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A Lebanese Blog

Tag: Beirut

  • Photos of the truck that blocked Dora bridge yesterday

    I have no idea how did the driver manage to do it, he must be a genius!

    Photos source unknown

  • Eau de Vie – Phoenicia Hotel

    I was invited to a tasting at Eau de Vie Phoenicia last night which has been renovated and re-opened in November with a new design and exquisite menu.

    I’ve never been to the place before, but I’ve been told it used to target old people prior to the renovation, and they’re now trying to attract younger people. Although I’m not really sure how many “young” people will be able to afford the prices on the menu, but I believe the overall experience of the place is worth it!

    The staff was so friendly and took us on a small tour around the place to show us their new wine, whiskey, and cigar storage rooms, the new lounges and how small private areas can now be booked for groups of 50 people without really disturbing other guests, and of course their fantastic view of the Mediterranean and the mountains.

    And then came the food… which was no less than awesome! We first got served some smoked salmon and a variety of salads, followed by our choice among 4 mouth watering main dishes, and finally a variety of really really REALLY GOOD desserts.

    I totally recommend the place and I really hope they maintain their taste and quality of food, unlike other places in Beirut.

    Oh and now that Valentine’s day is getting near, I suggest you book a table for two by the window at Eau de Vie if you’re on the look for a nice fancy place for you and your loved one, and I guarantee it’ll be your winning card 😉

  • Panoramic views from Lebanon

    I came across this profile on Gigapan today by a Lebanese photographer called Karim Saad who shoots cool panoramic scenes in Lebanon and the UAE.

    My favorite among his work was this huge panorama of Beirut Central District.

    Double click on the photo or use your mouse wheel to zoom in. The shots are so clear that you can even see the car plates numbers.

    In this Panorama you can browse and discover a lot of landmarks as well as the beautiful architecture of Beirut downtown.
    http://gigapan.org/gigapans/67894/

    Make sure not to miss the following:

    1- Martyr’s Square and the famous Statue
    2- Grand Serail also known as Government Palace
    3- Al Amine Mosque
    4- Hariri Burial site
    5- St. Georges Church
    6- Beirut Ports
    7- Holiday Inn Hotel
    8- UN Headquarters
    9- Burj el Murr, Starco, An Nahar, Virgin, Burj Al Ghazal, UFA buildings and many others…

    Also on the far right, you will see a big part of the Lebanese coast including:

    1- La Marina Joseph Khoury
    2- Zouk Power Plant
    3- Rimal, Holiday Beach, Aquamarina, Tabarja…
    4- Notre Dame du Liban also know as Harissa
    5- Casino du Liban

    If you can’t find them on the map, they are all snapshot. All you have to do is to hover the mouse over the image a check the name. Good hunting!

    Make sure to also check other panoramas he did of Kesrawan and Sannine Mountain, the Cedars, and Jounieh Bay.

  • Gou: A good place for tea in Achrafieh

    Finding a good cup of coffee is an easy job in Beirut, but finding a good cup of tea where most places serve you a hot cup of water along with a Lipton tea bag is a totally different story!

    A friend of mine introduced me a while ago to a place in Achrafieh called “Gou”, a Restaurant/Patisserie/Salon de Thé, or so says the sign at the entrance. Anyway the place has several menus for food an beverages, and totally separate one for tea only containing at least 30 different selections! Each with a brief description about the ingredients and it benefits, along with the recommended infusion time.

    On my first time there I order “thé du Hammam”, a Turkish blend I guess, and on my second time I had a Russian selection called “Anastasia”. The former was my favorite, although the latter was not bad at all.


    Any tea you select is priced at 8,000 L.L (almost double the price than any other place), but you’ll actually get served a hot pot of water, along with the tea to infuse, that will make you at least three good cups of tea guaranteed to make an hour of your afternoon. I know it worked for me! 😛

    If you’d like to try it, Gou is located at Tabaris, Saint Nicolas street, right behind IBL bank.

  • MTC Touch: The art of deception!

    A new ad for MTC Touch about their “Friends and Family” service is all over the radio stations now. This new service allows prepaid users to select 2 of their most dialed numbers and call them at 30% less.

    That means if you were to fully use the $25 card (which actually gives you $22.73) to call your 2 preferred number, you’ll be able to speak 90 minutes instead of 63 minutes. ($22.73 / ($0.36 * 70%) = 90 minutes)

    However, what wasn’t advertised is that this service actually has a cost of $3! And they probably did it that way in order not to allow everyone to benefit from this offer.

    Anyway, this means you now can’t subscribe to this service unless you speak a minimum number of minutes with your 2 preferred numbers that are enough to cover the service fee and then start saving money on your remaining calls, so let’s calculate this minimum amount.

    Let “T” be that amount, then: $0.36 T * 30% = $3 –> T = 27.7, i.e 28 minutes.

    And of course if you were to fully use your card to call your preferred number, the total number of minutes drops to 78 instead of 90. That means the decrease is in fact 23.6% instead of 30%!

    Couldn’t they have just advertised a decrease of 20-25% instead of playing smart on their customers?

    Update:

    Alfa (The second mobile operator in Lebanon) turned out to have launched the same service and is advertising for it as well, with the same fee.

    Still, to be fair with the two companies, I have to mention that MTC Touch and Alfa JUST manage the two mobile networks, and to my knowledge do not any control over the rates or the offered services and their fees, it is actually the ministry of telecommunication that controls all of that.

  • New pizza joint in Beirut

    Very close to Classic Burger Joint Sodeco you can spot this place that is currently under renovation with the word “PIZZA” written on the outside. According to the people at CBJ it should soon be opening as a pizza joint, having almost the same concept as CBJ and the same owner too.

    I believe some people will shortly just follow and open similar joints somewhere else (Hamra?), just like every time something new is introduced in Lebanon. Anyway, let’s see how good they will be!

  • Breakfast at Paul Gemmayze

    Aside from a simple thyme or cheese man’ouche, what else beats a breakfast at Paul??

  • In Beirut you can name a street after a personal bodyguard

    Is it really right to name a street in Beirut after a personal bodyguard?

    Yehya Al-Arab was the head of Rafic Hariri’s security team and got killed with him in the explosion. All the respect to that man and his family and we were all saddened by his tragic death, but I thought streets should be named after writers, scientists, philosophers, politicians, etc… i.e. people with great achievements.

  • Beyonce’s Heat ads vandalized at Dora highway

    Seems like Beyonce’s new Heat perfume ads were too provocative for some people! I was on my way to work this morning when I noticed they were vandalized overnight at Dora highway. (Same as what happened to Marie France’s ads back in May)

    The act is pretty weird though… there are much more other explicit ads all over the country, why did they decide to just target this one?

    Anyway, it’s good no one thought of playing the video commercial of the perfume at one of the newly installed outdoor giant screens!

  • New parking system at ABC Achrafieh

    I went to watch TRON at ABC Achrafieh last night and was surprised to see that they have deployed a new system for their parking spaces, a system that I have been wishing for the Lebanese malls to have because of its effectiveness especially during peak times of the year.

    Several boards are installed at the mall entrances to display the number of empty parking spots on each floor, and then above each spot there’s a small light to indicate whether the spot is free (Green) or occupied (Red), so you’ll directly know where to go depending on parking availability.

    The system will definitely reduce the traffic problem at times where the parking gets really crowded (e.g. Saturday’s and Sunday’s). I hope the people at City Mall get jealous and install a similar one too!

    I’m not sure though how will system reacts when someone occupies two parking spots, should it probably be configured to display an “Asshole” sign when it detects such thing..?

    Update: According to Tarek & Mustapha, a similar system is already available at Beirut Souks.