Ladies and Gentlemen, Beirut is finally upon us. The Ayadina Lebanese Lounge has come to life.

The casual dining feel is worlds apart from the other Lebanese restaurants in town.

Ayadina brings you their finest authentic Lebanese menu, making sure that your sleeping taste buds will be seduced and aroused by spices, aromas and tastes that awaits you.

Not only will you be amazed with the food they have to offer, but you'll be craving some of their exotic Shisha flavors.

Ayadina Lebanese Lounge is located at 3 Cleopatra Street, Korab. Stay tuned for the one of a kind scoop review

We Said This: Don't miss out on this culinary experience, nothing beats a night out for some Lebanese food.

Potato Tapas with spicy tomato sauce and sour cream, paella with grilled fish, shrimps and roasted peas. Toast covered with caviar and salmon, that's what I indulged in all last night.

What better way can you imagine spending your Tuesday night sampling different dishes of Spanish food, by a chef flown in from Spain?

As we arrived to the tasting night that we were invited to at Risas, we were warmly greeted by the organizer and one of the people behind the Tapas idea, Amr Shamel. We were quickly taken to a high table to sit and enjoy the Tapas experience, one you don't encounter here in Egypt.

We started off the dinner with soup, not your regular run of the mill soup, it was cold with ice cubes inside, gave us a feeling of how cool and bizarre this tasting was going to be like.
 

 

Amr told us all about the story of how he and his partner Karim El Beblawy brought Tapas to Cairo. They were both big fans of the cuisine when they were in Spain and they saw great potential for it in Egypt, due to the wide variety of food that could be used. From lamb to seafood and even deserts, Tapas seemed like the perfect different concept this city so badly needed.

As for the chef who exquisitely made our night with his food, Paco Guzman came all the way from Spain to bring us the delectable dishes. Paco has been studying and working in the culinary field since he was 14 years old in Barcelona. Being so fond of traveling the world, experiencing other cultures and cooking for people, he traveled to Japan and worked there for a couple of years.

Back to his homeland, Paco became the chef of one of the most famous restaurants in Hondarribia, Ramon Roteta. Paco then opened up his own restaurant that he built with his own hands and after 14 years in the business he had to close it down for managerial problems. As crazy as life can be, and through different cooking expeditions and friends, he got to know Shamel.
 
Paco always thought that Egypt was an exciting place and was curious to explore its culture. Although his visit to Cairo is only for four days, he’s enjoying the people, the food and the Egyptian cooking ingredients that are very different to what is available in Europe.

Like most foreigners, he's navigated the streets of Egypt and has gotten his hands on some of our local delicacies, like vine leaves, chicken liver, white cheese with tomatoes, shawerma and falafel. He thinks Tahina is amazing and that Egypt’s Falafel is the best he's tried so far.

Paco is looking forward to adding Egyptian ingredients to his cooking. “Learn and share” is Paco’s belief of success and healthy way of living. He thinks that the best way you can share and communicate is through food and his passion for cooking.

The tasting nights are going on till Saturday and based on the tasting this week, Shamel and Biblawy will decide what Tapas will be staying at Risas, what suits our local tastes and what comments need consideration.

WE SAID THIS: If you want to enjoy this culinary experience hurry up and reserve your spot as this will only be available from Tuesday 14th till Thursday the 16th of May. From 5 PM until 10 PM

For Reservations please call 01097388888 Or 0127388888

I always try and give you something different, something accessible and something that will cater to most occasions. That being the case I recently discovered a fantastic outlet for new recipes where you can also order the items and have them delivered to your home for your cooking pleasure.

We will be cooking Shrimp & Guacamole Salad courtesy of Gourmet Egypt where they "offer ingredients for a Gourmet Lifestyle at a truly affordable price"  

WE SAID THIS: The Perfect Starter/ Mid Day Snack. Call 19339 Or Log On To Their Site To Order.

With its glass exterior and colorful furniture, I couldn’t help but stop by and try this homegrown brand myself. I’ve been hearing about 3am Hawawshy and all its spicy Egyptian aromas. I have to say that when I decided to stop by, I have pretty much enjoyed Egypt’s invention of Hawawshy that I always crave and rarely eat.

Their menu has a variety of Beef, Chicken and Halawa hawawshy. They also have Kofta sandwiches that are traditionally accompanied by some salad. My favorite part of the meal though was desert time where I got to try their Sweet Pumpkin.

I felt myself sitting at a local Qahwa, just like the ones in Khan El Khalili and I fell in love with the oriental, authentic ambiance. The music in the background was Om Kalthoum and later Fayrouz, the kind that takes you back in time and triggers your cultural nostalgia.

I also found cartoon characters of 3am Hawawshy and Sett Radda hung on the wall. Those imaginary characters are supposedly behind the concept of the place and cook the food to the customers. The staff was very friendly and made sure to ask about my feedback of the food quality and I came to know that they also deliver.

If you're looking forward to trying this local food place yourself, which I bet you do, you can visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/3am.hawawshy or follow them on Twitter: @3am7awawshy

Well, summer is nearly here, but were in Egypt, so technically it has arrived weeks ago but likes to take us through its many mood swings!

A pretty cool, practical and creative idea that will fit in any of your summer homes be it Gouna, Sahel or Sokhna. This is one of my favorite D.I.Y, the rope tin vase. What’s really cool about it is that you have all the items you need at home, and it literally costs nothing! Plus it’s gives you a clean vintage look without the whole tacky sailor feel to it.

You will need:

· 1 meter of beige plain rope (you can get that at El Arabi hardware stores), or you can go for thinner ones like the green, orange and blue ones you use for clothes lines at home.

· 5 medium tin cans (like the ones that canned mushrooms, corn etc. Come in)

· 5 medium sized empty glass jars

· Super glue to put ropes at both ends of tin in place.

How to:

1- Have the cans all washed up and dried after peeling the wrapper out.

2- Glue one end of the rope to the bottom part of the can and rotate around gluing between every two bits of rope so the whole part sticks well.

3- Glue the last bit of rope to the top part of the can and seal it.

4- Place the glass inside the rope wrapped can, as that is where your water will go for the flowers.

5- Pick your favorite bunch of flowers, and place them inside a glass jar while arranging more than one vase beside each other, and there you have it!

We had the pleasure to witness a relaxed and private set up where fellow online and media print members showed up to sample a selection of items from the IRG Catering menu.

Both Marketing and PR Manager and Catering Manager at IRG as well as Mark Khalife, Managing Director, Were present to walk us through the group's new catering concept, IRG Catering.

The private event was held at one of Cairo's most favorite intellectual spots, Diwan Bookstores Zamalek, we were taken through a mix of appetizer tasting, packaging mechanism and brand identity orientation.

Some of the mouth-watering items presented to us at the private tasting session included Japanese rolls, goat cheese pizzettas, vine leaves, sambousak cheese and meat, salmon and cream cheese crepes, and a selection of delicious mini desserts.

We were very pleased with what was served, the food was absolutely delicious. We highly recommend IRG catering for any upcoming private or corporate events that you may be planning for the future.

To view menu, go to : www.irg-egypt.com, www.elmenus.com, www.facebook.com/IRGCatering or contact the catering manager on (012) 1126 2228.