Lebanon Trip!

[Hassouni]

[color=#333333][font=tahoma][size=2]Hey everyone
Just got back from my sixth time in Beirut. Was there for a wedding and took a few extra days to have fun. Being argile-deprived in London (more on that later) I took the chance to smoke whenever I could - 6 times in three days! The following is a chronicle of the places I went.[/size][/font][/color]
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[font="tahoma"][size="3"][color="#333333"][size=2]FIRST STOP: Al-Rawda Cafe. Already reviewed by me on HF. Prob will update the review. Very calm, unassuming place.
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Skinnier than normal argileh (grape/mint):
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A guy next to us smoking Ajami without his hands, reading the newspaper. He did this for over an hour and didn't take the hose out of his mouth ONCE. What a manly man.
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And ze menu: Btw, Lebnaniyeen: What is Ti3beyeh? Nakha, by the way, is apparently like 'Ajami but less intense.

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[Hassouni]

[color=#333333][font=tahoma][size=2]SECOND STOP (same day): Al-Falamanki[/size][/font][/color]
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[color=#333333][font=tahoma][size=2]Already reviewed, the undisputed King of Argileh Gardens: Big old house with a massive tree-filled courtyard garden, has the biggest selection of stuff to smoke (mu'assal, 'ajami, nakha, salloum, zaghloul, jordanian something, and various special house mixes that taste a lot like kashmir but not quite the same). Also superb food

Argileh 2: DA - how could I not? The service here was so good that not only do they blow out your bowl after 20 minutes, but after another 15 they give you a WHOLE NEW argileh just to have a fresh smoke! (Note, service is NOT like that in the high season - summer and around xmas/new year)

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The garden:
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[color=#333333][font=tahoma][size=2]Here's a sadly dark video I took of the place:[/size][/font][/color]
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And what visit to Beirut would be complete without a late night visit to Barbar, a presumably 24 hour LEGENDARY Lebanese fast food/snack bar place, serving falafel, shawarma, kababs, various baked goods, gelato, Western sandwiches, etc
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[Hassouni]

SECOND DAY, FIRST STOP: Tasty

[color=#333333][font=tahoma][size=2]OK, Day 2, photo update 2:

So, wandering around Hamra, which is one of the main commercial areas of Beirut, and now becoming one of the more bohemian parts of town (thanks no doubt to its proximity to the American University of Beirut), found a cafe...with a monkey!
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[color=#333333][font=tahoma][size=2][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOzNdSoTrWc[/media]

This place was called Tasty, on Jeanne d'Arc Street in Hamra.

Here's the smokes menu: "Have fun wiz shisha" sounds deliberately egyptian...

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And the delivered product - lemon/mint:

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OK, so this is REAL 'Ajami tobacco: a big wrapped pile of tobacco about 9 inches tall with a glowing coal on top. I found out that Nakha is more like the loose shredded stuff and isn't as strong as this

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[Hassouni]

[color=#333333][font=tahoma][size=2]DAY 2, SECOND STOP: Gemmayze Cafe

After an absolute knockout Lebanese dinner at a place called Abdel Wahhab (They have my utmost recommendation, if you're in Beirut ever, GO!), we wandered down to Jemmayze, which is a very old neighborhood near downtown now packed with nightlife of all sorts.

One of the most unusual places is called, bizarrely enough, Gemmayze Cafe, and it's in the style of old cafes in Syria and Lebanon decades ago - a huge space with lots of tables, a bar, nargile, and live music. These sort of places are apparently still around in Damascus but hard to find in Lebanon. Here it is:

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me and my Lebanese friend pretending to be gangstaz:

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Grape argileh, I want one just like this (although the shaft was decidedly hollow):

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The tongs have a cedar imprinted on them:

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a very classy picture of my friend:

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Unsurprisingly, some Lebanese getting tanked on Arak like this..

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....started a dabke line, much to the entertainment of everyone else...

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And the most entertaining thing, a guy who was dancing twirling and shaking all over the place on his own, getting close to a neighboring chair. The blur is his arms flailing about in the air...

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Oh and more drunk guys raised their fez-wearing buddy up on their shoulders:

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[Hassouni]

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[color=#333333][font=tahoma][size=2]LAST DAY: Sour Rest House and Bay Rock Cafe[/size][/font][/color]
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[/size][/font][/color]Yesterday went to South Lebanon...first to the ancient Phoenician city of Sidon, aka modern Saida, then to the almost as ancient Phoenician city of Tyre, aka Sour (pronounced Soor). Went argileh shopping in Saida, no luck. Wandered all over, saw some cool stuff.

In Sour, we went the Sour Rest House, a huge sort of club on the beach...this beach, to be precise:

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Had a super minty smoke, the guy put flower petals on our trays! what a nice touch. Tiny hose port, crappy purge, but it smoked really well, thick minty goodness...again more on this later (actually in a forthcoming thread). Also, arak:

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A few hours later, back in Beirut...Bay Rock Cafe, on the Corniche in the Raouché neighborhood. Perched on the cliffs overlooking the Med and the famous Pigeon Rocks:

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Smoked a nice sweet melon argile there, tasted like Nakhla but not sure. Another PERFECT argileh, one like I couldn't find in the shops:

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Drank a "Mexican" beer with it, which is local beer with lime juice added and a salted rim....like a beer margarita. Only in Lebanon....

Be sure to see the soon-to-be-created thread showing what I bought!!

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[color=#333333][font=tahoma][size=2]Overall, Lebanon is a nargile smoker's paradise. It'[/size][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=tahoma][size=2]s more prominent in Lebanon than, say, in Turkey or the Gulf. In the latter you have to seek out nargile, even if it's not hard to find-- in Lebanon you see it everywhere you look, no finding necessary. almost every cafe and Lebanese restaurant has them, and it's not oh let's go out and smoke but rather oh let's go to the cafe and have a drink and a bite and oh yeah we can smoke too! The overall quality of the smoke is SO much better than anything we get in the US, and in Beirut, prices range from $6.67 to $10. Outside Beirut, half that.[/size][/font][/color]

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And with that, we bid this trip adieu like the setting sun in Sour:

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[Balthazar]

Great report! Looks like you had a good time.

[Hassouni]

Yeah man, I was super sad to leave! I encourage everyone to go, it's an amazing place (hehe and no I didn't just go to smoke!)

[jorlyfish]

Wow! I've always heard Lebanon is beautiful. Looks like you had a good time, and plenty of good smoke sessions!

[Hassouni]

Oh something I forgot to mention: At the last place I smoked (Bay Rock) I distinctly saw a patch of masking tape on the stem with the flavor I ordered written on it. I STRONGLY suspect that the bigger cafes dedicate certain pipes, not just hoses, to specific flavors. Actually it wouldn't surprise me if the smaller places do that as well, because a smaller cafe is likely to have far fewer options - at a minimum: Ajami, Nakha, DA, and Grape.

I thought it's interesting as it's something we talk about here

[Hassouni]

[quote name='jorlyfish' timestamp='1288552972' post='486924']
Wow! I've always heard Lebanon is beautiful. Looks like you had a good time, and plenty of good smoke sessions!
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Lebanon is hands down the most gorgeous country I've been to, if only for the sheer variety: beaches, mountains, big green valleys, big dry valleys, cedar forests, feet of snow. Other countries may have one or two specific places that stand out more, but Lebanon has EVERYTHING.

It was a great time, I'm kind of sad to be back in London - I have a lot more friends in Beirut than here

[mustafabey]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip! It is very nice to see that Lebanon has bounced back from the terrible years of the late 20th century and nothing has diminished the joie de vivre of the Lebanese people!

[Hassouni]

Well now they have Iran to worry about mucking about their affairs but we won't get into that...

[Cp44]

they call Lebanon the Switzerland of the Middle East and I am jealous after reading this thread.

[Hassouni]

Well Beirut used to be called the Paris of the Middle East....

Lebanon is def like Switzerland in terms of its banking sector, but in terms of geography I dunno about that. I really don't think there's anywhere that compares on a physical level

[Cp44]

I think it was comparing it to Northern Lebanon:

[url="http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/10/lebanon-switzerland-of-middle-east.html"]http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/10/lebanon-switzerland-of-middle-east.html[/url]

[Chreees]

I love it all, Hass. Looks like you had a great time. I envy you!

[antouwan]

OMFGJKLMAO

YOU WENT TO BARBAR AND FALAMANKI!?

damn man, sounds like you had a hell of a time. i have one leb argile that i bought here and it smokes pretty well. everything from leb. i can sit back, smoke that, and drink an almaza and listen to some fayrouz and i'm in heaven. it's great.

if you're ever in h town hit me up, my man and we'll leb it up.

and as for those silly iranians...well, maybe that will be addressed when we leb it up.

[IainUM]

i must make a trip to these places!!!!

[Hassouni]

[quote name='antouwan' timestamp='1288579141' post='486972']
OMFGJKLMAO

YOU WENT TO BARBAR AND FALAMANKI!?

damn man, sounds like you had a hell of a time. i have one leb argile that i bought here and it smokes pretty well. everything from leb. i can sit back, smoke that, and drink an almaza and listen to some fayrouz and i'm in heaven. it's great.

if you're ever in h town hit me up, my man and we'll leb it up.

and as for those silly iranians...well, maybe that will be addressed when we leb it up.
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Hell yeah man Barbar and Falamanki are like required first-thing-I-do visits! Although usually in reverse order. My last meal in Lebanon was a 2 am shawarma run to Barbar (sigh).

Yalla see you in Houston sometime habibi!

[71903DC5]

nice man

[antouwan]

[quote name='Hassouni' timestamp='1288601663' post='486985']
[quote name='antouwan' timestamp='1288579141' post='486972']
OMFGJKLMAO

YOU WENT TO BARBAR AND FALAMANKI!?

damn man, sounds like you had a hell of a time. i have one leb argile that i bought here and it smokes pretty well. everything from leb. i can sit back, smoke that, and drink an almaza and listen to some fayrouz and i'm in heaven. it's great.

if you're ever in h town hit me up, my man and we'll leb it up.

and as for those silly iranians...well, maybe that will be addressed when we leb it up.
[/quote]

Hell yeah man [b]Barbar and Falamanki are like required first-thing-I-do visits[/b]! Although usually in reverse order. My last meal in Lebanon was a 2 am shawarma run to Barbar (sigh).

Yalla see you in Houston sometime habibi!
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haha Barbar and falamanki are just as lebanese as Jabal Sanine and Almaza

and there are a few moderately leb-like places here where you can drink an almaza and have a nice ka'as l mbeed of chateau ksara or something.

[Josh Hamilton]

cool stuff...thanks for the verbose itinerary...

[Hassouni]

[quote name='antouwan' timestamp='1288638533' post='487015']
[quote name='Hassouni' timestamp='1288601663' post='486985']
[quote name='antouwan' timestamp='1288579141' post='486972']
OMFGJKLMAO

YOU WENT TO BARBAR AND FALAMANKI!?

damn man, sounds like you had a hell of a time. i have one leb argile that i bought here and it smokes pretty well. everything from leb. i can sit back, smoke that, and drink an almaza and listen to some fayrouz and i'm in heaven. it's great.

if you're ever in h town hit me up, my man and we'll leb it up.

and as for those silly iranians...well, maybe that will be addressed when we leb it up.
[/quote]

Hell yeah man [b]Barbar and Falamanki are like required first-thing-I-do visits[/b]! Although usually in reverse order. My last meal in Lebanon was a 2 am shawarma run to Barbar (sigh).

Yalla see you in Houston sometime habibi!
[/quote]

haha Barbar and falamanki are just as lebanese as Jabal Sanine and Almaza

and there are a few moderately leb-like places here where you can drink an almaza and have a nice ka'as l mbeed of chateau ksara or something.
[/quote]

BTW when did Falamanki open? there was a long gap between my 3rd and 4th visits (jan 05 to summer 09) and all of a sudden all I heard about was Falamanki in 09.

Barbar, however, has been an institution for ages I know, to the extent that there's an imitator on the Corniche! "Snack Mohammad Barbar" COPYCAT!!

[antouwan]

i havent been but i know i'd fit in as much as i've seen of the place thanks to my cousin's pictures and all what they've told me. i think falamanki opened in 07 or 08. but it blew up - quick. and judging by what i've heard, it has all the ingredients for success and it's showing.

there are a myriad of barbar copycats. bas t3arif bil 2elb l ch3ab lubnani - bas wa7di! my dad used to eat at barbar when he lived there...that place is a living legend.

late night at barbar is where it's at.

[Hassouni]

[quote name='antouwan' timestamp='1288648446' post='487026']
i havent been but i know i'd fit in as much as i've seen of the place thanks to my cousin's pictures and all what they've told me. i think falamanki opened in 07 or 08. but it blew up - quick. and judging by what i've heard, it has all the ingredients for success and it's showing.

there are a myriad of barbar copycats. bas t3arif bil 2elb l ch3ab lubnani - bas wa7di! my dad used to eat at barbar when he lived there...that place is a living legend.

late night at barbar is where it's at.
[/quote]

well in fairness fi tnein barbar. barbarein! There's a legit second branch on Spears Street, near where it leads to Downtown