City Life: Dining
Cosmopolitan Beirut brims with cafés, pubs, and restaurants catering to a range of local and international tastes. Hotel breakfast buffets typically include juice, coffee, croissants, platters of fruit, yogurt, and a variety of hot and cold entrées, from omelets to cereal. If breakfast is not included in the price of your hotel room or you fancy going out, try Casper & Gambini. The stylish restaurant serves up European cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pain au chocolate, beignets (French doughnuts), and toasted bagels with a variety of fillings are breakfast specialties (US$1 to US$5).

For lunch or dinner, there are numerous outdoor cafes in the beautifully reconstructed Solidère area that revive the weary traveler with crêpes, sandwiches, salads, etc. (US$5 to US$15). Also in the Solidère area is Al-Balad, an atmospheric restaurant with outdoor seating serving excellent Arabic food (US$15). Off the Corniche (seaside road), one can find good Italian pastas, pizza, and salad at Caffe Mondo (US$8 to US$20), an outdoor café in the Phoenicia Hotel that can be accessed from the street. For Chinese and Japanese food, try Chop Sticks (Chinese, US$10 to US$15) or Scoozi (Italian/Japanese, US$25) both in Solidère.

If you're on the move or on a budget, Lebanese fast food places are all over the city. Each establishment tends to specialize in a few basics, such as shwarma and kebabs or sandwiches (US$1 to US$2). Look around for places that serve melted chocolate and banana for dessert. Achrafiyé is the trendy place to go for full-course Lebanese or European cuisine and a puff on the water pipe, nargileh, after dinner.

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