Baghdad Journal

Feasting at al-Huwara

Wherein Adam and I feast like Romans and encounter "Thursday Night Fever"
We make a slow start Thursday as the jet-lag really sets in. We have breakfast at around 3 p.m. and make calls in the hotel room until Lamis arrives via taxi to pick us up in the evening. She says Thursday nights here are like Saturday nights in the U.S. -- people are in their best clothes (our best clothes could use some ironing, Adam says) and there is a party vibe in the air as we drive down Shmeisani's Sharia el Teqehfa, or Culture Avenue. Lamis is taking us out but first we go to a birthday party for her friend, Lena, who she went to high school with and who now runs a chocolate factory. There are several generations of her family and friends out on the patio sitting around a huge spread of food, which is dominated by a mountain-shaped chocolate mousse. I'm in big trouble.

We then go to al-Huwara, a fancy Lebanese restaurant, on the outskirts of town. We are greeted by the maitre d', another old friend of Lamis'. (she knows everyone in town). Al Huwara is set in a split level stone patio on the edge of what looks like a cyprus grove. There is a beautiful evening breeze. Most diners puff from exquisite-looking nargile, which liken to freestanding lamps with glowing tobacco ash where the light bulb should be. First come the mazzahs or starters. We get eggplant pure, spinach stuffed pastries and hummus. I notice they have lamb brains but after stuffing myself with fingerfood and to-die-for mousse, I play it safe. Then Lamis' cell rings. It's her friend who has a business in Baghdad. He tells her his company can drive us there on Monday. As we will be in Aqaba to do some interviewing for a couple days, that sounds perfect. We are so lucky to have Lamis looking after us, I think, and she's buying us dinner to boot. We order an assortment of kebabs and a round of Arak, the strong aniseed liquor which, like ouzo, turns white when you add water. Totally stuffed, we return to the Lotus Hotel.