Categories
Interesting

Tour of Al Salam Palace Construction

New Kuwait have uploaded a video of a tour of the Al Salam Palace construction site. Al Salam Palace if you aren’t aware is currently being refurbished so that it can be turned into a museum. The video tour is in Arabic and you can watch it above or on [YouTube]

On a side note what is New Kuwait and are they connected to the government? Their website is newkuwaitgov.com and their logo is in English only as “New Kuwait” but their website and all their content is only in Arabic. Why give something an English name and then create just an English logo when all your content is going to be in just Arabic?

Thanks Khaled




Categories
Interesting

How powerful is your passport?

passports

Oman completely blows all its neighbors out of the water coming in at 13th place.

1 – United Stated of America (147 visa free countries)
1 – United Kingdom (147 visa free countries)
7 – Canada (140 visa free countries)
13 – Oman (134 visa free countries)
47 – United Arab Emirates (72 visa free countries)
52 – Qatar (66 visa free countries)
54 – Kuwait (64 visa free countries)
57 – Saudi Arabia (61 visa free countries)
59 – India (59 visa free countries)
61 – Bahrain (61 visa free countries)
64 – Egypt (53 visa free countries)
73 – Lebanon (44 visa free countries)

Check out the full list [Here]

Update: It seems they had made a mistake with Oman’s ranking, they’ve updated the list and Oman is now ranked 63 (54 visa free countries). Bahrain was also moved to position 57. Not sure if any other changes were made.

Thanks Musaed




Categories
Food & Drinks Reviews

New Restaurant: Healthy Feast

healthy1

Healthy Feast is a new restaurant that soft launched last week. As you can tell from the name, it’s a healthy restaurant and they pride themselves in having fresh, locally grown, organic and gluten free dishes. Even their menu starts off with the following introduction:

We support local, organic and sustainable practices wherever possible. Our menu is always changing according to what is available and seasonal. This is today’s menu:

So right off the bat I was pretty excited to try out their dishes.

healthy2

The restaurant is located in Bneid Al Gar and although the exterior doesn’t look like much the interior is very cute and bright with lots of natural daylight coming in. The walls were rough and painted white with natural wood being used everywhere. I would have taken a photo but a couple of tables were already occupied so I couldn’t. Once I sat down I was given the menu and after going through it I decided to go with the following:

Raw zucchini with almond thai dressing KD1.950
Pumpkin & avocado maki roll, with beet brown rice KD2.500
Root vegetables in curried lemongrass coconut milk KD3.500
Green Wellness juice: spinach, cucumber, apple, celery and lemon KD1.850

While waiting for my dishes I was also served a complimentary bowl of cheesy kale chips which usually costs KD1.500.

healthy3

The first dish to arrive was my raw zucchini which looked like a small bowl of spaghetti. This dish completely caught me by surprise since it was so full of flavor. It tasted like an intricate starter I would have at a Japanese restaurant and I loved it (I later found out the chef was Japanese). The second dish I was served were the maki rolls. They were also pretty good although I was worried they would fill me up before my main dish arrived. I really wish they had chopsticks though since my first two dishes could have used them. When I asked the waitress for chopsticks she went into the kitchen and came back and told me the Japanese chef said I should use my fingers. I thought that was a hilarious soup nazi moment and proceeded to eat the rolls with my fingers, I had no problem with that. Once I was done with the rolls I was served the curry bowl. For the curry bowl I had three choices for the base, cauliflower rice, brown rice or quinoa. I went with quinoa although I haven’t been having quinoa for awhile now since I’m so over it. But, the curry was so flavorful and delicious I don’t think it would have mattered if I had gone with quinoa or any of the other rice options.

healthy4

It’s a new restaurant, I ordered three completely new dishes I hadn’t tried before and I ended up loving all three. The chances of that happening are pretty rare which is why I fell in love with the place. It kind feels like an evolution to Gia or what Gia should have become. I did have two minor issues though. The first was with my juice, it was served in a beaker but it was filled less than half way which made it look like either someone had already drank from it or they had run out of juice while filling it up. The second thing is the lack of chopsticks. Again it’s not a big issue but two out of the three dishes I had were Japanese like and my guess is there are more dishes like that on the menu so why not have chopsticks as well?

healthy5

In any case as I said I loved the place and I’m actually going back for lunch today. Healthy Feast is located in Bneid Al Gar and right now they’re open daily except for Sundays from 2PM to 7PM. Here is a link to their instagram account @healthy_feast and here is their location on [Google Maps]




Categories
Information

Tour of the Kuwait Cultural Centre Construction Site

The Kuwait Cultural Centre is currently under construction on the Gulf Road and the video above is a guided tour of the construction site. The tour is 40 minutes long and in Arabic but you can skip through various sections of the video if you just want to get a rough idea on the current status of project. [YouTube]

tour




Categories
Food & Drinks Reviews

Assaha Lebanese Restaurant

assaha1

Assaha isn’t a new place, they’ve actually been open for around three years now but I only discovered it a few months back when I had a business lunch there. It’s now become one of my favorite Lebanese restaurants which I frequent often alongside Leila.

assaha

Assaha is a Lebanese chain with locations around the world including Lebanon, London, Qatar, Sudan and Iraq. The building on the outside looks like an old Lebanese house and once you’re inside that look continues. There are a lot and I do mean a lot of seating space all around the inside of the building, but my favorite is the courtyard space in the back which also happens to be the no smoking area (pictured above). Once you’re in the courtyard you no longer feel like you’re in Kuwait anymore.

The food is obviously good or else I wouldn’t be recommending the place and the service is even better. They also have raw meats for those of you that are wondering. If you’re interested, Assaha is easy to find since they’re located on the Gulf Road, right next to Steak and Shake. Here is their location on [Google Maps]




Categories
Cars & Bikes

Acura Showroom Now Open

acura-kuwait-1

Acura, the luxury division of Honda have opened up their first showroom in Kuwait. I passed by the first time two weeks ago before they opened and was given a tour of the place, and earlier today I went back to take some photos now that it’s actually open. According to the Acura representative who was showing me around, the Acura showroom in Kuwait is the largest Acura showroom in the world. They actually don’t like calling it a showroom but instead prefer using the world facility since it’s a one stop shop for everything Acura.

acura-kuwait-2

Acura is a premium brand and the showroom lives up to it. The building is huge and very tastefully decorated with lots of light colors and lots of natural daylight everywhere. As I said earlier, they prefer to call it a facility because of the fact you have the main showroom in the front, a quick service garage in the back, a body and paint shop in the basements and a spare parts store all under the same roof.

acura-kuwait-3

Right now the dealer is carrying two Acura models to start off with, the TLX which is a four-door luxury sedan and the MDX which is their luxury SUV. My first question obviously was if they were getting the NSX since thats the car I’m extremely interested in. Turns out they will be getting it once it launches next year. Not only that but their facility is already prepared for it, they have a special location on the showroom floor where they will be displaying the car as well as a special section of their garage designed specifically for the NSX maintenance.

acura-kuwait-4

I can’t believe its taken this long for Acura to get here but glad it’s here now that the NSX is getting released. The new showroom is located in Al-Rai right next to Xcite Electronics. Their opening hours are from 8:30AM to 8:00PM.




Categories
Information

Quality of Living in our Region

quality

Mercer’s 2015 Quality of Living rankings was recently released and Kuwait came 4th in our region with UAE, Oman and Qatar coming ahead.

1 – Vienna, Austria
74 – Dubai, UAE
77 – Abu Dhabi, UAE
104 – Muscat, Oman
108 – Doha, Qatar
125 – Kuwait City, Kuwait
130 – Manama, Bahrain
138 – Hyderabad, India
163 – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
166 – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
170 – Cairo, Egypt
181 – Beirut, Lebanon
203 – Tehran, Iran
230 – Baghdad, Iraq

No surprise really with UAE topping the list or Qatar coming ahead but, I am surprised with Oman just because I’ve heard its a great place for a vacation but a boring place to live.

Check out the full list of cities [Here]




Categories
Food & Drinks Information

Sahara Restaurant Village nearly complete

sahara

The Sahara Restaurant Village located right outside of the Sahara Country Club is nearly complete with just the electricity left to come on before the doors open. The last list of places opening up there I had were the following although I’m not sure how accurate this is right now:

Slider Station
Burger Boutique
Jar by Choowy Goowy
Villa Fayrouz
Tatami Japanese Restaurant
52 Degrees
Caribou Coffee
Costa Coffee
Athletes Foot
Skinny Cloud
Emirgan Sutis
Le Relais de l’Entrecote
Khaneen
Ubon

According to one tenants they’re expecting the village to be open sometime end of April or early May.

Update: I’ve updated the list of restaurants based on new information




Categories
Information Photography

Where to get a custom picture frame made

Last week I went looking for an 18″x24″ picture frame for an artwork I had recently purchased. The first place I checked was IKEA but they had European sizes which were either larger or smaller than the size I wanted it. I then decided to check other places like Pottery Barn, The One, West Elm, A2Z, and Ace Hardware but none had the correct sized frame. Out of frustration I decided to ask my followers on twitter for an alternative place and was recommended to get a custom frame made. One of the locations recommended was near Avenues where I was, so I headed there straight away to see how much it would cost and how long it would take to get one made.

There were around three frame shops next to each other but I ended up choosing one which had a picture framer working. The other places looked like they just took size orders and sent them somewhere else to be made.

The reason I didn’t head to a picture framer first is that I thought it would be a complicated and expensive thing but surprisingly the process was fairly simple and affordable. I showed the picture framer the artwork, he measured it and then asked me to choose a frame which I did. He then quoted me a reasonable KD10 and told me to pick up the frame the next day.

The next day I went back, gave him the artwork and he mounted it in the frame. A very easy and simple process. The picture framer I went to was an old Lebanese or Syrian guy who according to him has been making frames for over 40 years. I’ve heard of other picture framers located next to Coops but this is the one I ended up going to and the one I’d go back to.

If you’re interested in getting a picture frame the shop is called “The Kuwait Center for the Installation of Glass and Frames” and the guy’s number is 99810731 (Abu Hassan). Also here is the location on [Google Maps]

Update: He just moved to a new location around the corner from his previous place so I updated the Google Maps location in the post above to point to the new location. Below is a photo of the shop from outside (no sign up as of now).




Categories
Interesting Shopping

New Luxury Outlet Mall and More

Yesterday during a press conference Tamdeen, the group behind 360 Mall, Al Kout and Fanar announced a new large scale project in Khiran. Tamdeen Group owns a massive block of land in Khiran which they’re planning to develop as:



– Kuwait’s first luxury outlet mall
– Two high-rise residential towers
– One furnished apartments tower
– A five-star resort with an internationally branded spa
– A marina to house over 900 boats (largest in Kuwait)
– Outdoor space



Tamdeen have tapped RTKL, the same architects behind 360, for this project. No completion date announced yet but they’ve released photos of the project which I’ve attached to this post.



I think the idea of a luxury outlet mall is fantastic, as well as the five star resort since we don’t have anything like it at the moment. Check out the press release [Here]

Thanks Khaled




Categories
Interesting

Tour of Al Shaheed Park

The Al Shaheed Park renovation in Kuwait City has been completed and the park is getting ready to open up any day now. The video above gives a small glimpse of the renovated park that will now contain a museum, a memorial and 800 underground parking spaces. The Al Shaheed Park project was commissioned by the Amiri Diwan who are also behind the new Kuwait Cultural Center, Shaab Museums and Al Jahra Hospital. [YouTube]

via Frankom

shaheed




Categories
Food & Drinks

Saturday Brunch at STREET

stairway

STREET, the underground streetfood eatery which opened up back in November have now launched a brunch menu. The menu is small with five egg dishes and three non-egg dishes. I ended up having the Stairway to Heaven sandwich which was delicious (but SUPER messy to eat) and their pancakes which I think are the second best tasting in Kuwait (Cheesecake Factory have the best tasting ones). Next time I go back I’ll be trying their Truffled Creamed Corn dish which everyone has been highly recommending as well.

If you’re interested in trying their brunch menu its every Saturday from 9:30AM till 2PM. Check out their Instagram account for more photos and information [Here]




Categories
Interesting Kuwait

Inside the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre

Back in May of last year I shared renderings of the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre that’s currently under construction in Kuwait City where the flag square used to be. The cultural centre will include theatres, concert halls, cinemas, conference and exhibition halls, a library archive and a public park.

theater1

Previously I had only seen external photos of the building but a reader made me aware that SSH, the architecture and engineering firm working on the project have now published internal shots of the centre.

theater2

Another bit of information I also just found out is that the cultural centre will have at least 9 theaters of which 8 are indoor and 1 outdoor. Of the 9 theaters, the larges one will be able to hold 2,000 people while the smallest up to 200.

theater3

I haven’t shared all the photos here just a few but if you want to see photos of all the theaters click [Here]




Categories
Cars & Bikes Events

The Kuwait Concours d’ Elegance

concour

The Kuwait Concours d’ Elegance will be taking place next week starting from February 11th and last till February 18th. The Concours d’ Elegance first came to Kuwait back in 2010.

What is the Concours d’Elegance?
Concours is a French word meaning competition. The concept of Concours originates in 17th C. France when aristocrats used to choose their best horse carriages to parade around parks of Paris during the summer week ends and holidays. Later these traditions changed to automobiles from the 20th C. Concours today have strict regulations and cars are inspected by qualified judges. Trophy winners are carefully chosen.

A reader sent me the full schedule of events that are taking place that week, if you’re interested in checking it out click [Here]




Categories
Cars & Bikes News

5 Dead, 50+ Injured in Bus Crash

Five people were killed and more than 50 others injured in a horrific crash in Kuwait yesterday, involving a bus carrying Bahraini pilgrims.

Thick fog blanketing most of the region was blamed for the incident which happened when the bus, carrying pilgrims from Bahrain to Karbala in Iraq, was apparently overtaken by a water tanker, leading it to crash into a truck carrying bricks. [Source]

A horrific accident that took place the other day here in Kuwait during the thick fog. [YouTube]

crash

Update: Video has been removed by the uploader