20 replies to this topic

[ChefCrash]

We will be there from May 15th to the 30th. It's been five years since our last visit.
Our goals:

In Beirut:
-Make Manaeesh (Zaatar pies) at the neighborhood bakery.
-Visit a restaurant that serves Hummus and Foul Mudammas for breakfast, made fresh in front of us and served hot.
-Visit a restaurant called "La Tabkha" because the name is funny.
-Lunch at the "Istambuli" near Hamra st. for the best fat kabobs (Leyeh).
-Lunch at the best Fish restaurant in Junieh by the sea.
-Dine every night in the street cafes of down town Beirut.
-Eat shawarma at the Muhatta restaurant in Damour.
-Bribe Muhatta employee for shawarma recipe.
-Visit a chicken sandwich (pannini) stand.
-Solicit Thoumieh recipe.
-Visit Basturma and Sujoq stands on Arax Ave in Bourj Hammoud.

In Deirmimas (southern Lebanon).
-Loquats are in season which attract delicious birds. We will hunt some for breakfast.
-Aqub will be just out of season, but my in laws froze a batch just for us.
-Will have a picnic under an Olive tree.


A one day visit to Damascus:
-Visit the "Hamedeyeh Souq" and the "Seven Seas Ave" areas where street vendors dish out some of the best Shawarma, Lahem Mishwi and killer Egg sandwiches. I hope they still have those.


Three days in Nicosia:
I don't recall much of Cypriot cuisine. Last time there we were Honeymooning and were busy.
We will sample foods in the cafes in the folksy areas (Ledra and Salonos st.)

I'd like to bring back a terracotta skillet and a "Babbour" (old kerosene camp stove).

If you have any suggestions please let me know.

There will be a bucket of chilled Almaza Beer waiting for me at Beirut Intl.

Will report in 15 days.

[melamed]

wow! I am jealous Have a fantastic and safe trip.
Is the hummus/foul (mudammas) originally an Egyptian dish?

"Bribe Muhatta employee for shawarma recipe."- if you do get the recipe I hope I don't have to bribe you for it!

loquots are indeed in season, it is the end here but in Syria it is probably just the beginning. Sagzi says that in Turkey they stuff them with meat and grill them.

What do you do with Akub?( Gundelia tournefortii ?), have not cooked with it yet but it is popular in some of the Arab villages here.

Melouchia will soon be in season, I know that it is eaten in cyprus.

[FoodMan]

We will be there from May 15th to the 30th. It's been five years since our last visit.
Our goals:

In Beirut:
-Make Manaeesh (Zaatar pies) at the neighborhood bakery.
-Visit a restaurant that serves Hummus and Foul Mudammas for breakfast, made fresh in front of us and served hot.
-Visit a restaurant called "La Tabkha" because the name is funny.
-Lunch at the "Istambuli" near Hamra st. for the best fat kabobs (Leyeh).
-Lunch at the best Fish restaurant in Junieh by the sea.
-Dine every night in the street cafes of down town Beirut.
-Eat shawarma at the Muhatta restaurant in Damour.
-Bribe Muhatta employee for shawarma recipe.
-Visit a chicken sandwich (pannini) stand.
-Solicit Thoumieh recipe.
-Visit Basturma and Sujoq stands on Arax Ave in Bourj Hammoud.

In Deirmimas (southern Lebanon).
-Loquats are in season which attract delicious birds. We will hunt some for breakfast.
-Aqub will be just out of season, but my in laws froze a batch just for us.
-Will have a picnic under an Olive tree.


A one day visit to Damascus:
-Visit the "Hamedeyeh Souq" and the "Seven Seas Ave" areas where street vendors dish out some of the best Shawarma, Lahem Mishwi and killer Egg sandwiches. I hope they still have those.


Three days in Nicosia:
I don't recall much of Cypriot cuisine. Last time there we were Honeymooning and were busy.
We will sample foods in the cafes in the folksy areas (Ledra and Salonos st.)

I'd like to bring back a terracotta skillet and a "Babbour" (old kerosene camp stove).

If you have any suggestions please let me know.

There will be a bucket of chilled Almaza Beer waiting for me at Beirut Intl.

Will report in 15 days.

Ah! Lucky you. We probly won't be able to make it till next year. Do try and go to Labib's Bakery in Beirut for the most delicious and unusual Saj Manaeesh. I posted about it and put it on my blog a wile back. Let me know if you cannot find it.

I WANT that shawarma recipe if you do get it .

Have fun and be safe.

[Nicolai]

Wishing you a nice trip.

1- I hope you will have the full Maza (Habra Nayeh - Kasbeh...etc) in Beirut or the mountains.

2- I hope you will have the Arabic Ice Cream in Souk Hamidiyeh in Damascus.

3- I hope you will have the Hamburger from the man with a van in the streets of Larnaca or at least a Stifado at any restaurant.

[Nicolai]

Is the hummus/foul (mudammas) originally an Egyptian dish?

- The Foul is originally an Egyptian dish, however has many variants in Egypt itself or whether in Lebanon - Syria - Palestine...etc

The main difference between the basic Egyptian Foul and the basic Lebanese Foul is that there is no Garlic in the Egyptian basic Foul recipe.

- As for Hummus, and again speaking of the Hummus BiThineh which is the original variant, it is Lebanese.

However although it is a debatable subject in terms of country ownership, it is definitely not Egyptian.



N.B. The Egyptian basic Foul recipe I am referring to, is the one sold on the street of Cairo.
Also note that the Egyptian original Taamia has a Lebanese variant and the difference is the use in Lebanon of chickpeas in their Falafel.

[prasantrin]

Ah! Lucky you. We probly won't be able to make it till next year. Do try and go to Labib's Bakery in Beirut for the most delicious and unusual Saj Manaeesh. I posted about it and put it on my blog a wile back. Let me know if you cannot find it.

I had to look back to see what you were talking about, and yes!! ChefCrash--please visit Labib's Bakery to try the saj manaeesh FoodMan is talking about! And see if you can get that recipe, too!

While you're in Syria, perhaps you can try baklava from many different bakeries. I still believe the best baklava/baqlawa I've ever had was Syrian, but I don't know why it was the best. I do think Middle Eastern baklava/baqlawa is much better than the Greek version, though.

[melamed]

Is the hummus/foul (mudammas) originally an Egyptian dish?

- The Foul is originally an Egyptian dish, however has many variants in Egypt itself or whether in Lebanon - Syria - Palestine...etc

The main difference between the basic Egyptian Foul and the basic Lebanese Foul is that there is no Garlic in the Egyptian basic Foul recipe.

- As for Hummus, and again speaking of the Hummus BiThineh which is the original variant, it is Lebanese.

However although it is a debatable subject in terms of country ownership, it is definitely not Egyptian.



N.B. The Egyptian basic Foul recipe I am referring to, is the one sold on the street of Cairo.
Also note that the Egyptian original Taamia has a Lebanese variant and the difference is the use in Lebanon of chickpeas in their Falafel.

I agree with you about the hummus, it is associated more with Lebanon than with Egypt. What I must have been eating is the lebanese foul variation which is not cooked with garlic but it is always served with garlic/lemon sauce and green chili peppers.

[FoodMan]

Ah! Lucky you. We probly won't be able to make it till next year. Do try and go to Labib's Bakery in Beirut for the most delicious and unusual Saj Manaeesh. I posted about it and put it on my blog a wile back. Let me know if you cannot find it.

I had to look back to see what you were talking about, and yes!! ChefCrash--please visit Labib's Bakery to try the saj manaeesh FoodMan is talking about! And see if you can get that recipe, too!

While you're in Syria, perhaps you can try baklava from many different bakeries. I still believe the best baklava/baqlawa I've ever had was Syrian, but I don't know why it was the best. I do think Middle Eastern baklava/baqlawa is much better than the Greek version, though.

Sure taste is subjective and all, but I certainly agree, Lebanese Baklava is far superior IMO to Greek. It is milder and does not use honey and much spicing. As far as best one? I believe a certain Hallab in Tripoli makes the best. Period. IT really is scary good. I also posted about it a couple of times, here is one example. Hope ChefCrash gets a chance to go there too.

Also, here is the Labib post.

[nikkib]

any more recent recommendations for damascus? Planning to share a service taxi there from beiut(for the grand sum of $20) next week and assuming i make it across the boarder am planning to spend 2 days in damascus eating shawarma galore... any syrian specialities i should try too or stuff to bring back from the souks?

[nikkib]

So i haven't had a chance to post recently due to work but here are some photos of my trip to Damascus a few weeks back, i went during Ramadan so not too much chance to eat during the day apart from this meal at a lovely restaurant in the Christian part of the old citadelle. Above you have hummus and roasted vegetables, then below we have fattoush and grilled kebbeh



followed by some arabic sweets and figs

[nikkib]

Lots of people selling blackberry juice on the street along with fresh pomegranate juice - delicious and very refreshing

A rather toxic looking mint lemonade - not as good as ones i've had in lebanon or dubai, significantly sweeter but still good



And here a cute little bar again in the christian quarter where i stopped in for a beer or two, couldn't quite work this one out - a policeman walked past so the guy closed up, switched off the lights and made us all hush up yet it was clearly a bar from the street when i had walked past earlier - maybe they are not allowed to be open during the day during ramadan? Anyway it was a welcome refreshment and a fun place to mingle

Edited by nikkib, 17 October 2010 - 12:43 PM.

[nikkib]

Here we have a sort of manoush with cheese on top that i bought from a little bakery for about 10cents! Very tasty and all you need for lunch in the heat in Damascus



Here is breakfast in my hostel which was simple but very nice indeed - i'm in love with fig jam at the moment, going to have to have a go making some at some point i think.....



And here, a rather beautiful way to have your water served - i could get used to this!





Interestingly black tea is much more popular here than the coffee you get everywhere in lebanon - and rather a cute way to serve sugar (in an egg cup!)

Edited by nikkib, 17 October 2010 - 12:46 PM.

[nikkib]

This great little bakery was making this fantastic flat bread - crispier than the arabic bread we get here in lebanon, they were more than happy to let me in for photos as you can see....

[nakji]

Excellent, excellent looking food, nikki. Why is it you always make me want to get on a plane? I can just hear my phone call to my mother now: "Hi Mum? Yes, I'm leaving China and going to Syria. No - it'll be great. The bread there looks divine!"

And the figs. I wish we were getting figs like that.

And here a cute little bar again in the christian quarter where i stopped in for a beer or two, couldn't quite work this one out - a policeman walked past so the guy closed up, switched off the lights and made us all hush up yet it was clearly a bar from the street when i had walked past earlier - maybe they are not allowed to be open during the day during ramadan? Anyway it was a welcome refreshment and a fun place to mingle

I've had that happen to me so many times in Hanoi - maybe it was just random police harrassment? It would be interesting to know. My husband and I were in Malaysia over Ramadan, and during the day, the Chinese restaurants were reliably open. Lots of bars, too, but that could have been just for the tourists.

[nikkib]

Thanks Nakji!!- although if you thought the bread looked good wait until you see the icecream......











Bakdash is a traditional ice cream shop in the main souk, eat in (and it was PACKED) or takeaway - most people went for the plain icecream in pistachios which was what i went for and it was gooood!



Edited to add - this lovely couple were somewhat intrigued by all my photos and asked for me to take theirs - so elegant!!

Edited by nikkib, 18 October 2010 - 12:19 PM.

[nikkib]

Delicious Lamb awarma on top of manoush in the Christain quaerter of Damascus

[ChefCrash]

Great to hear from you again, I thought you may have gone back to Britannia.
Thanks for the photos. The water boy's is classic.

The juice you say is berry juice looks a lot like "sharab el'sous", a drink made from Licorice root very popular during Ramadan. Did you try it?

The incident in the pub. It is not uncommon for the non fasting community (Muslim or Christian), to respectfully avoid eating, drinking and general display of glee in view of the working, hungry, thirsty ones that do.:)

I've got to make some Awarma ( confit d'agneau).

Thanks again. Keep them coming.

[nikkib]

Still very much here and will be for a while just crazy busy at work - must remember to get out more! Damascus was amazing - i loved it, looking forward to heading to aleppo in the new year as well as it was just too far this time. I figured the bar closure was to do with ramadan it just seemed weird as it was so clearly open, the pretence seemed comical though! The people could not have been friendlier either, i really did have fun!

[Chufi]

just posting a quick thank you to you nikkib, we're heading to Syria in May and looking at your pics has really made look forward to the trip even more! thanks for taking the time to post your pictures and write up this trip report!

[nikkib]

Have a great time! Damascus is amazing - am planning on heading to aleppo next along with homa and hams so will post more when i make it there!

[nikkib]

Headed back to Damascus for the day last week so had a chance to explore a bit more -

street vendors selling pomegranate juice this time-squeezed to order & delicious



Sweets & candied fruits





More bakeries.............



More ice cream - this time eating in




more great locals!!!



and how could i forget the coffee?