An evening in Souq Al-Mubarakiya with new friends

Dana had met Noor and Lina exactly once, at a coffee morning in Salmiya, and it had gone well. Two hours had passed without anybody checking the time, and when they said goodbye all three of them promised to meet again. Then a week went by, and then another, and the group chat grew quiet in the way new group chats do. Dana knew the problem. A second coffee in the same café would feel like a repeat, and anything grander, a dinner booking or a day trip, felt too much for people she had spoken to for a single morning. So she wrote one line: “Mubarakiya on Thursday evening? Just a walk and some tea.” Both replied within minutes.

The first meeting is rarely the hard part. There is curiosity to carry it, and everyone is on their best behaviour. The hard part is the second and third time, when the novelty has worn off and the friendship has not yet found its own rhythm. That is where most new connections quietly fade, not because anyone did anything wrong, but because nobody found the right next plan. This post is about one such plan in Kuwait City: an unhurried evening in the old market, and why it works so well for people who are still getting to know one another.

Why an old market works for a second meeting

Souq Al-Mubarakiya is one of the oldest markets in Kuwait, in trade for at least two centuries and a centre of the city’s commerce long before oil. It sits in the heart of the old city, a few streets back from the sea, and it still feels like a place where people come to meet as much as to shop. Its lanes are lined with dates, honey, spices, sweets, perfumes, oud, fabrics and traditional clothes, and the smell changes every few steps.

For a second meeting, this matters more than it might seem. A café gives you a table and two hours to fill with conversation. A market gives you a hundred small things to react to. Someone stops at a stall of dates and explains which kind her grandmother always bought. Someone else has never smelled real oud and pulls a face, and everyone laughs. These little moments do the work that forced questions cannot. You learn what makes a person curious, what they remember from childhood, how they treat a shopkeeper, whether they like to bargain or would rather pay and move on. By the end of the evening you know them better than another hour across a table would have told you.

There is also something reassuring about the place itself. Kuwait has always gathered in public, and the souq is a living reminder of that. It is busy, family-friendly and well lit, and walking through it with people you have met once feels entirely natural.

Walking first, sitting later

The best way to spend the evening is to walk before you sit. Meet at an agreed spot, ideally somewhere easy to describe, and give yourselves half an hour or so to wander without a plan. Walking side by side takes the pressure off conversation. Silences that would feel long across a table feel perfectly comfortable when there is a lane of lanterns and spice sacks to look at.

Let people lead in turn. One person might want to find a particular sweet shop, another might want to look at fabrics, a third might just want to watch. If the souq is busy, as it often is on weekend evenings, agree on where to regroup if you get separated, and keep it simple.

It is worth knowing that part of the market was damaged by a large fire in March 2022 and has been under reconstruction since, so some corners may look different from older photographs. The rest of the souq carries on as it always has.

Small plates, then tea

When everyone has walked enough, it is time to eat, and the souq is made for eating in small amounts. Rather than a single big meal, think of the evening as a series of small shared plates: some grilled meat from one of the open-air restaurants, a bag of dates to pass around, a handful of sweets picked by whoever knows them best. Sharing food in this way is one of the oldest forms of hospitality in the Gulf, and it turns three people into a small table very quickly.

It also takes away some of the awkwardness that can come with a second meeting. There is no long menu to agonise over and no question of who pays for what at a formal dinner. One person buys the dates, another buys the tea, and somebody else gets the next round. Keeping it light and even makes it easy to say yes to a fourth meeting. For the food-explorers circle, the souq is a natural regular plan: every visit can be built around trying one thing nobody in the group has tasted before.

If the walk is the beginning of the evening, tea is where it settles. Near Al-Bahar Mosque, the Sea Mosque, there is a courtyard of traditional cafés where tea is brewed over coals and people sit in the open air at simple tables, talking for as long as they like. It is not a place that rushes you. A pot of tea between three or four people can last an hour, and nobody will be in a hurry to take the table away.

This is the part of the evening where the conversation tends to deepen. After walking and eating together, people are more relaxed, and the questions change. Not “what do you do?” but “what do you miss from home?” or “what did you think Kuwait would be like before you arrived?” If you are from Kuwait yourself, it is often the moment when someone asks what the souq was like when you were young, and the answer becomes a story. The coffee-and-conversation circle exists for exactly this kind of hour: a warm drink, a small group, and time.

For those who like photography, the courtyard and the lanes around it are a gift as the lights come on. The photo-walks circle often uses old markets as a gentle starting point, because everyone has a reason to stop and nobody needs expensive equipment. Just ask before photographing a shopkeeper or anyone else up close.

How to plan it as a small group

The souq works best with three to six people. Fewer than three and it can feel like a one-to-one, which is not what a new friendship needs at this stage. More than six and the group splits naturally into separate conversations, and the lanes are too narrow to walk as a crowd. A few practical points make the evening easy for everyone.

Pick an evening when the weather is kind. From late autumn the air cools and the souq is at its best after sunset. Agree a clear meeting point and a rough end time, so that nobody feels trapped and anyone who needs to leave early can do so without explaining. Parking around the old city can be busy at peak times, so it helps if people know in advance where they will leave the car, or come together if they already know one another. Bring some cash for small stalls, and comfortable shoes. Dress modestly, as the souq is a traditional and family place. And, as with any plan with people you have met recently, keep it in public, tell someone at home where you are going, and make sure everyone has a way to get back.

If you want to extend the evening, the sea front is a short way from the market. Towards the water stand the Grand Mosque and, opposite it, Seif Palace with its blue-tiled clock tower, both striking from the outside after dark. A short walk in that direction is a good way to end the night, especially if the conversation is still going.

Making it the start of something

The real value of a good second meeting is not the evening itself, but what it makes possible. When a group has walked, eaten and sat together without it being an effort, the next plan becomes obvious. Somebody says, “Next time let’s try the fish market,” or “My cousin knows a better tea place,” and the friendship starts to plan itself. That is the moment a few people who met once become a small circle.

Dana’s Thursday evening went on far longer than any of them expected. They walked until their feet ached, argued happily about which dates were best, and sat in the courtyard over two pots of tea while Lina told a long story about her first week in Kuwait. When they finally stood up, Noor said, “Same time next month?” and nobody needed to think about it. They have been back three times since, and each time one of them brings someone new.

Where TruFriend fits

TruFriend is an invite-only friendship platform, for friendship only, for grown-ups aged 18 and over, and it is now open in Kuwait City. Tru, our assistant, learns what you enjoy and when you are free, introduces you to a few compatible people nearby, and helps turn the introduction into a plan in a public place. Circles such as food explorers, coffee and conversation and photo walks give you the same people, week after week, so that the second and third meetings happen naturally instead of fading away. If an evening in the old market sounds like your kind of plan, request an invite and we will send you a personal invitation.

Don’t just read about it

Join a circle of people in Kuwait City who enjoy the same things. Members already on TruFriend can join from the app or suggest a plan in any chat.