Cafe au Laif (St James Park - London)

Cafe au Laif

I happened on this place recently which displayed an oversized hookah pipe in its window and I took it upon myself to find out more. This innocent luncheon cafe serving basic coffees and kebabs also sells shisha at £6 a go. This is by far the cheapest shisha bar I have found closest to the centre of the capital and although the place is cramped the staff are friendly and the shisha smokes well.

Overall a smokey 4/10. Its a shame its so food focused and small, would much prefer a larger place with more comfortable seating!

Comments

[Inquisitive]

Forgive me for being daft but I've always wondered... but been too afriad to ask - what is shisha??

I've seen the men smoking it in the cafes along Edgeware Road but have been to afraid to ask. It's obviously legal - is it tobaccco based? Does it give a mild high?

Very interested to hear more...

[Barblog]

Shisha is the process of smoking fruit flavoured tobacco through a water blog. The water acts as an incredible filter leaving just the flavour in a smoke which is not at all harsh and anyone can enjoy. The ritual is arabic in origin and has been around for thousands of years. A hot coal is used to hea the tobacco on the top of the bong and the molasses flavouring around the tobacco is released down the pipe and into the water as you inhale, then it draws in the pipe and gives you a smoke.

The variety of flavours is enormous from Strawberry apple cherry plum blackberry melon to the more obscure like mint, roses and toffee. My absolute favourite is watermelon. It is alweays recommeneded you do not smoke alone as the pipe can last 45 minutes and although the lightheaded feeling is very pleasent after 45 minutes alone you can feel rather nauseas.

It is good to see so many of these bars cropping up as it is a very socialable habit and is more healthy than contempory smoking (no tar) and much better for you than drinking alcohol as it is often accompanied with a sweet green tea.