Throughout Ramadan, the Intercontinental CityStars has used the area around the pool and the bar wisely, turning it into a magnificent hub for shisha and sohour.
The area, which overlooks the glass pyramids of CityStars, boasts several screens distributed around the pool showing the most favored Ramadan soap operas. There is also a live Oriental performance that starts at 9 pm and ends at midnight.
The decor of the place is innovative: low tables of wood and brass in an Oriental design, paired with highly colorful bean bags; there are also a few tables with the traditional qahwa wooden chairs painted in fluorescent blue, yellow, red and green.
The place can take up 500 people and the clientele ranges from young couples to families and Gulfy tourists. The bean bags might be a bit uncomfortable for old and overweight people, but the more supple and adventurous might give them a go.
The food is typical for a sohour menu: nothing out of the ordinary. It starts with a section for cold mezzah that includes tehina, fattouch and other mainly Lebanese starters, with another section for hot mezzah. There is also the more Egyptian section of the menu that includes all types of foul, tameya and yogurt, plain or with fruits. The dessert is also Oriental in origin, as are the drinks.
The service is relatively fast, despite that fact that the place is huge. The shisha is good, although not among the best I've had.
The food is passable on the whole, although some of the items, such as the foul, needed more salt and spices. The sambousak are tasty, especially the meat ones, but the oriental sausages were not as spicy as they should be and the sauce was watery.
The live band is entertaining and changes throughout the week. On Tuesdays, three talented young women sing Egyptian and Lebanese songs from the pop charts.
The bathrooms are clean, but there were no napkins. There is a LE 100 minimum charge which seems to be the average this Ramadan.
