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The Northern Salmiya Building is located in the old Salmiya souk on Salem Mubarak Street. It’s over 50 years old, and since I grew up down the street from it, I’ve seen so many shops come and go there.

It’s the same complex that used to house Kids’r’us (Alghanim Automotive before that) and it’s the same building that had the old National/Panasonic store that used to have the NeoGeo in the window display. The corner shop was Boushahri where everyone used to go to get their passport photos taken. Mogahwi was also located there, the first Alshaya stores also all opened there including The Bodyshop, BHS, Mothercare and Next.

The building was also designed by SSH over 50 years ago, the same firm that’s behind JACC, ASCC and the waterfront project.

Recently, the corner of the building was demolished, and a tower was built in its place. It sucks that they demolished part of the building, but now that the tower is up it’s actually not that bad and I’m glad at least that they didn’t demolish the whole thing. What’s great is that they’ve also gone ahead and refurbished the rest of the building with a fresh coat of paint, new lights and even had some oversized signages for some of the stores removed.

The building is looking pretty good now, and I wish more old buildings got refurbished as well. And I don’t mean Dasman Complex style refurbishing where they’re just horribly covering the whole building facade with Alucobond.

If you haven’t been to old salmiya recently you should, it’s really popping. Google Maps

Update: Just found a photo in my archive of the Northern Salmiya Building under construction

Young Po is a new Pan-Asian restaurant opening soon, created by local chef Khaled AlBaker (@chefkb). When I found out he was opening an Asian concept I was pretty excited since I love Chinese food and there aren’t that many “nice” Chinese restaurants in Kuwait. I had the opportunity to try out Young Po last week, and I had a great overall experience.

Young Po isn’t limited to just Chinese food but also covers a wide range of Asian food including Japanese and Korean. The menu was divided into six categories:

• Starters
• Dim Sum
• Sushi & Sashimi
• Special Quests
• Robata
• Wok

The special quests category is for items like roasted duck and shabu shabu, while the rest of the categories are pretty self-explanatory. I ended up ordering the following dishes:

• Master Garden Salad
• Lobster on Toast
• Deobokki (Rice Cakes)
• Prawn Jiaozi (Dim Sum)
• Not-so California Roll
• Chu Toro Nigiri
• Wagyu Tenderloin (Robata)
• Baloul Clay Pot (Robata)
• Brocollini (Robata)
• Sweet & Sour Shrimp
• Egg Fried Rice

It was a lot of food for just two people, but it gave me a chance to try out a variety of dishes I usually wouldn’t order. I ended up loving everything I tried but, my go-to dish is always sweet & sour (I’m boring like that) and the one at Young Po might be the best I’ve ever had.

There were no prices on the menu when I was there, and of this post they’re still being finalized. But, it will be an “upper” casual dining experience.

If you want to try Young Po they’re opening in Shuwaikh this Wednesday, May 1st. Reservations are currently open on their website but there will be tables available for walk-ins as well.

The Instagram account is @youngpo.me, but to reserve a table, head over to youngpo.com

The Palestine Film Festival Kuwait kicks off tomorrow, (Thursday, April 25th) as part of the Palestine Days event that’s taking place this weekend at the Contemporary Art Platform in Shuwaikh.

The festival is dedicated to promoting and celebrating Palestinian life, art and culture, and they will be showcasing a curated selection of feature films, documentaries and shorts.

In addition to the films, there will also be book launches, talks and an exhibition by the Palestinian Cultural Center in which they will be selling beautiful, artisanal Palestinian products.

The event and screenings are free, but registration is required for the films as seats are limited. Find the registration form in the festival’s bio @palestinefilmfest_kuwait

Dalal Khajah is a Kuwaiti author and the Co-Founder of Manservants, a US-based company that allows women to order chivalrous gentlemen for launch events, red carpets, or just for a girls’ night out.

The company started off as a joke that Dalal and her colleague took too far, but then it went viral and took off to become a serious and successful business that now serves Palm Springs, Los Angeles, San Diego and New York. Each ManServant is trained in their signature service, which includes, but is not limited to, pouring drinks, serving compliments and adoration, taking photos, and waiting on the women hand and foot.

“ManServant Guide to Modern Chivalry” is a book that was born out of the business. It’s a book that details how men should treat women in the 21st century from doing laundry, carrying shopping bags, cleaning the bathroom, or watching the kids.

The book has just been released and is already garnering media attention, including Dalal being invited onto the show “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” a few days ago. If Andy looks familiar, it’s because he also hosts “The Real Housewives.”

I downloaded the book on my Kindle and it’s fun little book thats not meant to be taken too seriously. It’s also reasonably priced, at just $10.99 for the Kindle version and $20 for the hardcover.

If you want to buy the book or just find out more about Dalal and Manservants, head over to @manservants_co or their website manservants.co

I had Ferdi for the first time back in 2013 when I visited a couple of friends who were studying in Paris. They were both regulars at Ferdi, a hole in the wall restaurant that was starting to become a hotspot for celebrities and a place to be seen during Paris Fashion Week and other high-profile events. I remember the second time I was having dinner there, Kim and Kanye were also there just a couple of tables away. It was surreal, mostly because everyone there was so casual about it.

But that was then, today Ferdi has become a popular tourist destination and they now have locations around the world as well as a spinoff brand called Dinand par Ferdi. They also just opened in Kuwait, and last night I was invited to try it out.

The best way to describe Ferdi’s food is unpretentious comfort food. My usual order includes corn on the cob, mac & cheese, French fries and their famous cheeseburger. Nothing about their food is special, they don’t have the best cheeseburger in the world or the best fries, but when in Paris, it’s the combination of good simple food, decent prices, cozy space and the ambience that makes Ferdi, Ferdi. Not sure that concept works in Kuwait since we all have our favorite comfort food spots and we all definitely have our favorite burger places, but we’ll soon find out.

Ferdi Kuwait is located at JACC right next to White Robata. Their prices are similar to Paris with their Mac Ferdi’s Cheeseburger costing KD5.850 and KD2.000 for a side of fries. Reservations at the moment are required and as of this post, it looks like the next available date is May 29th. So good luck getting a table until the hype settles. @ferdi.kuwait

Netflix has officially announced that the popular Kuwait-based series ‘The Exchange‘ will be returning for a second season. The show which had a very successful first season will see the comeback of the two main stars, Farida played by Rawan Mahdi, and Munira who’s played by Mona Hussain as well as the director Jasem AlMuhanna and producer Abdullah Boushahri.

Although I was hoping the show will be moving into the 90s for the second season, it looks like it will continue to remain in the 80s. Production is currently underway but Netflix hasn’t mentioned an air date but I’d imagine it’s Q4 of this year or Q1 of next year.

Back in 2016, a beautiful wall mural by the award winning artist Jad El Khoury was commissioned on the side of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) building. The project had been sponsored by Jedareyat, a local volunteer group that scours the city for dead walls, and artists who can transform them into picture-worthy landmarks.

In 2020, controversy arose when the mural was painted over with white paint, completely destroying it. A lot of people were obviously upset about the incident, and what was a beautiful wall in the city turned into a generic white surface.

But there is now some good news! 

Jad has been brought back to Kuwait and has been commissioned to paint a brand new mural on the same wall again. The new artwork was commissioned by Froyo, the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters and in collaboration again with Jedariyat.

The building has been undergoing preparation over the past few days and is now ready to be painted on. Jad will be starting work tomorrow (Friday) and is expected to complete the artwork by next Wednesday. If you want to watch him paint his new mural, then you can pass by over the coming days during the day to check him work.

Jad’s previous artwork was titled “Single Man” and was inspired by him moving from Lebanon to Kuwait for work. The mural had represented a single person trying to fit into a new chaotic environment.

SMOKE AND SODA is a new Kuwait based online store that recently launched and is promising to bring something new to the regional fashion scene.

It’s a one-stop-shop with items ranging from electronics and self-care essentials, to clothes and home decor. Everything is curated so you’re only going to find the coolest and most interesting items for sale.

All their pieces are hand picked from places like New York, LA, London, Paris, Sydney and Tokyo, but they also have offerings from within our region. Some of the brands they carry include:

• Billionaire Boys Club
• Converse
• Grown Alchemist
• House of Sunny
• Lottie London
• Modern Home
• Nikben
• Pabe Pabe
• Soxy
• Stojo
• This Works

With all the big franchises selling pretty much the same looking things, SMOKE AND SODA are trying to help you celebrate your individuality with more unique pieces. They’re champions of self-expression and want you to embrace your true self, free from judgment.

SMOKE AND SODA have both an online website and iOS and Android Apps. Check them out by visiting smokeandsoda.com or clicking on the download link in their bio @smokeandsodame

Future Kid opened their first branch back in 1987 in Muthana Mall, and now 37 years later, they’re opening their 15th location in Kuwait.

The new location is located inside the brand new Safat Al-Mubarakiya Mall, inside Souq Al-Mubarakiya. Future Kid realized there weren’t many activities for children and families in Souq Al-Mubarakiya, so they decided to open a location there to give families more things to do than just eat and shop.

The new location is large with bumper cars, a large ball pit, and plenty of arcade machines. They already soft launched a couple of weeks ago but the grand opening is officially on the 25th of January.

The new location is currently open daily from 10AM to 11PM and you can follow them to stay posted on future openings @futurekidkuwait. Here is the new location on Google Maps.

Starting last week, you can now explore the Grand Mosque without a tour guide.

From Sunday to Thursday, visitors can tour the Grand Mosque without a guide from 9AM to 12:30PM and then again from 4PM to 6:30PM. No booking necessary. You just need to head to the visitors lounge, register your basic info, and pick up a badge to enter the mosque.

If you want a guided tour, both English and Arabic tours are available from Sunday to Thursday at 10AM, and then again at 5PM. No pre-booking needed and the tours are free of charge.

Dress Code: No sleeveless shirts nor shorts for men, and full-length cloaks and headscarves for women

Location: Google Maps

Instagram: @wpickw

Kuwait has some interesting and scary folklore but most of it is being forgotten. So here are five horrifying creatures you might not know about:

Hemarat Algayla
This terrifying monster also goes by the simpler name Um Homar (Donkey Lady) and tells the story of a half-woman, half-donkey creature who seeks out and devours kids. The monster sleeps most of the day and night but wakes up to hunt at noon when the sun is at the highest point in the sky. Mothers would tell this story to stop kids from going out in the strong sun and get heat exhaustion. The story was a way to scare them to stay inside when it was the hottest time outside.

Tantal
While Um Homar hunts during the day, Tantal hunts during the night. He was known to shape-shift and if he spotted a child out after dark, he would take the form of whatever the child feared the most and then chased them until the child dropped dead from their heart giving out. It was a way for the parents to keep their children at home after dark.

Al-Seolu
This monster was described as a Nubian slave who came back to life with giant teeth and a large appetite for children. He goes out hunting during the night near the sea looking for kids who are out alonem and once he finds one, he drowns them and then eats their corpse. Back in 1910 there was a bit of a scare in Kuwait and people became more terrified of this monster because a child had drowned and was never found leading people to believe he was eaten by Al-Seolu.

Um Al Sa’af Wa Alleef
This scary old lady is a witch like character that is composed of palm leaves and can fly. She was believed to have frighten badly behaved children who disobeyed their parents. She hides up in the palm trees amongst the branches and when the branches shake because of strong winds or heavy rains, the parents would scare the children telling them she was up there looking for naughty children to kidnap.

Bu Darya
This water demon goes by the name “the Father of the Sea”. He was half-man half-fish who roamed the deep seas. At night Bu Darya will swim to the surface near boats and thrash about in the water while screaming for help. Once a sailor tries to assist what they believed to be a drowning human, Bu Darya would grab the sailor and drag him under water and hold them there until they’re dead. Bu Darya also attacked pearl divers so he could steal their pearls and was known to drag sleeping fishermen off their ships to eat them.

Image on top is of a painting by Nawaf-Alhmeli @nawaf_art

Note: Original less detailed version of this post was published in 2011

Many of you may not remember this, but the American Cultural Centre, located near the parliament building on Gulf Road, didn’t always look the way it does today.

Back in the 80s and early 90s, the building was in poor condition and looked pretty scary. When I was a kid and we used to drive by the building, I always thought the building was haunted because it gave off such creepy vibes.

The building was originally constructed in the early 1900s as the American Mission Hospital, but today serves as the headquarters of Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah (@dai_kuwait). The restoration, completed in 2011, left me with the initial impression that the building had undergone major design changes since it ended up looking so different from what I had always known. But, I later realized that this wasn’t the case and that they in fact had done a proper restoration job, restoring the building to its original design.

These are some photos I found of the building before the renovation, but there are a lot more including photos of the building under construction and the building today on the Archnet website here.

During the camel racing season (October to March) the races take place every Saturday at the Kuwait Camel Racing Club.

The races start at a different time every week but this Saturday they will start at 1:30PM and there will be a total of 9 races.

There is no entrance fee and you can either watch the races from the sidelines, drive up to the starting lines and watch the start of the race, or just drive around the track in your car following the race (it can get chaotic).

It’s really chill, not that busy and everyone is pretty friendly. I tend to drop by anytime I feel like having a photoshoot for one of my cars or if I just feel like driving out somehwere.

Here is the location on Google Maps.

Backburner the coffeeshop quietly opened a new location last week in the old-school neighborhood of Souq Altujjar (the old traders market) across from the Grand Mosque and Seif Palace.

What’s very interesting about this location is they have a nostalgia room on their second floor. The room has shelves filled with a variety of old items from our childhood, some from the 80s, some much older. They have a Hungry Bunny section, a small Showbiz section, Sakhr (MSX), Ifta7 Ya Simsim and more items all from our past and all on display.

I actually sold them one of my very clean and copies of the 1955 Violet Dickson book “The Wild Flowers of Kuwait and Bahrain”. It’s a very rare book so if you’ve wanted to check it out, this is your chance.

If you want to check it out they open daily from 7AM to 10:30PM, and they’re located next to the Seif Palace roundabout in Block 4 of Souq Altujjar, the same block that has Starbucks. Google Maps

The Palestinian Culture Center has been operating in Kuwait since the early 1970s. Every year they hold an exhibition with the aim to keep the vibrant Palestinian culture alive, and support underprivileged women and children in the camps.

This will be the 58th exhibition held by the Palestinian Culture Center and all net proceeds from it will be dedicated to humanitarian aid for Gaza.

The exhibition starts tomorrow and will have hand-stitched dresses, shawls, and cushions for sale, as well as handmade ceramics, books, and food aimed to preserve the Palestinian national identity and showcase how it adapts to modern times.

Place: Women’s Cultural & Social Society in Khaldiya
Date: Tuesday Nov 7th – Friday Nov 10th
Time: 10AM – 8PM

For more information or photos, visit @palestiniancc

Photo on top by @prettygreenbullet