November 2017
[from FB post: November 17, 2017]
Toqa Coffee - taste of things to come?
I arrived in Jeddah late and my local friend, MN, picked me up from the airport and drove me to the hotel where I checked in and dropped my bag. Then.... off for coffee.
He wanted to show me a newly opened place here in Jeddah, Toqa.
It was buzzing. If you wanted to sit down, there was a waiting list, but for takeaway -- no problem. The interior was very well appointed - ultra-chic even. The first big shock? Lots of men and women mixing and chatting. Jeddah has always been more open than other Saudi cities, but really this was a whole new level. Just wow. It was about the most "normal" I have ever seen Saudi Arabia.
Then.... ordering. Everything was in Arabic. The cashier said "It's all in Arabic and I don't speak English" (he said this in English). I kind of felt like he was saying "Piss off". Anyway, Majd said "he is with me" and that he would translate. They had a lot of interesting fusion-type coffees but I stuck with a latte. Overall, the guy's attitude was arrogant and just unfriendly.
Then we went to wait for the coffee in another place. I was taking a photo "up" making sure NOT to get anyone in the photo (especially as there were women around) and I got roundly scolded for trying to take photos of the staff?? Don't they want their place to appear on social media?
The coffee, I admit, was excellent. The decor was fabulous. I am THRILLED to see young Saudi men and women hanging out together. But.... in a country that has had customer service provided by foreigners for years and is only NOW employing their own for the job? They have lightyears to go... they put the "famous" unfriendly New Yorkers or Parisians to shame. We are talking about a total inability to be polite and give service to others.
And just in case you think I am just a whinging English-speaking expat.... I googled the placed which is listed under foursquare (a restaurant reviewing app) and my above comments are TAME compared to those from Saudis themselves about the horribly rude service.
Things are 'a-changin' here -- some good, some bad.
"Ooooh life goes on, and it's only gonna make me strong, that's a fact , once you get on board say goodbye cause you can't go back". As LeAnn Rimes sings it.
Maybe the "scene" in Jeddah was a precursor to the big changes that were brewing in Saudi Arabia. The youth simply had enough of being bottled up - especially the strict division of men and women. It was unnatural and over time led to ridiculous extremes in society. Jeddah may always be the bellwether of Saudi society. I wrote the above before the really big changes started to sweep Saudi society. In my last days in Saudi, Jeddah was already opening restaurants during prayer times and tentatively making some spaces where men and women "mixed". Finally, Cafe Toqa also had Saudi staff - in that time rare, now far more commonplace. Now even Saudi women have entered the workforce!
I hear from friends that Saudi Arabia has transformed in these last few years to the point I probably would not recognize it (socially). I am happy, actually. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was smart to see the growing unrest in the youth population. Saudi Arabia has avoided the protests which occurred in Iran when a Kurdish-Iranian woman was killed after an arrest by the morality police for not covering her head. It is ironic for how much Saudi and Iran despise each other, they both deal with the same moral and religious issues. After the Shah was deposed in 1979 Iran and they shifted to an Islamic state, Saudi followed soon after. Now Saudi is relaxing those rules just as Iran deals with social backlash from a youthful population. Seemingly, two countries who hate each other are joined at the hip culturally.
For those who want to see the future of Saudi Arabia, perhaps a visit to Jeddah might be the best place to see what the latest social trends are? Cafe Toqa was "amazing" to me in 2017 -by 2022 it has become a "norm".