slightly more reclined. The seat numbers that light up are actually a bit annoying in the dark since you can see light coming from the chairs behind you.

I just left Rihab Complex with the Nintendo Labo variety kit. There is only one store at the moment in Rihab selling the Labo and its Kuwait Toys Center. They’ve got both the Variety Kit and the Robot Kit and they’re selling each for KD40. That might sound expensive compared to the US price, but it really isn’t that bad of a deal.

The Variety Kit sells for KD22 on Amazon while the Robot Kit sells for KD25 not including tax. The Variety Kit weighs nearly 3KG so if you shipped it using Shop&Ship they’ll charge KD17 for shipping without the customs fees. With PostaPlus they’ll charge you KD12 without the customs fees. So if my calculations are correct:

Variety Kit KD23 with tax
+ KD17 shipping (Aramex Shop&Ship)
+ KD1 clearance fee
Total = KD41

If you ship to your PostaPlus mailbox the total would still be around KD36. So paying KD4 more to have it first isn’t that bad of a deal. If you’re interested in picking up a Nintendo Labo, Kuwait Toys Center only had a handful in stock when I passed by so you’ve got to hurry. Check them out on instagram @kuwait_toys_center

If you’re looking for new shows to watch while you wait for a new Westworld episode every week, here are three:

Lost in Space
Even though I finished watching the whole first season, I am still undecided if I like the show or not. I managed to binge watch ten episodes over two days but that’s not really a tell on how good the show is since I also binge-watched the terrible Seven Seconds over two days as well. Lost in Space is a remake of a series from 1965 with the same name, it follows a family who get thrown off course in space and crash into an unknown planet. The show started off really entertaining but there was this one character and story plot I couldn’t stand which is why I’m not sure how I feel about the show. It’s worth checking out and I’m curious to see how the second season will develop. Lost in Space is on Netflix.

The Crossing
I originally thought this show was by the same creator as LOST, but while looking for info on the show for this post I realized it’s not. This should give you an idea on what kind of show this is. The Crossing is four episodes in and it has me hooked. The plot is very interesting and focuses on refugees that end up on a beach outside a small town, but the thing is, these refugees are from a war-torn future. The trailer above is what got me watching the show so check it out. The Crossing is available to watch on Hulu.

Barry
From the three shows here, Barry is my favorite. The show stars Bill Hader who plays the role of a hitman who moves to LA and decides he wants to quit to become an actor. Its a funny show that stars some legendary comedians like Stephen Root (Newsradio, Office Space) and Henry Winkler (Arrested Development, Parks and Recreation). Barry just recently started so only five episodes are out so far. If you’re interested, Barry is available to watch on HBO.

VOX Cinemas, the UAE-based cinema company is opening up in phase 4 of Avenues tomorrow night (April 25). They’ll be premiering the new Avengers movie but it’s an invite-only affair although, from my understanding, the box office should open up to the public tomorrow night if you’re interested in booking tickets for this coming weekend. *update below*

The VOX cinema has 17 screens with a seating capacity of over 1,500 seats. They’re the fourth cinema chain to open up in Kuwait and will be competing head to head with Cinespcape that is also open in Avenues. Here is a link to their [Website]

Update: I was just told tickets will NOT be going on sale tomorrow. They’re just opening the theater for the private premier and they are still waiting on some permits before they can sell tickets to the public.

As most of you are aware by now, part of the old souq in Salmiya is being turned into a pedestrian-only area. The project was originally scheduled to be completed in February but due to delays, work is still going on right now.

The photos in this post were taken a couple of days back and they show the current progress. For more photos, click [Here]

Why do we now have billboards every 20m on the Gulf Road? It used to be one of the most scenic roads in Kuwait and now it’s plastered with billboards all down the middle. If it was one billboard every now and then I can understand, if they were on the side of the Gulf Road, I could understand that as well, but they’re just back to back all along the middle. I think there are more billboards down the middle of the Gulf Road than there are palm trees, and I’m not exaggerating.

Speaking of billboards, do people still not know what it means when a word has a red squiggly line under it?

Supplements are pretty expensive in Kuwait but I had forgotten how expensive until last night. I dropped by Health Planet to pick up ZMA and they only had the supplement in the MET-Rx brand. I decided to check Amazon for reviews and noticed that the price on Amazon was just $9.99 which is basically 3KD. The price at Health Planet? 14.5KD. That’s nearly 5 times more expensive than the Amazon price.

Why are supplements still so expensive in Kuwait? A few years ago there weren’t that many places that sold supplements but now there are a whole bunch of them and the prices have yet to fall.

I used to order my supplements from UAE based Sporter, but they’ve now started charging for shipping so it’s no longer feasible to order from them anymore. I should have gotten supplements back with me from LA, no idea why I didn’t think about that but even if I did, that would have just been a short-term fix.

The new Al Kout Mall opened up yesterday and I passed by last night to check it out. Driving down to Fahaheel feels like such a journey which is why I rarely ever go down there and I’m assuming people who live there also rarely ever journey up to the city. This is why the new Al Kout Mall is a great addition to the area.

The new Al Kout replaces the old Al Manshar Mall and the large residential buildings that used to be located right behind it. It’s a fairly small sized mall when compared to the Avenues, but it’s still substantially larger than 360 Mall. One thing I noticed is that the stores are all pretty small, so you have all the big brands there but their store sizes are probably the smallest ones in Kuwait. I guess its how they were able to fit so many stores into the mall.

Not all the stores are open yet nor are the movie theaters and the karting track on the roof. The karting track once completed will be the largest indoor karting track in the Middle East which I think is pretty exciting. If you’re curious about the parking situation, the mall has 3,600 parking spots accessible from a variety of entrances around the mall. But, parking isn’t an issue there its traffic that’s the problem. The street there had heavy traffic even before the mall was open so expect it to be even worse now.

For more information on the mall including a list of all the stores you can visit their website [alkout.com] or follow them on instagram @alkoutmall

Lord Curzon and his staff being carried ashore to be welcomed by the Sheikh November, 1903

I just found out about the Bridgeman photo library a short while ago and going through it I spotted a bunch of interesting photos of Kuwait I had never seen before. I’ve included some of my favorites in this post along with their captions.

Kuwaiti man holding a kid on the leash on a pavement. Kuwait City, December 1956

Kuwaiti woman entirely covered by her dress selling chickens in the street. Kuwait City, December 1956

Kuwaiti woman with a veil on her face holding her son in front of the cages containing birds on sale.

Check out more old photos of Kuwait by clicking [Here]

Lunch Room is a new restaurant that has been open for a few weeks now, but I finally got to try it this past weekend. Lunch Room is the creation of Ahmed Al Bader, the same chef behind one of my favorite restaurants, Habra. I went to Lunch Room with a friend, and although we didn’t over order, everything we did order turned out to be delicious. We started off with the maple-roasted carrots and Mexican Mango juice, and then for my main, I had the scrambled egg on a Dutch buckwheat pancake while my friend had the poached eggs dosa. We finished things off with the Dutch buckwheat pancake dessert that came with berries, salted honey butter and whipped mascarpone.

You can take a look at the full menu [Here]

Usually, it takes more than one visit to a new place to find a dish that I love and would come back for, but with Lunch Room I managed to hit the nail on the head from my first visit. Everything we had turned out to be delicious especially my scrambled egg dish which I’ll have a hard time not ordering on my next visit so I could try something else. But not only was the food really good, I also found the restaurant super cozy and the service was great as well.

I don’t know why they didn’t call the place Brunch Room since it’s more of a brunch place than a lunch one, but really, even if it was called Dinner Room I wouldn’t care and still go back to it. It’s probably going to be my favorite brunch spot for the next few months since I think I’ve overdosed on Cocoa Room. If you’re visiting on the weekend expect to wait for a table. I passed by around 10:30AM and there were 14 names ahead of mine. Luckily, they’re walking distance from Arabica in Arraya, so I killed time by having coffee there. Lunch Room is open from 9AM to 3PM and they’re located in Kuwait City next to RAW sushi [Google Maps]. You can also follow them on instagram @lunchroomkw

If you want your car washed at home then there are a lot of companies that offer the service, and there is even an app that can connect you to most of them. But not all car washes are equal which is why I found this latest service from ProTech Monte-Carlo interesting.

ProTech consider themselves a car spa, they offer premium detailing services as well as tinting, paint protection and a variety of treatments for your car. Just flipping through their Instagram account you’ll notice they’ve worked on some of the hottest cars in Kuwait from classics to supercars, and I’ve personally used them twice, first time to detail my Datsun 240z, and the second time for paint protection on my first Exige.

Over the weekend I got a message from them letting me know they’re now offering membership packages for their premium car wash service to your home. For KD40 a month they’ll come by once a week at a prearranged time to wash your car. If you want them to come by more than once a week they have packages for that as well which you can see below:

There are a couple of things I like about this, the first being that they actually know how to wash cars the right way. I know washing a car sounds simple and it is, but there are special techniques to washing the car properly and how to avoid getting swirls in your paint. For example, they’re the only place I’ve seen use clay bars when washing the car. If you’re got an expensive car then the extra care is definitely worth it. The second thing I like about this service is the membership aspect, I like the idea of signing up to a washing service and have them come over say every Sunday at 8AM to wash my car. The only thing is you need to commit to 12 months and I don’t like thinking that far ahead.

If you’re interested in signing up to the service, you can contact them by phone or whatsapp on +965-96912001. Here is a link to their [Website]

Below are all the events I found taking place this weekend. If there is anything I missed let me know.

Thursday
Exhibition: Four Hundred Days
Cofe Festival
George Enescu Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra
Forests “By The City”
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Force Majeure
Dvorak Piano Quintet

Friday
Exhibition: Four Hundred Days
George Enescu Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra
3rd Women’s Volleyball Tournament
Concert: The Warehouse Series 0.3

Saturday
Exhibition: Four Hundred Days
George Enescu Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra
Guided Tour: Arab Organization Headquarters
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Good Time

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.