Located at the heart of Zamalek, La Bodega is Cairo’s lounge bar supreme, the expatriate nexus with a view of the Nile and when I was writing my second book, Playing Cards in Cairo, it sucked me in like a vortex. This is where all the expats came to hang out, unwind, dine and dance. Every night is different, you never know who you are going to run into there, but it’s always memorable. I highly recommend La Bodega to visiting friends and I included it in my list of favourite spots for the My Kind of Town column in the Daily Telegraph: http://bit.ly/ho1at9
Hugh Miles, Journalist & Writer
This stylish oasis is the perfect antidote to a hard day working or visiting the tourist sites in a chaotic and teeming city.
Hugh Miles
Hugh Miles is an award-winning journalist and writer. For more information about him, please visit:www.hughmiles.com
If you’re an artist you’ll know that some projects are closer to your heart than others and that some pieces are just more fun to create. My work creating the Murals in La Bodega’s Bistro, when the restaurant first opened ten years ago, has been a highlight of my artistic career and certainly some of the most fun I’ve had!
Recognise this? One of Mira's early murals in La Bodega that no longer exists!
I’m an American born Palestinian and had just moved back from New York around the time La Bodega opened. I am more a whimsical drawer than a painter, of anything figurative, from paper to stone carving. When the owners of La Bodega approached me, I really felt inspired. They knew exactly what they wanted: a creative use of the pillars and walls in the main dining room of The Bistro. Specifically, they had in mind a piece of art that blended with the walls of the restaurant and with the buzzing dinner crowd. Everything else they left up to me. They believed in my artistic capabilities, trusted my artistic sense and gave me the space to unleash my creativity. I really felt I was part of the new and exciting La Bodega project, where everything – from the restaurant concept to the art – was being tried for the very first time. It was enthralling.
I decided that murals it would be and set about working at once! I first made a paper cut out of how I envisioned the murals to be. Then, three weeks later my work at La Bodega was complete. The whole experience had great memories. I recall that award winning Egyptian Director Yussef Chahine was filming one of his movies at La Bodega and that they had set up a dressing room in one of the rooms I was creating my art in. Even world famous shoe designer Christian Louboutin complimented me on the shoes that graced the ladies’ feet in the mural…that meant a lot to me!
Mira Shihadeh, Artist
To me, a mural, drawing or sculpture is a story. In the case of La Bodega, it was very important for me to engage people: after all, the murals would be occupying, and interacting with, a very public space. I wanted there to always be a story for groups to point at and talk about, and for those dining alone to be entertained by. I personally like to create figurative art involving crowds and people. In the case of La Bodega, I set to create a parody. A snap shot of what happens in real life, capturing the emotions, stares and gestures involved.
I have studied psychology and also teach yoga. So, in this piece I wanted to combine all that with art to create a piece that expresses “life”. I wanted it to be lively, just like La Bodega is a place for friends and family to gather and celebrate different occasions in life. I wanted my piece to be loud without speaking, to be dynamic without it necessarily moving. This is exactly what you find when you go into La Bodega’s Bistro. I am very proud that I contributed to this great place and definitely remember my work there as the most fun I had as an artist.
I was so excited to be contacted by La Bodega to create the mosaics for their new sister bar Aperitivo. The brief itself was so precise and intriguing: “Reflect the spirit of Cairo's Golden Age and capture the zeitgeist of Paris on the Nile epoch.”
Aperitivo's famous mosaics in 'the making', by Martin Brown
Throughout the process, we went through a number of different versions from rough sketches to more detailed drawings. Finally, we reached the finished concept, based on vintage cocktail posters and advertising from this historical era.
The material I use is principally colored glass, cut by hand from large sheets into a variety of shapes. Squares, triangles, through to large flower shapes...I can put together pretty much anything, using our modern canvas of large jigsaw-shaped pieces of marine plywood. With the shaped glass, I have created small home pieces such as tables and mirrors through to much larger projects for hotels and restaurants. This is a centuries-old craft, but I love the fact that we can play with it, adapting it in a different way to create something contemporary.
Using the mosaic medium gives a sense of vitality to the bar, and lets people enjoy a taste of the movement and spirit of this particular era. We intentionally used varying sizes for each piece of the mural, using everything from larger chunks to miniscule fragments. Look closely, and you can feel the richness in the details.
Martin Brown, Mosaic Artist
Altogether, the two wall pieces took about six weeks to create. They were then all boxed up and set to fly with me to Egypt, that mythical land that I had first visited back in 1984. For three days, the mosaics were “lost in space,” causing us all to worry like crazy. Finally, they arrived; the boxes completely destroyed but thankfully the work survived and suffered no damage.
The construction of Aperitivo was delayed when the pieces arrived, and it gave me the opportunity to visit and discover Cairo and Egypt anew. I explored the vibrant city and the richness of its Pharaonic past, as well as enjoyed a spell-binding cruise on the Nile. The warmth and kindness of the people really touched me the most though, and it something that I will remember for the rest of my life.
Now that I have seen the mosaics in their full display and beauty, I can say that with its stunning combination of art pieces, great lighting and interiors, Aperitivo is a must-see venue for Cairenes and visitors to Egypt alike. I can't wait to come back to Cairo to enjoy an evening at Aperitivo and hope that it will come sooner rather than later!
La Bodega is an Egyptian restaurant group that seeks to revive classic dining traditions in a contemporary setting through two successful venues: The Bistro and Aperitivo Bar & Restaurant.
Location: 157, 26th July Street Baehler's Mansions Building Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt.
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