Julep's

Address: Uruguay Street behind Samir Kassir Square,, Downtown, Beirut, Lebanon
Tel: +961 (0)76 351 616
Style: Cocktail bar

Review

Don't expect your cab driver to have heard of this place just yet, or, for that matter, the street address. It's on a pedestrian street just before the Souk, the luxury open-air mall that's (very) loosely modelled on a traditional Middle Eastern souk, which opened in December, as did the bar.

Once you're past the spanking-new and rather corporate feel of the tall tables and neat bar stools outside, this place caters to a smart but diverse clientele and does so to a very high level.

Bar maestro Shady Aboud, formerly of Pacifico, follows the principles of Munich's Charles Schumann, a bartending deity to certain sectors of Beirut bartenders, and his staff are kitted out in the regulation white jackets and aprons.

As the name would suggest, the place majors on juleps, of all varieties, served in julep cups, and similar crushed ice affairs, but the good and comprehensive menu covers most bases for anyone who cares about booze.

We enjoyed a house creation, the Aromatic Smash, made with rum, lemon, sugar, grapefruit, elderflower liqueur, fresh thyme and ginger, which was accessible but with bags of flavour and plenty of smoky thyme and ginger heat.