Paris with a twist.

During our stay in Dubai for more than 4 years, we never felt that the Shisha was an integral part of the culture in the emirate. Of course there are places that serve some fab shisha in Dubai but you dont find it in every nook and corner. It was either the run down places in Karama or the chic places in madinat Jumeirah and a few exclusive coffee shops. When we moved to Jeddah, everyone around seemed to be hooked on to this magical pot and pipe device. Barring the Starbucks and Costa coffee shops in town, it is almost impossible for any cafe to have a decent clientele without having shisha on their menu.

Picture this, 2 men who wanted to smoke shisha, 2 wives who wanted to eat some good food. Difficult combination you may say, wrong I would reply. The automatic answer to this simple dilema was Bert's cafe located in the Stars Avenue mall. Bert's, which advertises as the contemporary cafe from Paris, has been a favorite hangout almost from the time we set foot in the kingdom.

I have not been to Paris yet. But I am sure they dont serve shisha's in cafe's in Paris:-)

Ambience: Check
Shisha: Check
Good food: Check.
Parking: Yeah right, as if its a problem to find parking anywhere in Jeddah.

So the wife and I accompanied by our good friend Mr & Mrs H headed off to Bert's cafe. We have tried the Bert's cafe on Rawdah as well, but somehow the experience there was not as satisfying as the one in this mall.
It was prayer time while we reached the cafe, but the maitre de was kind enough to have us seated inside. We were told clearly that orders will be taken only once the prayers were over. We settled comfortably into the victorain style sofas and started deciding on what to order. The menu, although not entirely dedicated to french cuisine, does have its fair share of pastas and pizzas. There is an eclectic mix of other cuisines to satisfy the cross cultural clientele.Mexican food makes a brief experience, so does american fast food. A special mention to the seperate menu card that has a list of some exotic flavored teas from around the world. We personally prefer Teyana when we feel like some tea and usually give this menu card the miss.

Once the prayers were over, the waiter promptly arrived to take the order. 2 strawberry flavored shisha's were ordered to begin the proceedings. Wife decided to have the veg quesadilla which was a mix of fresh veggies and cheese wrapped in mexican tortillas. Mr & Mrs H decided to have the BBT sandwich which was a combination of bacon and chicken accompanied by chips.

Very soon the shisha arrived and was followed by the food shortly. I have found that there are a few places which have got their shisha right and does not hurt the throat after smoking for the first 10 minutes. Bert's is on top of this list. They have perfected the art of making the shisha and as expected this time was no exception.

Wife approved of the quesadilla. Said the veggies were fresh and crunchy and blended well with the gooey goodness of the cheese. Mr & Mrs H who were initially surprised by the huge size of the sandwich did their best to try and finish the same.

We were nestled comfortably for more than 2 hours, smoking shisha, eating, talking and at times just sitting quite and spending time staring at nothingness. This place is a strcit no no for kids, with so much shisha smoking happening, and we did not see any during our visit this time as well. The place was predominantly full with young people from all walks of life, wanting thier corner away from everything. Bert's has this effect. You feel fresh and rejuvenated after a couple of hours here away from the world. The evening cost us around SAR 260/ USD 70 which is quite reasonable for such a lovely place.

Till next weekend, bye bye Bert's.