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I’m heading to LA and San Fransisco for a few days so expect me to either not post at all in the upcoming days, or if I do post it will be at odd hours. Everything should get back to normal once I’m back next week.

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]

Eduqate describes itself as “an educational archive that encourages culturists and liberal arts students in the GCC to become exposed to readings in the topics of culture and identity”. Basically, Eduqate is about nostalgia and specifically nostalgia related to the GCC.

The project just recently launched but already I’ve been finding the content fascinating and informative. So if you love nostalgia (and who doesn’t), check out their website eduqate.org or follow them on instagram @eduqate

A reader sent me the email below letting me know that the kiosk I spotted at the ASCC museums last week has now been removed!

Dear Mark,

Thanks for the post about the kiosk in ASCC. Last week I contacted an executive at the Amiri Diwan and forwarded the picture of the kiosk that you posted on the blog. He was surprised by the grotesqueness of the stand and instantly contacted the person in charge of the project. From what I hear, the stand has now been removed (thank god).

Thank you for keeping us aware.

Best Regards

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.

Screenshot from Ready Player One

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

New This Weekend:
Beyond the Edge (6.2)
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (7.2)
Downrange (5.0)
Peter Rabbit (6.5)
Ready Player One (8.1)
The Hurricane Heist (4.8)

Other Movies Showing:
Black Panther (7.2)
Death Wish (6.4)
Midnight Sun (6.1)
Pacific Rim: Uprising (6.2)
Red Sparrow (6.8) ♦
Sherlock Gnomes (4.5)
The Strangers: Prey at Night (5.9)
Tomb Raider (7.3)

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

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Amazing Mighty Micro Monsters 3D (7.4)
America Wild: National Parks Adventure (N/A)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Extreme Weather 3D (6.6)
Tiny Giants 3D (8.0)
Watermelon Magic 3D (7.4)

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

Earlier this month I posted a music video called “Flowers Will Rot” by local artist Tamara Qaddoumi. The track was off her EP “Dust Bathing” which is now available to listen to on different music platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon. So if you’re interested in hearing more of her music, search for her in your favorite music app or listen to her music directly on her website [Here]

One of my readers was able to get access to the Kuwait Motor Town race track and shot a video of a lap around it. The track will sadly not be ready to use this season since it still needs a final layer of tarmac. You can actually notice the high curbs in the video, that’s because of the 4cm top layer that’s missing. The inauguration of the track is still scheduled for March 28. [YouTube]

If you can get me access to the track let me know!

Thanks Mohammed!

I’m a huge fan of the Far Cry series and the 5th installment which is scheduled to be released worldwide on March 27 is already available in Kuwait to purchase since yesterday. In Far Cry 5 you play the role of a sheriff’s deputy who is part of a task force sent to Montana to arrest a leader of an armed religious cult. I’ve been playing the game all morning and I’m loving it so far.

If you’re interested in the game it was being sold at Rihab for KD20 yesterday. It’s also available to order online from Alfuhod and GamesQ8.

An oddly busy weekend considering things have been slowing down recently. In addition to the below events, Avenues Phase 4 opened up this morning so that’s something you could check out this weekend. You also have the new ASCC museums to pass by if you haven’t already. Check out this weekends events below:

Thursday
Carmina Burana by Carl Orff
And Then There Were None
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Mommy

Friday
Carmina Burana by Carl Orff
Exhibition: Four Hundred Days
The 9th Annual ACA IB Art Show
Trip to Blue Lake Farm
Chef’s Table, Modern Spanish Cuisine
Book Club – The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma

Saturday
LadySoft Run 2018
KTAA Spring Bazaar
Exhibition: Four Hundred Days
The 9th Annual ACA IB Art Show
Indonesian Coffee Festival
DVDV Debut Album “Ai Am” in Kuwait
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: North by Northwest
Soulful Saturday Dinner – Ramen

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.

Screenshot from Red Sparrow

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

New This Weekend:
Blood Money (4.5) ♦
Midnight Sun (6.1)
Pacific Rim: Uprising (6.2)
Red Sparrow (6.8) ♦
Sherlock Gnomes (4.5)
The Forgiven (5.4) ♦
The Strangers: Prey at Night (5.9)

Other Movies Showing:
Black Panther (7.2)
Boonie Bears: A Mystical Winter (6.2)
Death Wish (6.4)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (6.9) ♦ ★
The Shape of Water (7.6) ♦ ★
Tomb Raider (7.3)

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

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Amazing Mighty Micro Monsters 3D (7.4)
America Wild: National Parks Adventure (N/A)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Extreme Weather 3D (6.6)
Tiny Giants 3D (8.0)
Watermelon Magic 3D (7.4)

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

I was in blockat the other night and came across this pretty strange shop. The shop mostly specializes in scales, everything from small Tanita home scales to heavy-duty commercial ones. But, that occupied just half the store, the other half was filled with random things like crucibles to melt gold in, old-fashioned steering wheel locks, kitchen knives, butter churns and a science section.

The shop sold biology, chemistry and physics equipment and labware, and most of it looked pretty old school like they’ve been sitting on the shelves for decades.

So if you’re ever in need of tubes, flasks, chemicals, skeletons or whatever, then you could check this place out. It’s also fun to just walk around in since the store has so much random stuff.

The place is called Ibrahim & Mohd.Soud Al-Farhan Trad. Co. and they’re located in Kuwait City in the blockat area. They’re also on [Google Maps].

The fourth phase of Avenues will be opening tomorrow the 22nd of March. There will be a private opening ceremony at 10:30AM followed by the opening to the public at 11:30AM. There will be live amusement activities and events taking place throughout the weekend.

If you want to see photos of phase 4 I took a couple of months back, click [Here]

Picture on top by Dragos