As reported by blogger Beirut boy, Acid club “was ordered to close by the municipality following noise complaints from neighbors.”, according to Non-profit LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) organization Helem.
For those who don’t know, Acid is a gay club and has been open for years, even though homosexuality is illegal by law in Lebanon. As for the reason of its closure mentioned above, it doesn’t sound very reasonable as there are barely any residential areas around Acid. It could be as Angie stated an attempt to keep Lebanon’s LGBT community in the dark.
It is quite surprising to see the local authorities close down “straight” pubs in Gemmayze for the silliest of reasons while gay clubs are left open for so long. Only explanation is that there are “gay officials” keeping it open !
Nevertheless, Acid gay or no gay is a very nasty place and i am glad it’s closed now.
PS: There are 3 other gay clubs in Lebanon according to this website, Milk in Gemmayze, Wolf and Bardo in Hamra.
Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, is the 10th most expensive rental city in the world for expatriate housing in 2010, compared with its rank of 28 last year, Byblos Bank SAL said.
The city is ahead of Paris, Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Geneva and Rio de Janeiro and behind Singapore, Osaka, New York City, Moscow, Hong Kong and London, the bank said in an e-mailed report, citing a survey by EuroCost International. [Source]
Houses are too expensive to buy, and if you are considering renting one, you are better off buying it.
Schtroumpf restaurant was one of my favourite places in town and the beer and food there were as good as any other place. But it just lost it for some reason until a year or two back when it turned “American” and became Shtrumpf restaurant. Not sure why they changed the name, but i went for dinner the other day and it was very good, and their salad bar is awesome. There’s soup, a toaster and a large variety.
They are currently holding their 18th beer festival where you pay 19$ and drink beer as much as you can. The festival is held outdoors and includes live bands and entertainment. You need to reserve before going though.
Last time i attended, the atmosphere was really nice and the place crowded but service was a bit slow. Also, not including any food with the beer kind of sucks, specially that they offer open beer and wings night every Tuesday for 16$ or so.
Nevertheless, their beer festival is worthy going to, and i can’t wait for their cheese and wine nights in winter.
As some might have noticed, Chahe hasn’t been posting for few weeks now. When asked why, he claimed he has no time, which is not really convincing, so i thought to myself and came out with those top 10 reasons:
1- He is very shy and blushes when he posts or comments.
2- He has a girlfriend now and he had to choose between her or the blog.
3- He is running for elections under a different name in the United States.
4- He is spending his time playing poker online.
5- He is too lazy to recharge his internet connection.
6- He joined another blog.
7- He does not like me or Mark anymore.
8- He misses Nency and wishes she could come back and post again.
9- He robbed a bank and is in Brazil now.
10- He forgot the blog’s URL and never used google before.
The author and chef Anthony Bourdain came to Beirut in 2006 to film an episode of his food show No Reservation for the Travel channel. Two days after arriving the war with Israel started. The episode is available on YouTube divided into 5 parts. Sorry about the quality, this is the best I could find.
Every year, we have to wait until the last second to know when the Eid is, and which days we will be off, and this is not just about watching the moon, at least not in Lebanon.
Here we have to take into account several issues:
- Shiite Hassan Fadlallah’s office (Even after he died, his office still makes predictions).
- Other Shiite references who follow Iran and are close to Hezbollah.
- Dar el Fatwa (Sunnite) who supposebly follows KSA’s decision.
- Current Political circumstances: If Sunnites and Shiites are in love with one another, we get an extra day. If things look tense between the two teams, no extra day.
- Last but not least, if it happens that Christians got an extra day or a day less in one of their holidays during the year, the government needs to take it into consideration and adjust the Eid accordingly “in the sake of national unity”.
That’s why until this morning, we have no clue when the Eid starts and when it ends. Maybe we should hire Michel Hayek for this occasion and rely on him solely.
Nevertheless, Eid Mubarak to all our Muslim readers.
At least six people were killed and 15 others were injured on Tuesday in a crash between several trucks and vehicles on the Jiyyeh highway, south of Beirut. [Naharnet]
Several trucks?? walaw! I think this is the most deadly accident so far this year.
“The first and only showroom in the Levant is scheduled to open in Beirut on September 24, ahead of Lebanon’s second annual HOG tour” from October 1 to 3, said Marwan Tarraf, general manager of Bikers Inc., the current Harley Davidson dealership in Lebanon. [Source]
It is going to open in Hamra next to the Central Bank.
I was not very fond of sushi until two years back, but since then i’ve tried almost every place in town and i must say it is very hard to tell if one place is that much better than another. One thing is for sure is that sushi is very expensive in Lebanon.
Sushi restaurants are divided into two categories in Lebanon:
- The classy and expensive ones (WokWok, Salmontini, Ybar, Le Sushi bar, and to a certain extent Le Yen and Maki.)
- The affordable and popular ones (Sushi Ko, Scuzi, Tsunami, Oceanus, Sushi Bento, Ichiban, Sushi Mooda, Kaiten etc …)
Most of the expensive places are good but it’s way too overpriced. WokWok has the most uncomfortable chairs too. Maki is a great place too but as Michelle pointed out earlier, it’s a very complex menu which i found annoying. Le Yen on the other hand is one of my favourite places.
As for the less expensive places, Oceanus is the most highly recommended by most people i know.
All my friends who come from abroad tell me sushi is way too expensive here and not that good. But all food is relatively expensive in Lebanon specially the non-Lebanese one, so that’s not something new. As for being not that good, i can’t be the judge of that but i don’t find it that hard to believe. Afterall, we do import most of our sushi and the food control here is “laisse a desirer”.
