The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

After
spending the entire day in Citystars it is nice to cool down with a refreshing
drink to forget about your hectic day of shopping. Adjoined to the massive mall
is the Holiday Inn Hotel, which has an oddly named bar – H501 – located on its first
floor. Though we have no clue what H501 stands for and our online research
failed to yield results, we suspect the H stands for Holiday.

H501 is quite big
and has a huge dance floor with a piano. The interior is a mix of demure yellows, pinks
and reds, with couches and chairs to sit on. If your music taste is just as
superficial as this reviewer’s; then you are absolutely going to love the music
in this bar. A poppy r&b mix is played featuring the likes of Ke$ha and Taio
Cruz, and we are pretty sure the Backstreet Boys slipped in there as well.

H501 has
a pretty extensive drinks list with soft drinks starting at 20LE, aperitifs at 60LE
and upwards, and whiskey and cognacs starting at 70LE. A glass of Egyptian wine
will set you back 50LE, and if you really feel like celebrating; opt for a
bottle of Moet & Chandon at the reasonable price of 2400LE. This reviewer prefers
cute little pink drinks in funny-shaped glasses and so opted for a cocktail. For
some peculiar reason, cocktails are not listed on the menu. Instead, you ask
for whatever cocktail you want and the waiter will produce it for you. All alcoholic
cocktails are priced at 70LE, whereas non-alcoholic cocktails are priced at 31LE.

We
started off with our personal favourites: the appletini (just because the name
is so funny) and a Long Island ice tea (just because we like New York and have
visions of drinking one on Long Island itself while following tennis classes with an attractive instructor). Anyhow, the appletini was deliciously refreshing
although a bit on the sweet side, but we enjoyed doing impressions
of JD from Scrubs while drinking it. The Long Island ice tea was concocted perfectly as well.

After that,
we opted for a Cosmopolitan and a strawberry Daiquiri. In the meantime, the
waiter kept spoiling us with crisps, nuts and olives. The Cosmopolitan was a
bit on the strong side and had too much triple sec, which left an overpowering
bitter taste. However, the strawberry daiquiri was not too sweet, refreshingly
cold and pleasant-tasting.

Unfortunately,
we were the only guests at the time of our visit. The staff was attentive and regularly
came over with a new ashtray or to fill up our complementary bowl of nuts. You
can also have a bite here with starters from 58LE, mains from 71LE, pasta and
pizza from 55LE and burgers at 58LE. The bar makes a nice getaway from the
hectic shopping mall, but its only standout feature is its convenience.