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The quest for the best burger in Lebanon – Smokey O’z

By Rami on December 14, 2010 in Reviews

Everyone seems to be on the quest for the best burger in Lebanon nowadays! Especially with the rise of several new burger places, like Classic Burger Joint, Brgr Co., and few others.

Until last week, my favorite burgers were the ones I usually have at Roadster Diner and Classic Burger Joint. But that totally changed as soon as I got introduced to Smokey O’z! And I bet you’ve seen their ads on Facebook a lot lately.

I decided to give it a try after I saw the extensive talks about the “Big Bad Wolf” burger on their Facebook page. The place is located at Sassine Square Achrafiyeh, and to my surprise it turned out to be so small! It only has a bar with 6 seats where you get to see the chefs preparing your burgers and sandwiches, no tables, and it mainly relies on take out and delivery orders.

Anyway enough talking, let me show you what I had!

They first start with charbroiling a drooling half pound patty…

Ketchup, mustard, and swiss cheese…

Crispy onion straws, aged cheddar cheese, and the juicy patty, waiting for tomatoes and iceberg lettuce to complete it.

… making up the Big Bad Wolf! Accompanied by just good enough french fries.

It was a treat! I had the burger for dinner after skipping lunch that day, so I leave you to imagine how delightful it was! The overall taste was really good, juicy patty, soft fresh bun, good cheese and fresh tomatoes.

Oh and it is easily eatable regardless of how oversized it looks! I mean you will not suffer from the patty (or any other ingredient) suddenly slipping out of the bun. A definite winner for me, and totally recommended. The burger is priced at 15,000L.L, and you get fries and a soft drink for an additional 4,000L.L.

Finally, the two chefs behind satisfying my hunger that night!

So.. are you drooling already? 😛

Rotten meat at TSC Supermarket (City Mall)

By Rami on September 28, 2010 in Reviews

Having TSC Dora (located inside City Mall) very close to my workplace, I got used to passing by it on my way back home to buy my groceries and take advantage of the crazy offers they do every now and then.

Few weeks ago I wanted to buy some entrecote steak, so I went there and just asked one of the butchers for what I wanted. He proceeded with picking one of the vacuum packages, opening it, and cutting the meat on one of the table, but just as he started working with the meat he grabbed a large portion of it, smelled its odor and directly threw away the whole package. I immediately concluded that the meat must have been rotten from the expression on his face, still I made sure to ask him as he approached the refrigerator to pick another package and he confirmed the meat was bad.

The meat refrigerator at TSC Dora

I disregarded what happened and said to myself it might happen anywhere… but I got really surprised when the same thing happened when he picked the second package and threw it away, and AGAIN with a third package! As he picked the fourth one, he opened it right in front of me, smelled it and said “This one is OK”, but I insisted to check its odor by myself, and turned out it was really ok. I was a bit hesitant about continuing to buy the meat, but then just told him to proceed and give me 2 Kilos. Note that the packages were all refrigerated and had the very same color.

Few days ago, I went to get some rib cutlets, and that’s when I got shocked. As usual after getting my order, the butcher proceeded to pick one of the packages and went to his table. He opened the bag, and this time directly smelled the meat and threw it away!!! He approached the refrigerator and picked another package without giving me any explanation, so I just called him and told him to disregard my order. I wasn’t ready to risk my health again!

The first time it happened I just assumed it might be a bad coincidence, but turned out it’s a recurring thing at TSC! And by observing how the butchers were behaving, it seemed like they’re very used to encountering rotten meat while working.

And I’m not the only one who’s complaining about it, I did a quick search on Google for reviews on the meat at TSC, and found that the same thing happened to Samer almost 2 years ago. The funniest thing about his experience was when the customer service personnel told him he’s ready to cook the meat and eat it as a proof that it doesn’t cause any harm!

Needless to say this is so wrong on all levels, and I hope the people in charge at TSC can read this post or Samer’s to implement the necessary controls on their meat before making it to the shelves for people to buy.

My experience probably poses the issue of food safety in Lebanon in general and not at TSC only. I happened to be one of their regular customers, but the same thing might be happening at Spinney’s, Le Charcutier Aoun, Abi Khalil, COOP… or any other place! Which is scary indeed…

é Café at Eddé Yard Jbeil

By Rami on June 16, 2010 in Reviews

I went to é Café at Eddé Yard Jbeil upon the recommendation of a friend back in March for the first time, and have fallen in love with their food ever since!

Passing by the old souk of Jbeil, there’s no way you can miss é Café and the barbecue placed outside their kitchen. The place consists of a beautiful outdoor area and a cozy interior space, offering 2 small french and italian menus, in a very nice ambiance. However, you wont need to check on their items because you will know what to order the minute you start watching the chef grilling mouth watering pieces of entrecote!

The entrecote will be grilled to your taste (I recommend medium well) right in front of you. Once done, the chef will place it on a bed of grilled onions and potatoes, accompanied with a sauce containing butter and some other things but tastes good anyway, and a bowl or rocca salad with balsamic vinegar, all tasting very good!

When done, your experience will seriously be incomplete if you don’t order their Gauffre au chocolat! Ignore any other topping mentioned in the menu, and go straight for the dark chocolate, it just tastes like heaven!

The staff at é Café is very friendly, and it’s impressive that their service was very timely each time I went there. If you plan to visit the place, then I recommend you go there on a Saturday night during summertime as the old souk is now packed with outdoor pubs and bars, and gets crowded with people on Saturdays creating a nice atmosphere.

Amethyste Lounge – Phoenicia Intercontinental Beirut

By Rami on June 9, 2010 in Reviews

One of the most fascinating places I have ever been to lately, that’s seriously without any exaggeration the newly opened Amethyste Lounge in Phoenicia Hotel.

To those of you who still don’t know about it, Amethyste is a new outdoor bar and lounge that was launched on May 13th with a fabulous opening that started at noon and lasted till midnight.

So I got the opportunity to go there with a group of friends two weeks ago and had a blast! I honestly don’t know how to describe the place, and I hope the photos I included do justice to it, Amethyste is just unique and different than any place of the same category.

Your world will be painted purple the minute you step in, even the pool water turns purple when it’s dark (due to the lightning of course), and the color is guaranteed to make up your mood if your going there after after a long day! Just the way a real lounge should be. And to complement that, chill out music is played all the time.

The food is good, nothing tasted new to me, but the presentation is EPIC! Some plates are served in a theatrical way, for example the salad we ordered was brought in a jar, to which the waiter added the sauce and shook it like a cocktail, then put it into our plates. On the other hand, grilled meat comes to your table on a small barbecue! (yes with coals and everything)

Cocktails are… you guessed it right, good as well! I think I can easily write another post about their cocktails because they have a wide variety to choose from, they actually have a separate menu for these.

The staff is very friendly, our waiter was very helpful explaining to us about the items in their menus. What is really remarkable though is that they are cooperating to make podcasts and publish them on their blog! And I hope they continue doing it, the first episode featured Grant Collins and a guy named Haytham showing how to prepare the poolside Margarita.

Surprisingly, and believe it or not, Amethyste is NOT overpriced. Their menus along with the pricing are available online for you to check, The Pool Menu, The Cocktail Menu, and The Main Menu.

Le Chef Gemmayze – Authenticity at its best

By Rami on May 4, 2010 in Reviews

I’ve been to Le Chef in Gemmayze for the first tine last Saturday, I don’t know why I always thought it was a meat shop everytime I passed by until a friend told me about it and recommended it to me.

As soon as you step inside you get greeted with a loud “Wlecooooome” by Charbel the head waiter at the restaurant. Charbel is a phenomenon himself! Throughout your stay he can’t but grab your attention everytime he strikes a “Welcooome habibi! how are youuu?”.

The restaurant is relatively small with few tables, and at first glimpse you feel like everything around you has been there since the 70’s of the 80’s (except for Charbel of course :P). The food is just great, it tastes like real homemade food, unlike other restaurants that throw the word “homemade” everywhere on their menus but taste like plastic. They serve nothing very fancy, but rather traditional plates such as Lebanese mezze, and a plat du jour varying between roast beef with mashed potatoes, sayyadiyeh, kibbeh bil sayniyyeh, mloukhiyyeh, and few others.

The pricing at Le Chef is really something! The most expensive item on their menu costs 8,000 L.L, while others such as lentil soup and fattoush cost 1,500L.L and 2,000L.L!

Definitely worth a visit!

Review: All Best Ideas

By Rami on December 3, 2009 in Reviews

This blog post is sponsored by AllBestIdeas.com

What the owners say:

All Best Ideas is the official name of the corporation. As you can signify from its name, All Best Ideas, we have some of the best ideas and products to send your dear people in Lebanon. Our products are categorized as follows:

Gifts: On All Best Ideas, you can find gifts that suit every person and occasion.
Flowers: You can also find some magnificent flowers that perfectly reflect your feeling towards the receiver. Since the beauty and classification of these flowers are irresistible.
Plants
Cakes
Balloons
Hampers
Home Décor
Games and Toys

At All Best Ideas, we believe that creativity and the expression of individuality represent two great human treasures. We recognize that people are looking for ways to express their individuality and creativity when shopping for themselves and others, a major challenge in today’s chain store-dominated retail environment. We have set out to create a business that makes best goods accessible to everyone. We are committed to provide first-rate customer service, and guarantee complete customer satisfaction with every purchase.

Our service is simple. First, you visit our website, check out our products, follow up the purchasing procedure, and order the products. Of course, this procedure is online.

When we receive your order, the products are well treated for sending to the required location, with a specific fee concerning the delivery.

What Rami says:

What I liked:

Their friendly online customer service agent. I had a chat with them today pretending to be a customer and they were very helpful.
The links on the left that make it easy on you to reach what you need to order based on your budget, occasion, theme, or recipient.
They have an actual showroom unlike other Lebanese flowers & gifts websites.

What I disliked:

Their blog, the posts are not related at all to each other. One post for example is about artificial rain! It should be used to communicate more with the readers. Maybe update them on the upcoming products.
The overall design of the website. I am no design expert, but I think there’s room for improvement in the website layout.

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