Gemmayze

Wolfram arrived last night. Mid-morning I sent him a sms to join us for lunch. We all went to one of the best Lebanese restaurant next to the office. Despite we had to eat in only one hour and we showed up before 1pm (tip for the future, don’t plan a lunch at 12pm in Beirut you would simply bump into people finishing breakfast and closed kitchen ;)) we had amazing selection of Lebanese dishes: Kibbeh (my all time favorite), Tabouleh, Fattoush, Hummus, Kibid mi’li, vegetables, lamb, Wara’Enab, warm bread…. It’s almost a pity we had to eat so fast and couldn’t enjoy a few more dishes from the traditional Mezze.
Once I was done with work and could get back to my vacation, Wolfram and I tried to book a table for dinner. Let’s face it, during the holidays, a lot of the Lebanese people leaving abroad come back to visit their families joined by many tourist from Egypt and Saudi. As a consequence all the hotels and restaurants in Beirut are fully booked. We learned it the hard way. We were advised to go to Gemmayze, a street in Beirut where you have many bars and restaurants (actually that’s all there is in that street) and I found on Timeout Beirut the list of restaurants and bars in Gemmayze. Thoroughly we called them one by one (when the description seemed appealing). Luckily for us we could get a table at GEM.
Having a couple of hours to kill until dinner we decided to enjoy the swimming pool and the Jacuzzi. Wouldn’t it be great to have a pool at home?
GEM is a restaurant and bar built in an old traditional house. We sat at our table and enjoyed good food, great lounge music and excellent cocktails.
The only negative note was the smoke. Europe and Asia having non-smoking parts in their restaurants / bars that we forgot what it is to be in a smoky place and what comes the following morning: the smell on your clothes / hair.