One night while Husby and I had a rare childless night, we decided to spend our evening in places that doesn't allow minors. We had a huge dinner then made our way over to the Marda Loop area to the Narah Hookah Bar. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, Hookah, it is a water based pipe which is used to smoke tobacco. Its a very social thing that is widely accepted in certain cultures. I've never tried it before so I was very excited on our way.
Their outdoor patio was packed and people were sitting elbow to elbow inside. Surprisingly, we got seated immediately. The small space was dark and very elegantly set up. The place had a romantic Arabic-like decor with a modern twist. A live DJ was set up on the patio and the dance music played very loudly inside. I enjoyed the surroundings but was not able to carry a conversation with Husby. You'd think that an establishment that encourages smoking, it would have an awful stench - but it didn't. I couldn't even tell that people have been smoking here every hour that this place was open. I was pleasantly surprised. Also, keep in mind that this place does NOT serve alcohol but you must be at least 18 years of age or older to enjoy the services.
They have 2 menus at Narah. One food and beverage menu, and one tobacco menu, listing the different flavours of tobacco they had available. On the back of the menu they explained simple hookah etiquette which came in very handy for me. After waiting over thirty minutes for our drink order to be taken, we decided on the kiwi-raspberry flavoured tobacco. And since we've already had a huge supper, we opted to stick to strawberry smoothies. I've never seen how the pipe and tobacco is prepared but make sure that you have plenty of time to spare as we had to wait a while for ours. Let me tell you, all that waiting really built up my anticipation.
Our server gave us a disposable plastic mouth piece that we would fit over the end of the pipe extension. I'm an ex-smoker so I'm used to tobacco smoke being harsh but the water from the pipe cools the smoke before it reaches the mouthpiece so you enjoy nothing but the flavour of the tobacco. That one batch we had last Husby and I about over an hour. The actual ritual was very relaxing and I can definitely see why this place is always busy. They also had a belly dancer that came out for about an hour or so. The only part of my night there that I did not enjoy was the lack of service. There were plenty of servers around but a lot of them walked by and ignored tables. We only saw our server twice that night and we were there for a few hours. One of the customers had even tapped one on the shoulder to catch their attention but was ignored.
Please note they do have a dress code in effect. No ball caps or runners as this is a place for fine lounging. Partaking in hookah is considered a formal social event and is worth trying at least once. Plus its nice to get dolled up once in a while to discover nice fine places in your local neighborhood.