When Habibi Holdings founder Hosni Emam opened the first Habibi Restaurant in 1999 he brought recipes for the cocktails with him as well as for the food. Having worked in various positions in different hotels in the Middle East, he has served a few stretches behind the bar.
"I wanted to create some cocktails with specifically North African ingredients, which wasn't that easy to do," he recalls.
The results were the Si Sayidh, Habibi Forever, Alexandria Beach and Shamrouk, all of which are still on the drinks list, as well as a few mocktails for customers who don't consume alcohol.
One recipe which has proven particularly popular with Habibi and Habibi Café customers is the Si Sayidh, which Emam named after a character in the novels of Naguib Mahfouz, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988.
Sayidh, Emam explains, is a strict Muslim when at home with his family, but likes a drink when he goes out with his friends.
The North African ingredients of this cocktail are boukha - a clear spirit distilled from figs, available in Egypt and the Maghreb - and karkadé, an infusion made by soaking dried hibiscus flowers in cold water overnight.
