Beirutista

Last week we enjoyed a mesmerizing meal at Al Beiruti in downtown Beirut. The attention to detail is enchanting, from the custom black shaffé coffee cup to the elaborate lighting fixtures juxtaposed by the vintage straw and wooden chairs evoking Lebanese heritage. Here's the interior Always make it a point to visit the restroom at a restaurant! Speaks volumes about how the kitchen might look and the restaurant's priority to hygiene. End your meal with traditional Lebanese coffee The cuisine is classically Lebanese with a few modern twists evidenced in the Al Beiruti specialties. Take for example the Aubergine, a delicately peeled roasted eggplant lying on a bed of labneh blended with tahini. Or the Shawarma which may have found inspiration in Armenian manti owing to a presence of zesty tomato sauce, cool laban yogurt, and pita squares to soak up all the goodness.  The quintessential labneh, zaatar and olives trifecta This is quite a unique take on shawarma! But don't overlo...

Updated: March 26, 2023 For the Lebanese, remittances have always been a hard fact of life. With a vast diaspora often quoted to be upward of five times the population inside Lebanon, it is not uncommon for Lebanese expats to send money to family members living in the motherland. But now more than ever, that fact has become a deepening necessity. As the country battles a multi-faceted crisis promising no clear resolution, the Lebanese find themselves struggling to make ends meet, and their reliance on remittances from abroad grows unabashedly. The real question, however, is how to channel funds safely, cost-effectively and directly into the intended recipient’s hands. I finally found a surefire answer, and I could not recommend it more heartily. Now more than ever, the Lebanese are relying on cash remittances from abroad to survive ( Getty images ). What is Sendwave? Sendwave is an app born in 2014 out of a desire to slash the high fees and minimize the inconvenience of sending...

If you saw the photos of the entrance lobby at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut during the months of August and September, you’d rethink any air travel in a heartbeat. Lines of passengers snaked through the entrance halls, threatening to spill outside onto the curb, and it was estimated that around   two hours were required before reaching the duty free zone. The Lebanese are not particularly renowned for their organizational skills, so you can imagine folks belligerently cutting line in a bid to make it in and past the madness. We recoiled at the horror stories and decided that a staycation would deliver roughly the same purpose a quick getaway abroad endeavored to: change of scenery, pampering, and respite from the travails of quotidian life in Beirut. And thus, on the last weekend of September, to coincide with our five-year wedding anniversary, we – the trio of me, my husband, and our toddler – checked in to the Radisson Blu nestled in the heart of the Ain...

They say sometimes the best things in life are right under your nose. You’re just too busy looking up at the clouds to take notice. What can I say, living on the 8 th floor naturally promotes head-in-the-sky syndrome! Jokes aside, I discovered a gem of an eatery right around the block from where we live. After stumbling upon Les Chanterelles , I was content that at least a first-rate pastry destination was a stone’s throw from home. But now, a diner, too? The stars were really starting to line up in my (foodie) favor, I thought. I’d heard of Sandwiched long ago. In fact, my husband and I were among the inaugural delivery customers of the eatery some seven years past, when we pored over the menu tucked inside the door of my father-in-law’s Zalka office. I distinctly remember “The Mighty,” two thick slices of pan-grilled sliced bread sandwiching barbecue chicken breast, barbecue bacon, deli turkey, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, melted Swiss, and sweet, bold BBQ sauce...

I have definitively found Lebanon’s tastiest, fluffiest “sfouf,” or turmeric sponge cake and, in so doing, stumbled upon one of the best-value Sunday lunch buffets Beirut has to offer. Let me unpack that statement bit by bit. My favorite Lebanese dessert isn’t shockingly  baklawa , or knefeh , or even 7alewet el jibn . Blasphemous, right? I actually worship the Lent-friendly, yellow-tinted treat called sfouf , not specifically because it’s so darn healthy, unfettered by butter and eggs. That’s just an added bonus. The real reason is in the crumb's consistency: if done right, it’s dense, but not chalky; fluffy, but not airy; sweet, but not decadent. It pairs perfectly with café blanc, tea, and coffee. I wasn’t actively seeking out sfouf last Sunday at the Gefinor Rotana hotel. In fact, we were enjoying a sumptuous buffet, the kind that requires you fast for at least 16 hours leading up to it. And the first impression as we waltzed down the lobby corridor to Olive Garden, w...