Wk wk 965 Restaurant

 A friend invited me have lunch, we ended up at Wk Burger which is a weird name for a restaurant. From the outside it looked like a cute place. With the inside it reminded me of a cross between McDonalds, Checkers and In n Out. 

There's a timer, you have a choice of a free side of fries or try to stop the timer at 10 seconds and win an Iphone. 

Inside was nice and open with a lot of sunshine

Here's where the problem started. The food. Expensive with small portions.

Nacho plate 3.950 KD 

I thought there were chilli cheese fries, turns out it was jalapenos, cheese, something with hamburger meat pieces and a sweet sauce

Chilli Cheese fries 1.950 KD

Charcoal 'thick'? burger - 2.450 KD

I ordered a Philly cheesesteak sandwich it was tiny, wet and ok at best, it was on a sesame seed bun that was a little bigger than a hotdog bun

Philly cheesesteak 3.650 KD

The total was 13 KD which is a lot for small portions

Honestly this is why I don't try these random burger shops, they try to compete with franchises by charging the same prices but the size and quality are no where near the same. I would have rather gone to 5 guys for around the same price.

Amentum company loses contract, Americans are Leaving

 I saw one of my old co-workers from Arifjan and asked him about the base. I had heard from my neighbor that Triple Canopy security was no more. My friend said that Amentum lost their contract and today I saw another old co-worker who works with Amentum, he told me the Americans will be leaving on Sept 30th and he will retire after 21 years of working 12 hour days/6 days a week.

I found an article from 2022 in which Amentum and 3 Kuwaiti companies were being investigated for abusing the TCN laborers. I worked for KRH so I know how those guys used to live 9 people deep in a single apartment with 1 bathroom that was horrible, they worked  hours/6 days a week and made 80 KD a month. KRH made so much money off of the contracts, that's how they built their empire. I saw a board saying REH (part of KRH) will be rebuilding Souk Mubarakiya?

I also found a recent article from October 2024 which says Vectrus had protested the contract award to Amentum and that the military had sustained the protest, either way it looks like Amentum is out and how much longer will other US contracting companies last, only time will tell.

Abdali farms closed this Season???

 I saw this on Tik Tok, has anyone else heard of this? Looks like the ministry has shut down the farms and entertainment this season? 

There is little to do in Kuwait and now more activities have been taken away, the only ones left are the expensive places like Winter Wonderland or the beach games. It's as if the ministry only wants to allow the money making government ran places. Kuwait is trying to promote tourism when people who live here leave at any chance and what little fun we had has been taken away, I miss 2004 Kuwait!

Chipotle opening in Marina Mall

 

It looks like Chipotle is opening soon in Marina Mall right in front of the escalator that goes down.

What happened to TIES and the AWARE Center?

 I was going through my links and I found that TIES and the AWARE Center have disappeared which is sad because they did a lot for the expats who wanted to learn about Kuwait. TIES was more religious and offered religious programs, religious classes in English and tours. 

The AWARE center offered programs, activities and tours for everyone in Kuwait. The last post for the AWARE center was November 2024 and then nothing, the Google location says permanently closed. They had been located in Surra for a long time then moved to Funaitees. It was non-profit, non-governmental and non-political NGO. I do remember them being backed by the ministry of Awqaf so maybe the government decided they didn't need the centers any more.

I had attended a lot of events from AWARE center, they were always offering tours which included transportation for a small fee. I visited a few Kuwaiti dwaniyas and interesting tops of chat gatherings. I can't find any information on when or why they closed?

Update:

I ran into the British lady who worked for AWARE center today and she told me that they shut down in May because the government said they can't be in Kuwaiti housing area. They had been located in a Kuwaiti house in Surra until they moved to Funaitees. It has been difficult both financially and trying to find a commercial location. I hope they can find a place and bring back their program in the near future.

Shadeness Make-Up Vending Machine

In USA there are so many different kinds of vending machines, from food to Labubus and now there's a make-up vending machine in Gate Mall from Shadeness Kuwait. From their IG account it looks like there might be a few vending machines around Kuwait.

They are also known for their first ever drive-thru make-up location in Shuwaikh close to Ananass restaurant.
 

New Wingstop Kuwait locations

 The first Wingstop location in Kuwait is in Bida and now there are two more locations opening soon:

Liwan Mall in Egaila 

Liwan Mall is a surprising location as that mall is dead, it's beside Gate Mall and everyone knows how crowded that parking area gets.

The second location is in Sea View in Abu Halaifa        

 

A slightly better location with more foot traffic but horrible traffic and minimal parking. You can easily get stuck inside that area. I really thought they would open a branch in The Warehouse, Gate Mall or Al Kout considering they are malls and have plenty of parking. I wonder where the next locations will be?

Junky Burger ,In-N-Out Dupe? Or?

 My mom spends a lot of time on Instagram and came across a supposed dupe for In-N-Out restaurant, or so they claim. We are from California and my sister's first job was at In-N-Out so she knows the secrets and how things are done. It's called Junky burger and their IG page is full of videos and pictures of In-N-Out type burgers and fries, even the menu is from In-N-Out. Last night we gave it a try, I'm the one that never tries new things from social media because I'm always disappointed.

Here's their menu from IG

My mom and daughter ordered regular single size burgers while my other daughter and I ordered ''Animal Style'' with mine having no sauce. The sauce they use for IN-N-Out is a thousand island type sauce and I hate it. ''Animal style'' is a cheeseburger prepared with a mustard-grilled patty, added pickles, extra spread and grilled onion topping, we ordered regular fries. You can only order by whatsapp and when you click on the above link for the location a juice shop appears, maybe they replaced the shop?

There isn't any info about delivery charge, their location is Abu Fateira and we are in Egaila, the charge was 1 KD. After a while the food was delivered, I'm assuming by the owner as the guy who handed me the bag was Kuwaiti? I opened the bag and this is what we got for 12.800 KD:

The picture above is of the regular single burger, the sauce is only ketchup and mayo mixed together, not the same sauce as In-N-Out by any means. As for my ''Animal style'' there was grilled onions, no mustard to be found or tasted and the fries were just normal frozen ones. In-N-Out make their fries from fresh hand cut potatoes, my sister told us the stories of how many hours she used to make their fries. Maybe, just maybe it might be a little better if you pick up your order but I won't be trying it again. IF you want to try them their IG is junky_burger

When I looked closer at their IG posts I figured most of the videos are of actual In-N-Out burgers from USA and a few Kuwait videos mixed in. I was hoping it was true but nope, just a regular no frills burger.

Wingstop in Kuwait

 For my daughter's birthday my mom took her to Wingstop for lunch. I've never been to Winstop so this was new for me. I usually get wings from Buffalo's on Monday for their buy one get one free special, we visited the Bida location. There's a variety of spice blends with different heat levels, it would be nice if you could taste test them beforehand as the names don't give flavor details.

I got the hot buffalo sauce and lemon pepper wings, my daughter got the boneless with barbecue sauce and my mom got parmesan cheese. The hot buffalo sauce was actually mild, but the other flavors were much better than Buffalo's.

My mom ordered a strawberry milkshake, it wasn't pink, I didn't see any strawberry pieces, I think 5 Guys milkshake is better.

The fries were just frozen fries, nothing special unless you want to add cheese or sauce

Surprisingly it was really good overall and I would visit again. It's an American franchise but the word 'flavor' is written with the British version 'flavour' which is kind of weird.

MADANG Korean Cultural Center - Game Night

 It was my daughter's birthday so our family friend invited us to hang out and play some Korean games with MADANG in Mishref. I thought it might be all young kids, we were 2 adults and 3 teenagers but it was actually a mix of ages. We started off in a room coloring our wooden blocks and designing our Ddakji folded paper which as I have read, was featured in Squid Games. It's a folded paper with carboard middle, players take turns throwing their 'tile' at the opponents 'tile' to try and flip it

This is our Ddakji class

Our instructor

 

Yutnori Game

Some brochures about Korea, they also had some Korean skin care products selling with a discount

We also played Biseok which involved our colored wooden 'rock' we made. We used it to play Biseokchigi - a few games which involved taking out the other opponents 'rocks' in three different game styles.

Lastly we played Gonggi also known as Korean Jacks or Knucklebones, we used gonggitdol (small plastic stone shaped toys) to throw in the air and pick up the ones on the table. I must admit it was a really great event and I may look into the other various types of events they have like cooking, K-Pop night and Korean movie nights. You can find all of their information on their IG @madang.kw

Better Books Closing for Good

 Almost everyone knows about the Better Books Store, it's been around for ages. I've donated books and bought books from there. Sadly, it will be closing, the last days are July 19-24, 2025. There is a big sale going on this weekend for book lovers.

Some of the proceeds from the book sales will be going to charity. The store had recently moved to a new location but the owner has lost her Kuwaiti nationality and according to Kuwait laws only a Kuwaiti can have a license to sell books.