lebanon |
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TRADITIONAL PRODUCTS |
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Arak A distilled Levantine spirit featuring anise . Drink it neat or mix with water in a pitcher or glass and add ice . |
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Makdous Oil-cured aubergines stuffed with walnuts , red pepper , olive oil and garlic . Eat them with flatbread or alongside other meze-style dishes and eggs . |
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Rose water Rose water in Lebanon is made with a certain rose varietal called ward joury ( rosa damascena ) and is featured most prominently in desserts and drinks . |
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images : getty ; alamy |
bookstore and library Barzakh sprouting up . Its selection of no-frills food venues is superb , too .
Starting at Al Sharif , my first choice is for a taste of some of the best fatteh ( yoghurt , chickpeas , pine nuts and tahini topping toasted flatbread ) in the city . It ’ s traditionally eaten at breakfast , but for me it ' s a hearty lunchtime pick-me-up . I continue farther west along the main road toward the sea , to Hammandi . This is a butcher and a sandwich shop popular with the local crowd . The classic Beirut dish , shish tawouk ( marinated chicken shish kebab ), is excellent here , but the sujuk ( spicy dry cured sausage ) sandwich is supreme .
I remember the words I heard from Roy Hankach , a Lebanese sausage-maker .
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“ It ’ s very difficult nowadays to find good sujuk sandwiches — Hammandi makes the best I ’ ve ever had .” His version strays from the traditional style , topped with a little mayonnaise , but I love the addition . The alteration makes it more reminiscent of my childhood favourites — Lebanon ' s relationship with its food , like my own , tends to be deeply nostalgic .
My next destination , the district of Mar Mikhael , is particularly charged with memories . What used to be a working-class neighbourhood of industry has , over the past decade , become one of the epicentres of Beirut ’ s nightlife . It ’ s also where I go to visit one of my favourite cocktail bars , tucked away on one of the shadowed , unassuming side streets .
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Clockwise from top left : Middle
Eastern pita topped with za ’ atar
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SPRING 2023 • 29 |