Café entertainment in Middle East
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A
Minzar
Set back from the main street, this is a bohemian-style coffeehouse that actually specialises in beer. Happy hour extends from 17:00 to 22:00.
reviewed
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Valiasr's Karimkhan (Bozorg) Sq
About 4km east of Abaresan Crossing is the wealthy if architecturally neutral Valiasr District. While hardly SoHo, it's the nearest Tabriz comes to an entertainment district. The city's gilded youth sip espressos around Valiasr's Karimkhan (Bozorg) Sq and make a nightly passeggiata along pedestrianised Shahriyar St, misleadingly nicknamed Champs Elysées.
In just a few minutes here we met Iranian punks, tuft-bearded Metallica fans and even spotted a transvestite waggling his/her hips far more provocatively than any woman could dare to.
reviewed
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B
Inhouse Coffee
This funky café with its lime-and-black décor is always busy with local hipsters smoking, chatting and checking their email on their PowerBooks. It serves excellent espresso and myriad variations of macchiato, latte and decaf coffees. Try the iced spiced chai latte or spicy espresso with cinnamon on top.
There are happy hours between 16:00 and 17:00 and between 21:00 and midnight, when you get 50% off coffee and food - ideal if you're on a budget and hanging out for good coffee. There's also complimentary wireless internet.
reviewed
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C
Gemmayzeh Café
This vast and beautiful Beirut institution, dating back to Ottoman times, is one of the best places to hear live Arabic music in Beirut. Generally consisting of an oud (lute) player and singer, you should make a booking for the live music and dinner - the café has a great mezze menu, but it's worth popping in here any time of day for a strong coffee and a quick round of backgammon.
Note that there's no name on the outside of the café but, bigger and more imposing than all the other places on Rue Gouraud, it's hard to miss.
reviewed
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D
Al-Rashid Court Café
Also known as the Eco-Tourism Café, the 1st floor balcony here is the place to pass an afternoon and survey the chaos of the downtown area below, though competition for seats is fierce. This is one of the best places for the uninitiated to try a nargileh (JD2). Although you won’t see any local women here, it’s well accustomed to foreign tourists. To find it look for the flags of the world on the main facade; the entrance is down the side alley.
reviewed
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E
Ash-Sharq al-Awsat
In Central Damascus you'll find a number of simple, old-fashioned coffeehouses, noisy with the staccato clacking of dominoes and backgammon counters. They're frequented mainly by males who sit around puffing nargileh, and women won't always feel comfortable. The rooftop coffeehouse Ash-Sharq al-Awsat, between the blue-tiled Iranian cultural centre and Shoukri al-Quwatli flyover, sees the occasional budget traveller dropping by.
reviewed
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F
Uganda
Uganda is a unique concept. As a combination comic-book store, bar and cafe, it tends to attract an eclectic crowd. Dedicated to everything that is alternative, it’s named after the alternative nation offered by the British to Herzl. Taybeh (made in Palestine) beer is served and East Jerusalem hummus can also be doled out. Comfy chairs, a relaxed vibe and good music go down well with locals and visitors alike.
reviewed
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G
Qeysarieh Tea Shop
Sitting at the outdoor tables, sipping tea (IR5000 per person) and puffing qalyan (IR10,000), is the perfect way to soak up this beautiful ‘half of the world’, especially when the colours and moods of the square change in the late afternoon. And despite its position, the Qeysarieh Tea Shop is often pretty quiet. The tea shop is up a steep staircase to the left of the Qeysarieh Portal.
reviewed
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Arabica
In Al-Aziziah, Syria's Starbucks does delicious iced lattés as well as providing a fascinating slice of life that you won't experience in the Old City, especially after 18:00, when the music goes up a few notches and Aleppo's shebab (youth) spill out on to the footpath. The café offers free wireless internet and if you don't have your own laptop they'll even lend you one.
reviewed
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H
Zyara
Puff in the shadow of giant skyscrapers at this convivial bo-ho-cool Lebanese cafe. The colourful dollhouse-like interior is great for booze-free socialising over a game of cards or backgammon. The sheesha is presented outdoors, where you sit at living-room-like clusters of cushy sofas on a palm-lined patio while gazing up at the impossibly tall towers.
reviewed
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I
Shakespeare & Company
Linger long and puff sheesha under a big outdoor tent at this woman- and child-friendly hangout with mismatched velvet sofas, wicker chairs and big wooden tables. Perfect for a game of backgammon. The Lebanese–French menu is good for a nosh between smokes – think croque-monsieur, crêpes and pizzas, all around Dh30. Good breakfasts, too.
reviewed
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J
Al-Sendabad Coffee Shop
About 150m west of the Roman Theatre, this place has great views over the city (though not of the theatre itself), and is kept clean and comfortable by the friendly staff. It’s a great place to smoke the nargileh (JD2), especially on the roof in summer, where you can soak up the sunshine while losing your head to syrupy sweet puffs of smoke.
reviewed
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K
Azadegan Teahouse
In a lane off the northeastern corner of Imam Sq, this is the classic old-style teahouse, with an astonishing collection of teahouse-junk hanging from the walls and ceiling and grumpy men lined up opposite each other sipping tea and smoking…ahm, hang on… It’s just sipping and eating before 6pm; the qalyans come out after that.
reviewed
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L
Tche Tche Café
You’ll have to arrive early to get a seat in this bright and buzzy cafe – far from a traditional teahouse, it’s full of Jordanian women smoking the nargileh, sipping on fruit smoothies and nodding their heads to Arabic pop. The ice cream and pecan waffles are a great (if unconventional) accompaniment to apple tobacco.
reviewed
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M
Al-Rayan
Ta'izz has many excellent juice bars. Normally decorated with curtains of fresh mangos and oranges, these respites from the heat and chaos outside provide delicious, healthy drinks. A couple of good ones are the Al-Rayan and the busy, unnamed one next to the Tadhamon International Bank on Gamal Abdul Nasser St.
reviewed
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Auberge Café
This authentic Jordanian spot is popular with local men. You’ll have to make your way through the tobacco haze to reach the balcony, which overlooks the main street and is a particularly good place to smoke a nargileh (JD2). There are no pretensions to luxury, but it wears a certain downmarket authenticity as a result.
reviewed
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O
Gandhi Shopping Centre
Home to several cool little cafés peopled largely by young and fairly liberal Tehranis, this is your one-stop café-society stop. It’s a fun place to hang out in the afternoon and evening; just choose a café you like, settle in and then perhaps eat in one of the centre’s upscale restaurants.
reviewed
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Sheesha Courtyard
The Royal Mirage sure gets it right. Reclining on beaded cushions and thick carpets in an Arabian palm courtyard is the ultimate way to enjoy a sheesha. Though it would take a connoisseur to appreciate the 20 different flavours on offer, you can’t go wrong with the sweet aroma of apple. Highly recommended.
reviewed
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Q
Café Fahim
This cavernous old café on the square echoes atmospherically to the clack of backgammon pieces from groups of old men perched on plastic chairs and often ensconced in a cloud of nargileh smoke. The outdoor terrace is the best place in town for a nice cup of tea and some serious people-watching.
reviewed
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R
Uncle Deek
If you really want to do as the locals do, you'll drink your coffee short, strong and at every available opportunity. On the Corniche on a Friday or Saturday night, it's almost obligatory to take a stroll to Uncle Deek, where green T-shirted bus boys ferry tiny cups to drivers and pedestrians alike.
reviewed
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S
Majmu al-Rawda al-Siyahi
This big, shady, garden café (whose name means something along the lines of 'Tourist Garden Association') is on the north side of the main street, close to the clock tower. A coffee here is a must just to take in the vibe, especially during summer evenings when the place is packed with locals.
reviewed
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T
Eshairiq Coffeehouse
On the eastern (sea-facing) edge of the souq, this traditional roof-top coffeehouse is welcoming of all-comers. Stretched on a divan under the stars, sipping mint tea and listening to the muezzin call prayers at dusk while the city lights sparkle into life, is the quintessential Arabic experience.
reviewed
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U
Peace Café
This place is reached via a filthy staircase and is fairly basic, but if you can get one of the two balcony tables overlooking the street, you’ll have one of the prime vantage points in downtown. This is great place to take puffs from the nargileh (JD2) and just watch the world go by.
reviewed
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V
Ahmed Abdul Rahim's Coffee House
One of the surprisingly few decent traditional coffeehouses in Bahrain is Ahmed Abdul Rahim's Coffee House. The sign is in Arabic, but you'll find it hard to miss: just look for a line of old sheyba (venerable men) sitting on benches and puffing away on apricot sheesha.
reviewed
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T-Square
This funky contemporary café-eatery next door to Arabica is where Aleppo's hipsters hang out. It's a great place for meeting locals and people-watching. Like Arabica, the place buzzes in the evenings, when the tables are jammed and it's standing-room only on the pavement.
reviewed
