Nestled away in the southwest corner of downtown Calgary, wafting the alluring smell of middle-eastern food and the delightfully hazy smoke of numerous sheesha pipes into the street, Cafe Med stakes its claim on cultural presence. The small, dim cafe holds the title of Calgary's premier hookah lounge, and the best one at that. With a friendly, social, and relaxed atmosphere that's punctuated by popular Arab music and sometimes-rambunctious banter of middle-aged men in conversation, Cafe Med promises to please.
Beginning with the menu, Cafe Med boasts delicious, reasonably priced food from all over the Mediterranean regions, from falafels to hummus, and Italian soda to baklava. The menu also serves take-out, which is very popular during the work day, but a tough decision to make when their sheesha menu is equally appetizing.
Sitting down in Cafe Med can mean two things; either you're there for a quick bite, or you're there for a long hour of lounging with a hookah and socializing. The sheesha menu not only presents the typical flavours of tobacco that are found at any similar lounge, like peach, grape, apple, and lemon, but a very appealing menu of home-mixed blends, like pink lemonade and "grango," a mixture of grape and mango tobaccos. A pipe is brought to your table lit and ready to go, complimenting your meal or drink.
You're always guaranteed friendly service at Cafe Med. Not only to the owners double as servers in the small, often busy lounge, a good number of the guests are friends or family, and therefore conversation encompassing the whole room occurs quite regularly. Sometimes the servers even take a seat and chat with new guests, suggesting things from the menu and offering their advice on where to go for a good time throughout the rest of Calgary.
On the corner of 10th and 1st, Cafe Med is hard to miss with its patrons and music spilling into the street in the evening. If you're in Calgary and want to try something a little out of the ordinary, Cafe Med is a must.
