Starting today, we'll bring you occasional reviews of hookah lounges around the Valley. If you have a favorite hookah place you'd like us to visit, e-mail [email protected].
I'm sitting on a leather couch with two friends, blowing clouds of white smoke into the air, and complaining about stupid songs that get stuck in my head (thanks a lot, Lady Gaga). An Arabic soap opera's showing on a large screen TV; every five minutes, some lady in a red dress cries on a different guy's shoulder.
This place is so fragrant that my friends and I begin a game of "What's that smell?" Is it strawberry tobacco? Burnt hair? Smoldering plastic? It's hard to tell what you're getting a whiff of at hookah lounges -- and this one, Cafe Instanbul and Market on Apache Boulevard in Tempe, is filled with so many people smoking so many different flavors of hookah tobacco that all the scents blend together into one obtuse fragrance.
We ended up here after we picked the brain of a knowledgeable friend, who runs a website called hookahculture.com. He recommended we start our hookah reviews with Café Instanbul and Market, because it's one of his favorite local places.
Café Instanbul is close to Arizona State University, and sits right
across from the Metro Light Rail stop at Apache and McClintock. It's a
big building with two floors -- the ground floor houses a Middle
Eastern market, and the hookah lounge occupies the second floor.
The lounge décor is a mix of Middle Eastern, Moroccan, and Kashmir
styles. Seating consists of several black leather couches, with blue
and red pillows adorned with gold patterns. Colorful, cone-shaped glass
lamps hang from the ceiling. Tables are polished wood, carved with
ornate flower and animal scenes. The atmosphere feels very old-world
and authentic -- except for the hip-hop videos that started playing on the TV after 9 p.m.
Café Instanbul's location makes it a favorite hangout for college
students. The night we were there, there were about ten college
students (half of whom were wearing Affliction T-shirts). But it's not
just college kids that come here --- there were also two well-dressed,
30-something women; a somewhat dumpy, middle-aged guy; and a handful of
young, Middle Eastern guys chatting in Arabic. Every couch in the
lounge was occupied by 10.
The hookahs are very high quality, with glass bowls of various colors
and sturdy hoses of coiled wire wrapped in vinyl. There are more than
50 flavors of molasses tobacco on the menu, including vanilla, coconut,
and cardamom. But we were feeling fruity, so we ordered melon and guava
flavors.
Hookahs take a while to get going (you usually need to take several
deep drags), but patience pays off at Café Instanbul, because their
hookah bowls lasted longer than any other hookahs we've tried (our
friend, who's smoked hundreds of hookahs, agrees). Our bowls burned
flavorfully for almost three hours. The guava flavor was fruitier and
more potent, but the melon was delicious, too -- sweet, with a very
slight hint of mint.
The prices are competitive -- $10.95 per hookah (with one flavor and
hose per hookah) for Al-Fakhir tobacco, and $13.95 per hookah for
Starbuzz tobacco. Tobacco reloads cost $5.95 and $7.95, respectively.
Our only complaint: the 15 percent tip they automatically add to every
bill. Patrons are usually unaware of this until they're leaving and see
the sign at the register. Adding a tip to a bill is reasonable,
especially when someone's constantly tending your hookah coals, but
patrons should be tipped off sooner -- maybe with a notice on the menu
or the door.
Café Instanbul and Market is located at 1310 E. Apache Boulevard in
Tempe. For more information, call 480-731-9499 or visit
www.cafeinstanbulandmarket.com.
