Coffee Shop Series - Cafe Younes Gourmet

I know that it's Saturday and I'm a day late, but it completely slipped my mind yesterday and well, better late than never right?

The thing that I love about Cafe Younes is the outdoors seating area. I think it has one of the nicest ones out of all the coffee shops around the area. When the weather is just right, there's no where better to sit and enjoy your coffee. The only problem is that there is rarely an empty seat outside, which is why I don't get to sit there much! To my knowledge, the downstairs indoors area is supposed to be a non-smoking area, but recently I've seen a lot of people sitting there and smoking. The upstairs area is also non-smoking, and is perfect if you're looking for a place to work or study with your laptop. Literally, if you look up, all you see are people and their laptops lined up side by side.

The Drinks

As usual, my preferred drink has something to do with Caramel! The Caramelized Coffee is by far the best caramel coffee I've had. It's very sweet though, so if you're not a big fan of sugar I don't recommend that you try it. The French-Press is also really good. Their American Coffee is alright, it's not the best but it's good enough if you get to sit outside!

Other Pluses?

They do have free Wi-Fi, but the connection is not that great. If you're a patient person, you'll be fine using it. If you're there to do hardcore research, I wouldn't advise using the Wi-Fi.

Their food is good, as well as their desserts. The chocolate spoons are my favorite.

The service is great, I've never had any problems with wrong orders, late orders or even missing orders.

For everyone who enjoys something sweet once in a while, make it Cafe Younes' Caramelized Coffee, you won't regret it.

Coffee Shop Series - Gloria Jean's Coffees

Gloria Jean's is just off of Hamra Street. It has, by far, the best study/work atmosphere. Everyone has his or her nose buried into a book or laptop. Sometimes it feels like you're walking into a library, and when you speak people actually look up at you with a look that says "how inconsiderate". So if you're looking for a place to concentrate without any major distractions, my recommendation is Gloria Jean's!

The Drinks!

The coffee itself is not bad. I like the Creme Brulee drink, which is ice blended, it really does taste like Creme Brulee. I also like their Caramellate if you're looking for a cold drink. Theis Espresso is not bad for a quick caffeine fix. I honestly haven't explored their drinks any more than that, because a lot of their forzen drinks were too fruity for me (I can't stand fruit tastes in my drinks) so that would be interesting for fruit lovers, and their hot drinks are very standard.

They have quite a big seating area indoors, and it's a non-smoking area. They do have a smoking area outdoors, but it consists of about 7 tables and they're usually full, so it's a hassle getting a table outdoors.

Other Pluses?

They do have free Wi-Fi, but I suggest you use it on your phones, because it works a lot faster. Once, it took about 17 minutes just to load Wordpress. This is probably because 99% of the people at Gloria Jean's are using the internet. If you're patient, go ahead and use you're laptops, but if you're like me, use your phones!

Also, the service there is great. The people that work there are very friendly, they actually make you want to come back.

They also offer a Gloria Jean's card, where you get a hole punched into your card every time you buy a drink, and after buying 10 drinks you get a free one.

Last, but definitely not least, the desserts. To all those Sugar Daddy's fans out there who can't be bothered to drive to the bakery, just take a walk down to Gloria Jean's. They get their desserts from Sugar Daddy's, and even have my favorite: Red Velvet Cake... yum.

Coffee Shop Series - Caribou Coffee

After being extremely active on Foursqaure, I've gotten a lot of comments on the amount of tie I spend in coffee shops. I was told that the little "shouts" I send with my location made people want to go out and try the drinks I was talking about. So in order to ensure that I'm more active on here, I've decided to start a new series on my blog: Coffee Shops. Starting today, I will be posting a sort of "review" of coffee shops around Hamra. I will be posting them every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you like the coffee shop scene, stay tuned! If you know any good coffee shops in Hamra, let me know about them in the comment section. Now on to our first coffee shop of the series.

If you want to find me on Hamra, 5 out of 7 days a week you'd probably find me at Caribou Coffee. I like the outdoor seating they have, along with the corner couches upstairs that face the windows. There are 2 things that I don't particularly like about Caribou:

1. The bottom floor is a non-smoking area, the outdoor area and the top floor are smoking areas. This means that when the weather gets colder, it's going to be hard trying to find somewhere to sit upstairs, as it's not a big area.

2. It is always full!! If I found a place to sit at Caribou every time I went there, I would probably be there 7 out of 7 days a week. I guess that's a good sign though if everyone likes it. It's just irritating when I'm craving their coffee and find that there's not one empty seat for me to take.

On to the drinks!

The first drink I was obsessed with was the Cold Caramel High Rise. I literally could not get enough, I would be there every day just because I was craving it badly. The obsession shifted once I tried the Hot Caramel High Rise, which is even better.

The Turtle Mocha is pretty good too. I've tried the cold one and it's quite similar to the Caramel High Rise, except it has bits of Snickers chocolate on the top. I've heard that the Hot Turtle Mocha is pretty good too.

For the straight forward coffee lovers, they have a great American coffee. Perfect to start your morning with.

Now, for the drink I have fallen in love with (for now). The Caramel Espresso Shaker. Why do I love this drink? I'm a huge fan of caramel, I like iced coffees, and I don't like huge mugs.. this drink has caramel in it, is iced, and is in a mini cup, which is perfect for me! I can actually finish this drink.

Other pluses?

You get an hour of free wi-fi while there. Also, their mugs, cups and napkins are very entertaining and motivational (I actually took one of the napkins home and stuck it up on my board). Next time you're at Caribou Coffee, take the time to read your cup and see if anything motivates you!

Shine @ Hard Rock, Beirut!

I went to Hard Rock Cafe last night because everyone knows that Mondays mean open beer and buffalo wings over there. Apparently everyone also knew that there would be a live band playing there, leaving me absolutely clueless. I found out that this band was named Shine, and that they were so good that they played at Hard rock through all of November.

They finally came on, and I was impressed. They could possibly be the best unsigned band I've heard here in Lebanon. Although the female singer is extremely lively, jumping around on tables and chairs, I would describe her voice as close to Celine Dion's, she can hit all her notes beautifully. The male singer was overly energetic, I think the only time he stayed still was during the song Chasing Cars, where he decided to lie down on the floor.

They knew how to engage their audience, and I was really upset that I hadn't heard about them earlier. November is pretty much over, which means so is their performance. At least that's what I thought, until they came on stage and announced that they were staying for another month!

So this is all that I have to say to you all. If you haven't gotten the chance to see them perform, you have to. It is so worth it. They are lively, they make the crowd move, and they are insanely talented. They play Saturday to Thursdays from 9 p.m.

Go book a table at Hard Rock now!!!

Shi Tayyeb w Shi 7elo - Review

The event took place in EM Chill on Mar Mekhayel Street. I got a little lost at the beginning, but finally managed to make it there. The setting was very laid back, which I really liked. The first thing you see is a buffet brought to you by Garden on a Plate. The food looked great! I couldn't have any myself because being a journalism student leaves you with very little time to enjoy certain things, and so I didn't have much time to spend there. But I did enjoy the black and white Egyptian movie they were showing, with some relaxing Arabic instrumentals playing in the background.

Then came the jewelry. The pieces were presented on stands and tables, and the designer (Zinab Chahine) was sitting behind one of the tables, busy working on a necklace for one of her customers.

Again, I was really impressed with the jewelry, and also with the designer. I got to meet Zinab, and I thought she was really sweet. She told me that her now successful business started off as a hobby, where she took a picture that interested her, put it on a chain, added some wire glasses to the man in the picture and wore it out that night. Now, she's always busy making or altering jewelry for her many customers.

She also showed me an endless number of charms and explained that she also does custom designs, so you can choose whatever charms you want and put them on a bracelet or necklace. I'm definitely going to be doing that once I have some time to pick out the charms I want. I really do suggest that you all check it out, I'm going to post the link to her Facebook page again. There are some great ready-made pieces, and the best part is that you can choose your own designs to make it one of a kind.

Facebook Page!

I forgot my camera, once again, so here's the best I could do!

Old movie projected on the wall

 Stands holding jewelry

 Jewelry I now own :)

That's all for today!

Sandra J: From Beirut to Kuwait

Usually my blog posts would target readers in Kuwait when I'm back in Kuwait, and readers in Lebanon while I'm here in Beirut. Well today's an exception, this one is for all the readers in Kuwait!

Sandra J. offers a variety of handbags, luggage, flats, laptop bags, wallets, bracelets, etc. and is usually found in Kulte, Verdun and Cream, Saifi Village. You can also find their products in Paris and Geneva.

For those living in Kuwait who are interested in these products, good news! Sandra J. is now available in Kuwait!

You can find them at Galleria 2000, boutique N.11 in Salmiya!

Check it out!

Things Worth Going To

Hello everyone! Before anything I have a reminder for you all,


tomorrow is the "Shi 7elo w Shi Tayyeb" event, where Zinab Chahine will be presenting her very unique jewelry (Ctrl+Z Designs), and Aline Khokaz Ian will be presenting her very appetizing home-made dishes (Garden on a Plate)! It is taking place at Electro Mechanique on Mar Mekhayel Street and starts at 6:00 p.m. See you there!

There's another thing going on that's gotten me all excited! The Beirut Dance Company is performing from the 4th to the 14th of November at the Monnot Theater. It's titled "The Dress" and starts at 8:30 p.m.

I haven't been to a ballet in a very long time, so I'm really excited about this. I'm going to try and get myself some tickets! For those who are also interested, here's the number that you can call for reservations and more information: 01/20 24 22

That's all for today!