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Burger Boutique are opening their second location in The View Tower, the same building as Marks & Spencer and Whole Foods. I only noticed it a couple of days back and according to them they’ll be opening in around a months time. Burger Boutique was what set the trend for locally created burger joints and their only other location is in Arraya Complex in the city. There is a Burger Boutique Black in Murooj as well but that it their more upscale version of the brand and has a different menu. If you don’t know where The View Tower is, here it is on [Google Maps]

Meme’s Curry is a Japanese curry restaurant that opened a few years back by two Kuwaiti chefs. It originally started off as a home business before opening their first location… in Rihab Complex. I was never a fan of the location for obvious reasons but a couple of weeks ago they opened up in a new location in The View, the same complex that houses Marks & Spencer and Whole Foods in Salmiya. So if you’ve been meaning to try them out but been put off with their original location, here is their new location on [Google Maps]

According to a recent news report on Al Rai, the Kuwait Airport have updated the security screening stations on departure. The airport increased the security stations from a previous total of four to a new total of six. One station for first/business class passengers as well as flight crew, two for GCC residents and three machines now for expats.

On a related note, Kuwait Airways no longer flies direct to New York but instead has to stop in Ireland for a security check before continuing to the States. I understood that it’s due to the poor security checks at the Kuwait Airport. United Airlines stopped their Kuwait – Washington route earlier this year and one of the rumored reasons was because of poor airport security and it makes sense now. Last year there were also rumors that British Airways would halt all flights from Kuwait unless security at the airport was improved.

Back in the 90s, White Tower in Salmiya used to be similar to Rihab Complex, the whole top floor was full of video game stores but there were also a bunch of arcade shops. It was the place to go to if you wanted to play fighting games against other people but also if you wanted to play now classic games like Metal Slug. Oh the amount of money I spent on Metal Slug…

Anyway, I passed by White Tower a couple of days ago to see if anything was still open and to my surprise there was still one arcade shop still standing. It wasn’t in the best of state but they did have recent games. Some of the games they had were the following:

Street Fighter V
Street Fighter IV
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
King of Fighters (all of them)
Marvel vs Capcom

And if I understood correctly they had a bunch of NeoGeo games as well. Best part is it still costs exactly the same as it did back in the 90s to play a round, just 100fils. If you win you keep playing for free of course. If you don’t know where White Towers is, here it is on [Google Maps]

If you’re fasting quickly look away since this list isn’t meant for you. On the other hand if you’re not fasting and want to order food before Iftar then below are some restaurants that can deliver you food:

Adobo Burritos
Deliveries start after 1PM
Telephone: 69957242

China Garden
Deliveries start after 11AM
Telephone: 25720010

China Kitchen
Deliveries start after 11:30AM
Telephone: 25738754

Finger Sushi
Delivers anytime, they’re open 24 hours
Telephone: 60002929

HanHum Restaurant
Deliveries start after 2:30PM
Telephone: 22270234

Marina Thai
Deliveries start after 12PM
Telephone: 23720040

Max Restaurant
Deliveries start after 12PM
Telephone: 25750647

Noodles Restaurant
Deliveries start after 1PM
Telephone: 25749933

Osaka
Deliveries start after 10AM
Telephone: 22637331

Poele
Deliveries start after 12PM
Telephone: 69998291

Q Cafe
Deliveries start after 12PM
Telephone: 22495067

Sauceges
Deliveries start after 9AM
Telephone: 51474777

Sea Taste Restaurant
Deliveries start after 12PM
Telephone: 66395655

Zafran
Deliveries start after 12PM
Telephone: 22285203 or 97281007

Finger Sushi is open 24 hours so you could order from them anytime but there are a few other places that open up before noon as well like China Garden, Osaka and Sauceges. I’ll be updating the list above as I find out about more places, if you know of a place that delivers before Iftar let me know in the comments.

Hello everybody and Ramadan Mubarak to you and your families. Since a part of Ramadan is being grateful to the things around you, I thought I would write to let you all know (and Mark) that I am very grateful for the chance I get to connect with you all through 248am and share my legal knowledge.

A lot of my readers are concerned about working hours in Ramadan, yet the law is very clear about the maximum hours. They are 36 hours a week, that averages to 6 hours a day because it is a 6 day working week (usually with Saturdays off as a paid leave).

I know that a lot of businesses have divided their shifts into two, one before and one after iftar, and a lot of you are asking, is this legal? Yes it is as long as you don’t work for more than 36 hours a week (anything more you should be paid overtime with cash and not extra days off, unless that’s what YOU want).

I hope that helped, and I hope you all have a lovely Ramadan.

Feel free to email me on [email protected] with any legal questions. I do not have the capacity to answer everyone for free (but I try), and I am happy to announce that I am currently working with a great team and therefore we are able to reply back to all emails with a reasonable time frame.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

Looking for somewhere different to travel to during Eid?

Thanks Pat

A few months ago I found out that the Oula gas station near the Jawazat roundabout in Salmiya had a 24/7 car wash. Even since I’ve been wanting to just randomly drop by like 2AM or something to try it out but haven’t had the time to until last night. My Datsun had been at the mechanic for the past two weeks getting a number of things installed (will post about it separately) and last night I dropped by around 11PM to pick up the car. There were still some minor things that he was working on and he ended up finishing at around 3AM. So after leaving the garage, I decided to drop by the car wash on my way home to test it out.

So I get there and sure enough the car wash was open. I assumed they just had an exterior wash since no way they’d have staff available to clean the inside of the car after midnight but surprisingly, they had a full team on stand by. So I got my car washed in the middle of the night and it cost me just KD3 for an exterior and interior cleaning (without tip).

So if you ever want to wash your car in the middle of the night, this is the place to go. This carwash by the way uses a touch free automated system called the LaserWash which I posted about back in 2010. Here is the location of this car wash on [Google Maps]

Maybe he could let us know if we’re on track to becoming the world’s food capital by 2030.

Seriously though I think he might like it here. For local cuisine he could go to Freej, Dar Hamad and maybe somebodies diwaniya. Then we have a bunch of trendy places he could drop by like Cocoa Room for breakfast and Street by Al Makan for dinner. We have cool coffee places like Vol.1, a bunch of interesting Indian and Thai hole in the walls and most importantly, we have Sidekick Academy which is a great jiu jitsu facility so he could roll with some of our US Open champions.

If you’re wondering why your internet has been slow the past two days its because one of the main fiber cables providing internet to Kuwait was cut. No sharks were involved this time around since it was a terrestrial cable that was cut and not a marine one.

The cable was supposed to be repaired by the next day but MOC must have run into issues since it’s now been 2 days now and the issue still hasn’t been sorted. A redditor who works at one of the local internet providers has been posting updates over the past couple of days keeping us posted on the current status:

[23/5/2016 11:00am] So far its not resolved. MOC contractor is working on restoring the links. Hopefully within next 1-2 hours it should be restored. I will update you guys.

[23/5/2016 12:45pm] Links are up now. Cheers!!

[23/5/2016 2:00pm] Links came up for some time and went down again. Seems like they are still doing quality testing on the link. More update to follow.

[23/5/2016 6:55pm] As per latest update, MOC contractor has stopped working. All links are still down. They will continue working tomorrow. Seriously don’t know why its taking soo much time. Normally terrestrial fiber cut are restored in few hours. 🙁

[24/5/2016 9:25am] Seems like the cut is in no man’s land between Saudi and Kuwait. As per fresh update, team is on site and have started the work. More update to follow.

[24/5/2016 12:30pm] Looks like the cables are severely damaged. Contractors are considering replacing the whole segment between the two manholes.. More to follow.

To stay posted on the latest status of the internet situation in Kuwait, keep checking the original reddit thread [Here]

Also here is an interesting tidbit he shared which might explain why my mobile phone connection is faster then my home one at the moment:

Whenever there is any cable cut in the region, these ISP will limit bandwidth for residential users in order to provide additional bandwidth to mobile companies since they pay more per MB bandwidth than residential users.

InstaSalla is a new app that allows you to order groceries from your local co-op and have it delivered within 90 minutes. Based on my short experience with the app it seems they have ALL their products available online to purchase which means this might be more comprehensive than the likes of Taw9eel or the LuLu web store.

The app is mainly in Arabic although there is an English option (swipe left to reveal the sidebar). Sadly not everything was translated to English, if you try to order anything or even register an account you’ll be met with Arabic menus even if you had chosen English as the app’s language. Still, not bad for the first release.

InstaSalla is available on both [iOS] and [Android]

Thanks umterchia

For those of you who’ve ever ordered anything by regular mail you know that once it arrives to Kuwait you can’t track it anymore. Usually you wait a few days and then head to the office to check and see if they’ve received it yet, if not you then have to come back again another time. Well thanks to a reader I found out that you can now track your package once it arrives to Kuwait via a web application that is intended only for MOC use. Here is the [Link]

Hopefully this website won’t get disabled now that its public. It makes life easier.

Update: The link above no longer works but there is now an official tracking website [Here]

Last week I was going through my instagram explore page and found a video of a new indoor skate park, turns out it was part of “Trampo Extreme”, the new Trampo location in Murouj. So I got in touch with them and headed over to check the place out.

The new Trampo location is HUGE with a lot of different activities to try out. First you have the trampolines area which takes up around 1/3 of the whole space. There are different kinds of trampolines to choose from including a dodge ball trampoline court for competitive action against friends. Right next to the trampoline section you have a leap of faith tower and a vertical slide, both of which are meant to test your courage.

Now the other areas of the new Trampo location is where I think things get interesting. First you have a large area on your right once you walk in filled with really tall climbing walls. This is my favorite area in the whole arena since it’s one I’ll probably go back to try.

Right in the middle of the arena but raised above ground is a cable climbing area. It’s a obstacle course in the air which you traverse and once you get to the end of it there is a zip line that takes you to the other side.

The last activity at the new Trampo location is one I think a lot of teenagers are going to love, a skate park. The skate park is divided into three main areas with the first one aimed towards intermediate skaters. This area is composed of a large shallow pool on one side and low rails and ledges on the other with small quarter pipes.

The second area behind the intermediate one is the main skating area and consists of two large quarter pipes connected to each other with volcanos in the middle. This area is a lot more difficult but to help make things a bit easier, there is a third area where you could go to and practice your tricks.

The training area consists of a slope down to a quarter pipe which has a foam pit behind it. This way skaters and riders can practice their tricks without having to worry about getting hurt. And yes, BMX riders can use these facilities alongside skaters and if you don’t have a skateboard or bike, they have them available for you to use.

I got the price list from Tampo and it’s as follows:

Jump: KD6.5/hour
Climb: KD6/hour
Skate’n’Ride Junior: KD7/hour
Skate’n’Ride Pro: KD5.5/hour
Leap: KD1
Slide: KD1
Zipline: KD4

Trampo Extreme just opened this past weekend and their hours are Monday to Thursday 2PM to 10PM, Friday 10AM to 10PM, Saturday 10AM to 8PM and Sundays they are closed. The skate area doesn’t require any bookings but the climbing and trampoline areas do. To book your spot you can do so online from their website [Here]

Last year I posted about a frame shop in Shuwaikh which I used to customize a frame for one of my prints. Since then I’ve used two other shops as well, not because the original one I posted about wasn’t good enough, but mostly because I didn’t feel like going to Shuwaikh every time I needed a frame done.

Boushahri Group Photography And Graphic Arts
Most of you know Boushahri from back in the days when you needed to get your portrait photo taken for passports or civil IDs. Nowadays they’re a pretty tiny setup mostly just printing your digital photos and picture framing. I had a large black and white photo I needed framed along with a white mount so I decided to try Boushahri since they’re really close to my house. Their frame shop is located behind their photography shop and they had a large variety of frames to choose from as well as different colored mounts. I briefed them on the job, got a quote on the spot for KD15 which was really reasonable and was told the frame would be done in a couple of days. The next day they called me up and told me my frame was ready to pick up. Good service and a great price. Here is their location on [Google Maps]

Elegant Frame & Art (Mashmoom)
I had been trying to get a hold of the Michael Kagan print above since end of 2013 and I finally managed to get a copy only a couple of months ago (long story involving lots of drama with the artist). Because of the importance of this print to me and the way I wanted it framed, I didn’t think my Shuwaikh guy would be able to do it. Although I’m sure Boushahri could, I figured I’d take it to a place that had more experience. There used to be a store near Salhiya called Elegant Frame & Art, I say used to be because when I passed by the location it turned out they had moved. I posted on twitter asking if anyone knew where they moved to and someone from Elegant Frame & Art contacted me telling me they moved to Sun City inside a store called Mashmoom. So I headed there, met with the specialist, briefed him on what I wanted and left. I had two prints by Michael, the one pictured above and another one thats roughly twice as tall. They told me they would need around a week to get it done and they’d let me know how much it would cost. Two days later they messaged me to tell me it would cost KD40… per frame! I thought that was too expensive but I honestly didn’t want to drive back to Sun City in Shuwaikh to pick up the prints nor was I in the mood to brief someone else on the job. So I ended up haggling and managed to drop the price down to KD60 for both. Five days later the frames were ready to pick up. They ended up framing the prints exactly like how I wanted them framed and it was pretty much a perfect job except for two things. One of the frames has what looks like a bit of glue/dirt on the inside of the glass, luckily it’s over a colorful spot so doesn’t really show, there was also a bit of glue/dirt on the white frame which I managed to clean up myself. The other issue is with the frame border, I had originally briefed them that I wanted the thickness to be 2.5cm but when I gave them the go ahead on the job I told them I wanted it changed to 2cm instead. They kept it 2.5cm. On the positive side, they stuck like little cork bumpers on the back corners of the frame so not to damage the wall you’d be mounting on. Here is their location on [Google Maps]

So overall my experience was fairly positive but if I had to choose between the two I’d definitely go back to Boushahri. They’re more conveniently located, their prices were pretty good and the finishing of the frame was great. I think they’re going to be my go to place from now on instead of the Shuwaikh guy just because they’re located down the road from me.

Tiger Tiger the new pan-asian restaurant by the guys behind Ora is currently open in pop-up form for just this week in Kuwait City. Their menu is small and composed of the below three starters and three mains:

Starters KD2.5
Duck Spring Roll
Shrimp on Toast
Cream Cheese Wonton

Mains KD4.5
Orange Chicken
Thai Chili Beef
Kung Pao Shrimp

If you want to try them out they’re only going to be open until Thursday (May 12) from 6PM onwards. Here is their location on [Google Maps]