Republic restaurant is opening soon in Kaslik facing Saydit el Najet Church. If it’s going to be as big and busy as the original one in Amaret Chalhoub, then it’s gonna cause some serious traffic there.

Al Saniour Sea view has opened few weeks back in Maameltein right before Al Balad and Schtrumpf restaurants and facing Platea. The place is huge and has a terrace that overlooks the entire Jounieh bay and the Harissa Mountain.

The good thing about Al Saniour Sea View is that you don’t feel like you’re walking into a smoke cloud like other Saniour branches, especially if you choose to sit out on the terrace. Added to that, Saniour partnered with O&C Fresh Market to serve Fresh Sea Food and Sushi to its customers. I’ve tasted O&C’s fish and Sushi and both are good. Aside from seafood, Saniour has a large menu offering everything from Manakish, Salads, burgers (not so great), Lebanese Mezza and various platters. There’s also arguile of course.

A word of advice though: Avoid going there on weekends if you don’t like crowded places like myself. The best time for me is on weekdays late in the afternoon where I can have an Almaza and chill with some friends.

PS: For some reason, Saniour does not serve Almaza in bottles but only as draught. They only have Heineken bottles.

Dekkanet al Falamanki is a newly open boutique outside Falamanki’s garden offering an extensive range of produce, ranging from dairy products and vegetables to bread, pastries, sweets, and cookbooks.

What’s great about this Dekkané is that all the products are natural and made locally by a large variety of organizations, farmers and individuals all across Lebanon. It’s like they brought the best there is from every village in Lebanon into one shop.

I think that’s a great initiative to help preserve Lebanese traditions and give those living in the city as well as tourists a chance to buy authentic Lebanese food and products.

For those of you who wish to visit Dekkanet al Falamanki, you can check its location on Falamanki’s website [Here].

[YouTube]

At Ro Ro’s Chicken — a famed Lebanese joint in Hollywood — the manager says shawarma sales jumped 80% in the days after the movie opened. We’re told the same thing happened a few years back when a baba ghanouj joke was featured in “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.” [Link]

Boubouffe (Achrafieh) should consider opening a branch in LA soon. This place has the best Shawarma you’ll ever taste.

According to a source of mine Alshaya have purchased the franchise rights to open The Cheesecake Factory throughout the Middle East including Turkey, Russia and Beirut. The Cheesecake Factory is expected to open at the end of the year in Kuwait but I don’t have information on when the Beirut branch is planning to launch. Shake Shack on the other hand is opening this July.

I went to visit February 30 yesterday and it is by far Hamra’s funkiest and most original venue. The chairs, tables, toilets, bar, roof, walls are all unusual and the whole place feels like it’s upside down. There’s an indoor space which could fit up to 50 people, maybe more, and a small outdoor space in an adjacent alleyway. I can’t be a judge of the drinks being served there as I always order Vodka (Russian Standard) on the rocks with a slice of lemon (you can’t really go wrong with that) but the Strawberry Margarita my fiancee ordered was fine. As for the food, we ordered Nachos and a goat cheese salad and both were good!

February 30 is located on Makdissi street in Hamra, close to Olio Pizzeria and Le Rouge Restaurant.

I tried to take as many pictures as possible to show you how original the venue is as it’s easier to look at pictures than describe it in words.

I had seen the huge horse few weeks back in ABC mall but I didn’t know what it was for. It turns out Cafe Blanc relocated next to its old location and a new Chinese restaurant called P.F. Chang’s China Bistro opened instead. P.F. Chang’s is a popular Chinese chain in the U.S with some 200 branches.

I checked P.F. Chang’s website and it’s already open in Kuwait and UAE. Mark had reviewed it back in 2009.

I’ve never had it so it’s definitely worth a try.

I spotted this offer at “3al Baladi” restaurant last time I went there but I totally forgot to post about it until Mark reminded me of it yesterday.

He told me it’s “their version of happy hours” and he’s right. There are lots of restaurants in Keserwan, mainly those facing ATCL that offer “Free Arguile” to girls only on Thursday. Reminds me of the “Ladies Night” at Options night club in Kaslik.

All those privileges and women still wants more rights in Lebanon (-> insert sarcasm <-).

I was at Crepaway Maameltein yesterday when I noticed Karam Restaurant had closed down and a new restaurant, called Aioli is opening instead. It hasn’t been a year that it opened in Maameltein and in Ajaltoun and it’s already closed!

I am not sure anymore that it’s the same Karam as the one in DownTown. I went there twice and I didn’t feel the food was as good as the original one but that doesn’t mean anything.

On the other hand, Saniour opened a new location few months back next to Karam and Al-Balad and it’s always crowded and full.

This map was presented during a special event organized by the Lebanese embassy in Saudi Arabia. [Source]

Margherita was opening soon back in June 2011 and it still hasn’t. They’ve also had the same notice up for a few months looking for recruitment.

It could be that they delayed the opening but I’m curious to why since it’s been almost a year now since they were supposed to open and have yet to

Photo by Rania Matar

1- Don’t buy a gun unless you really feel the need to. (To protect your house from robberies for ex)

2- Don’t keep a gun in your car or under your belt unless you are ready to injure/kill someone or yourself.

3- If you must have a gun, buy one and not a whole arsenal. You can’t shoot a thief with an RPG. You are no Rambo!

4- Keep yourself and your family away from local political parties. They all took part in the civil war and are the only ones that would benefit from a new one.

5- Advise your children against working with political parties in schools/universities. Such activities will only fuel their sectarian feelings and waste their time.

6- Drive calmly and patiently. Avoid the horn and getting into fights with other drivers and let them pass from time to time. Respect the traffic lights as well. It’s not Armageddon and you will eventually get to your destination.

7- There’s no need to open fire on your neighbor if he parks in your spot. Call the cops and let them handle it or put a lock on your parking lot.

8- Learn to stand in line and respect others whether at movies, concerts, Libanpost office, ISF bureau etc…

9- Keep you religious beliefs to yourself. Unless you are a priest or a Sheikh, you have no obligation to preach Christianity or Islam.

10- Sports are strictly sports and should not be mixed with religion/politics. If you can’t tell the difference, stay home and watch.

For those who think we can’t prevent a civil war if the greater and regional forces want us to get into a new one, I remind you that a great number of the casualties (100,000+) during the 1975-1990 civil war were due to personal fights and accidents rather than clashes between parties or for some political reasons.

It takes two to tango, and as long as there’s only one side wishing for war, it will never happen. So let’s make more Ma3moul and Kellej and cut down on firing guns and RPGs everytime a politician makes a speech.

Nadine Labaki has an alternative solution to prevent civil war in “Where do we go now?” but we would need to legalize weed.

Half Bottle 26000
Bottle 32000

Not that I was considering drinking wine with my pizza but how did they come up with those prices? Come to think of it, why does Pizza Hut have wine on its menu in the first place?

I passed by the Chase Restaurant in Kaslik today and noticed they enhanced their outdoors by adding couches and forming small lounges. They definitely don’t have a great spot like Lina’s cafe in the middle of Kaslik street but it’s much nicer than the chairs and tables they had before.

Their Chocolat Mou on the other hand is still the same and is awesome!

Not sure how new these two bottles are but I spotted them today at the supermarket. I ended picking up a few Light bottles to try them out and they’re actually not bad. Best of all they have 38% less calories than the regular beer which is great.