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Although it’s wrong in so many ways I can’t help but be impressed. Picture taken in Mangaf and LWDLIK have more photos [Here]

There’s currently a British Spitfire on display at 360 Mall as part of the “Aircraft” Exhibition that’s currently taking place starting from today until the 27th. The 70 year old Spitfire fighter aircraft was flown during World War II and is still operational and had been on display at the British Royal Air Force Museum since the end of the war. I’m not in Kuwait so I can’t pass by but if you’re looking for something to do this weekend then this exhibition sounds interesting. [YouTube]

I’ve never eaten at a Michelin star restaurant so when I found out there was a restaurant with two Michelin stars in Rotterdam, I decided to to try it out. The restaurant is called Parkheuvel and at one point had three Michelin stars before losing two stars and then gaining one back again. I was worried I wouldn’t find a table available since I booked the night before but I did find one and to my surprise the restaurant was actually empty when I was there for lunch.

I decided to go with the fixed 5 course menu option since I wanted to try as many dishes as I could. Below are the dishes I was served with their descriptions written underneath it. Of course when they presented the dishes to me they explained it in a much more elaborate way:

Green pea soup with sausage foam. The soup is inside the crunchy sphere.

Lobster, crab and goose liver.

Lightly simmered scallops with cauliflower and hazelnuts.

Grilled turbot with risotto.

The main course: Lamb with artichoke and potato stuffed with something.

Dessert, golden pearl of white chocolate filled with blood orange and a side of lemon icecream.

When I got the soup I thought it was funny at first but then I appreciated the fact that the soup didn’t look like soup since it made it different than any other soup I’ve had before. I thought the scallops and the grilled turbot dishes were incredible, lots of flavor and like nothing I had tasted before. I actually liked the risotto that came with the turbot more than the turbot itself and I’m not a big risotto fan. Everything else was also good but nothing really stood out like the scallops and the turbot.

The portions as you can see were pretty small making it more a tasting experience than a dining one. The service at the restaurant was the best I had ever experienced with very friendly and extremely knowledgable staff. Price wise the 5 course meal cost 110 euros (around KD40) which I think is very reasonable considering it’s a two Michelin star restaurant. The experience overall was well worth it and has made Michelin star restaurants more approachable and less intimidating to me. I always had the impression you would have to pay an arm and a leg to dine at one and that you would never be able to find a table. Now I know that’s not always the case.

Although this might be hard to believe, Batcha is a dish I’ve been wanting to try for a very long time. I had heard about it from a friend who had heard about it from another friend who most likely also heard it from someone else which would explain why I was told Batcha was actually a soup containing sheep balls, eyes, bones, brains, liver and tongue. That’s (disappointingly) not what Batcha turned out to be.

I was told there was a small restaurant tucked away at the corner of a traffic intersection in Kuwait City that serves only Batcha so I headed there with a friend of mine expecting to try the soup I described earlier. Instead it turned out Batcha was just sheep head and hooves. We decided to order their largest platter which included a sheep tongue, sheep head and four hooves. A short time later we were served two bowls of what looked like hot water mixed with oil. Not very appetizing but turns out it’s the broth that the heads and hooves were boiled in. We also got some fresh Irani bread as well and some greens. While we were trying to figure out what to do with the bowl of broth the waiter came back with our platter. It didn’t look appetizing either, but I wasn’t expecting it to.

The bowl of broth according to the waiter is a soup but I decided to use it as dip instead. I took a piece of Irani bread, put some tongue and sheep head on it and then dipped it into the broth and took my first bite. It tasted as good as it looked, not that great. But I was there for the experience so I tried to eat as much as I could. The hooves, those were the most difficult thing to eat since they looked really gross. It’s mostly skin and when I peeled the skin off and tried to eat it, I bit on something hard which turned out to be the nails of the sheep. Who knew sheep had nails?

I really didn’t eat much neither did my friend and our plate was left mostly full. But, I would still recommend the place. The thing is it’s a strange and exotic dish with the added benefit of not having to travel to some far away country to experience it. So if you’re into trying strange dishes you should pass by and give it a shot. Here is a map to the location [Map]

The video above of the impressive shot that took place during the recent ITTF Kuwait Open has been making its rounds around the internet today. What I find more impressive is how an important event like the ITTF Kuwait Open took place in Kuwait and very little knew about it. Based on the news stories on the ITTF website, it looks like it was an important event yet I don’t recall seeing any advertising for it. Not a lot of activities like this take place in Kuwait so I’m sure a lot of people would have been interested to watch it. [YouTube]

If you’re staying in Kuwait during the holidays then this is something you can do. Below is the Cinemagic’s rooftop movie schedule starting this Thursday:

Thursday February 21st, 2013 at 7:30PM
THE WHITE RIBBON
Winner of the 2009 Palme D’or at Cannes, and directed by living maser Michael Haneke. Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery.

Saturday February 23rd, 2013 at 7:30PM
BULLHEAD
Nominated for best foreign film at the 2011 Oscars, and winner of many international awards for best film and best actor. A young cattle farmer is approached by a veterinarian to make a deal with a notorious beef trader. But the assassination of a federal policeman, and an unexpected confrontation with a mysterious secret from Jacky’s past, set in motion a chain of events with far reaching consequences.

Thursday February 28th, 2013 at 7:30PM
THE CLASS
Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, as well being on over 20 top ten of the year lists, The Class follows teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau who plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG and there is no entrance fee. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

I’ve been getting emails from people who heard a really large explosion around the Ahmadi/Subhan area. Does anyone know anything about it?

Update: According to the Ministry of Defense, the sound was the result of an air force jet breaking the sound barrier during the GCC joint war games that are currently taking place in the desert.

Earlier this month a documentary about the founders of The Pirate Bay was released online and although I haven’t watched it yet, a reader did and noticed something interesting. Around an hour into the documentary the founders were asked where else they had lawsuits against them and one of the countries they mentioned was Kuwait. Does anyone have any idea who in Kuwait sued The Pirate Bay?

You can check out the scene in the movie by clicking [Here]

Thanks Manafo

Last year it was announced that the legendary architecture firm OMA would be designing a department store at 360 Mall and a few days back the design was finally revealed. Judging by the 360 Mall floor plan they have on the website it looks like the department store will be built as an extension to the current building and not a separate structure like I had previously thought. There’s a bunch of pictures as well as more information on the OMA website which you can check out [Here]

Kuwaiti graphic designer Fahad AlHunaif who’s based in New York struck gold a few days ago when one of his cap designs was worn by the British fashion model Cara Delevingne. She was backstage at the Jeremy Scott Runway Show when fashion photographer Terry Richardson snapped some pictures of her wearing the cap. Sadly I have no idea where you can get one from. You can check out the pictures taken by Terry Richardson [Here]

If you want to check out some of Fahad’s work you can do so on his tumblr [Here] or you can follow him on [Instagram]

Big news for wildlife in Kuwait when K’S PATH, together with KOC, released the first mammal into the recently completed Abdaliya nature preserve. The animal in question, a long-eared hedgehog, was found in a garden near the city. Long-eared hedgehogs are solitary mammals that spend much of their lives alone, except during breeding season which occurs in March, just after hibernation. This year, we are planning to relocate many more hedgehogs and fox into the preserve, taking them from high-risk areas or from areas where they are abundant.

Our goal is to create an ecosystem thriving with native wildlife. In the coming months, we will begin efforts to release more hedgehogs as well as Ruppell’s Fox in to the preserve and will be installing nesting boxes and perches for native birds.

You can look forward to more updates on this project soon. Want to make a difference? Keep wildlife wild. Don’t hunt. All forms of hunting are illegal by Kuwait law. Illegal hunting (poaching) has caused the local extinction of many species, and we are constantly finding dead birds around Kuwait. Finally, keep up with or even contribute to our work by visiting K’S PATH on [Facebook]

Post by John Peaveler
Managing Director
Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat (K’S PATH)

Yesterday Red Bull held their X-Fighters Jams event at the Kuwait Towers and a reader took some pictures of the event which you can check out [Here]

Looked pretty cool.

Thanks Mufaddal

Have you gotten your loved one a Shani today?

Kuwait Riders Bike Show – Wednesday to Friday
Red Bull X-Fighters Jams – Friday
Spring Fair – Saturday

My good friends at dh-c created a very cool gift set for Valentines day. The set includes a framed drawing of my favorite Kuwaiti character “Qumooth” and a CD that contains a mystery love song (supposedly very cheesy). They’ve only created 5 frames and each comes with a cactus and a jar of salted caramel. If you’re interested in purchasing one they’re available on The Yard’s website [Here]