nikkib

so today was spent on a trip to the marsyas vineyards in the bekaa valley,the vineyards have only been going since 2005 but they produce some very drinkable wines - a blend of chardonnay and sav blanc and then a blend of syrah, merlot and cab sav - both high in alcohol (the white i was told is 14 % and the red tops 15%)but smooth. I dont imagine you see much, if any outside of lebanon as they produce just 30,000 btles a year but that just means all the more for me then! the vines - those are the barouk mountains in the background depite it being 38degrees centigrade they had this wonderful lady making saj with zaatar or jebne to start us off with, then a mezze buffet of which i selected a rather huge plate, theres hummus, tabbouleh and fattoush as well as a tomato and feta salad - although the lebanese feta is almost like a cross between feta and halloumi in terms of texture here (although they have literally hundreds of variations) and also some white bean salad. Absolutely delicious and i completely forgot about the bbq i had seen so i only had a little kafta (lamb)as i had rather overfaced myself.... You can see the shish taouk, kafta, and if you look closely there are marinated lamb skewers somewhere there too, along with sojouk, a type of slightly spiced blood sausage. I should add we were on a trade lunch, i don't think they are set up for visitors usually however you can visit chateau keffraya which is literally next door, along with ksara, massaya, wardy and mussar should you be interested. They co own bargylus, a great syrian red so hopefully i will be able to post some pictures later in the summer of a planned visit there too. Just to finish, i made a rare trip to the supermarket on the way back and thought i would share the HUMUNGOUS grapefruits and tiger prawns on offer. The prawns are around 75 dollars a kilo (not sure how that relates to US prices) I bought 1/2 a kilo of cherries for around a $1.50 and a local melon ( abit like a cantaloupe) for under 50 cents - delicious! oops - almsot forgot the dessert today, you should be able to see some more of the arishe i posted eearlier about, drizzled with honey and some apricot preserve, along with cherries and some local sweet, similar to turkish delight but i havent found a name for it yet....

You could also try making a lavender sugar syrup or infusion and add that to recipes, this way it is really easy to modify the flavour. Steep dried lavender in boiling water (like a herbal tea) or boil them up with caster sugar and water for the syrup. Lavender is great with lemonade or blended with bluberries and added to the lemonade or used as a coulis etc

Here in Lebanon they make cafe blanc - basically hot water with a tsp of orange blossom water in it and drink it after a meal to aid digestion. Also Knefe, a great lebanese breakfast dish as well - its sort of a polenta style cake with a layer of ricotta like cheese drizzled in orange blossom water, its delicious.....You can also add a little bit to a cosmopolitan by using an atomiser to impart a middle eastern feel to it - delicious!

Hi Nakji -the manakoushe are sort of like a pizza/flat bread cross but arent usually topped with much, great snacks though Here are a few more recent meals this is labne served with its traditional accompaniments of olives, cucumber, mint and tomato along with a zaatar (lebanese thyme) flatbread and a glass of local rose lebanese mezze - pots of tabbouleh, moutabal and humus at the back, then rakakat ( a sort of cheese spring roll) stuffed vine leaves and fatyer with spinach ( a sort of pastry parcel or pasty usually filled with spinach) next up a great breakfast on the way to baalbek (- the most amzaing roman site i have seen - a true wonder of the world and absolutely worth the trip to lebanon alone) This is Arishe - another flatbread, this time with a sweetened cream cheese with honey drizzled over it and a great cup of strong lebanese coffee

thanks for the comments guys - will do! Probably aren't many of us egulleters out here in Beirut! Tourism is beginning to pick up again apparently which is great as The Lebanon is such a beautiful country with the most wonderful hospitality and food (as well as the history, great vineyards and weather to name just a few more!) so there should continue to be plenty for me to continue uploading

not actually a shot of food but this is from a great fast food restaurant called comme ci comme saj (see what they did there?!) which sells the saj flat bread wraps with a variety of fillings meat/vegetarain and things like nutella and banana for afterwards. You can see the metal oven taht they cook them on top at the back of the shot - similar to the one the lady is cooking on at the farmers market but taller. Although we have macdonalds/starbucks/kfc here etc these are the local equivalent. As a random fact - mcdonalds also has valet parking ! Although then pretty much everywhere in beirut does so thats no great surprise. Below are a couple of photos of the snacks you find out and about on street corners - little bread handbags that they can add cheese or just dried Za'atar to and eat as you take your evening stroll along the corniche (seafront) for around 75 cents

Well not much activity on here but i will plough on.... This is the souk al tayeb a local farmers market (beiruts first) and a lady making more of the ubiquitous manakoushe, selling for around $1 each. The market is great - fairly small compared to UK and US ones but really great quality, vegetables, fruit, lots of pickles, pastries, flowers and honey Here is a recent meal at Pepes in Jbeil (Byblos) which despite being in all the guide books and a favourite of local tour groups is a great little find and the seafood is excellent - you see surprisingly little decently priced seafood here as the water quality is so bad (there are barely any beaches either)First off is a shrimp rakakat, essentially a shrimp spring roll, then grilled tiger prawns, lebanese coffee and a little dessert they served complimentary when i asked if they just had something small to finish with, a sort of set jalab with coconut i think, delicious! 2 courses,a side order of salad a beer, gls of wine and coffee was around $30 which for tiger prawns was better value then it sounds

yes, i would say they were like mini roasties really and as for the beetroot tahini, I would guess that it was beetroot puree added to tahini paste, it was very tasty and i fell in love with the colour too, will definitely try making some ( will ask about the recipe next time im there!)

layalina in knightsbridge, definitely

Lastly for tonight we have Le Chef - the only place tony bourdain ate in on his 2006 No Reservations programme before the troubles. He's just been back - i missed him by two nights - to refilm the programme with as many of the original crew as possible and to revisit everywhere he should have been to last tim. Le Chef is, as everyone will tell you an institution. In Gemmayze as well, a sort of workmans cafe or greasy spoon type place. Quite touristy now and the food isnt what it was but still an authentic experience worth trying. I had something described on the menu as spicy fish, a sort of fish stew with a little spice, served with rice and vegetable plate. Perfectly palatable despite looking rather awful - all in, with 2 glasses of wine it set me back about $12 not bad

And now for something completely different, Coqueley a french/nyc style brasserie in Gemmayze - Beiruts equivalent to the east village. Literally transported me out of beirut to Paris or NYC which can only be a good thing every now and again! First of many meals here - foie gras terrine with the most amazing fig bread and then a goats cheese salad with apple, i forget the exact price but the foie gras was $13 and very good indeed, especially considering the trouble and cost they have importing good quality foie from france. They bake all the bread on sight have a 80% french wine list with minimal mark ups and daily home made raviolis/quiches as specials and i love it!

This is the guy across the road from my appartment making mankoushe - they sell for less than 50cents - toppings usually just za atar (thyme) Jebne ( a cheese) and Labneh (cream cheese/yoghurt) here although you see other flavours elsewhere. Here we have another fast food - falafel which i see less frequently than i expected here, the beer and falafel wrap cost $3 Lastly, mahamoura - a red pepper, chilli and walnut paste with tabbouleh and vegetable plate, Ive never tried the mahamoura before, but it is delicious and has become a firm favourite of mine

So i thought i would start updating this thread a bit - Here we have a couple of light lunches at Al Falamankis a 24hr restaurant and beautiful arguileh garden in Ashrafieh, Eastern Beirut I was pretty hungover so very carb heavy - fried potatoes with beetroot tahini, mankoushe with spicy hakkawi cheese and the other is a bowl of foul (chickpea and bean stew) with another mankoushe this time with za'atar, tomato and onion

agree with zd and joseph phelps - happy drinking!

oh yum!!! I recently moved to the Lebanon so having far too much fun buying breakfast out ( mankoushe/kneffe etc) to have cooked in a while but that has inspired me for sure! I couldnt quite see from the photo - what exactly is "your" pan con tomate as opposed to regular SOBA?

http://www.itzcaribbean.com/roti.php why not rotis instead of tacos for a more authentic carribean taste?

apricots and prunes soaked in earl grey tea, natural yoghurt and shop bought granola with freshly squeezed orange juice

Anchor steam or Negro modelo mmmmmmmm

You're not too far from the anchor and hope at the imperial war museum.....

Could you make it to Hereford road for a lunch and do the harwood arms for dinner? Hereford rds lunch menu is staggering value.

I have never raised pigs but have eaten many of the acorn fed ones and they are truly delicious!

Was hopingt for a bit of advice please, i will be spending a day in Dijon in a couple of weeks and am looking for somewhere to have lunch. I will be on my own and do not want to spend more than 50 euros ( to include a couple of glasses of wine!) Are any of the 1* restaurants set lunch menus worth doing or am i better with a bib or steering away from michelin altogether? Also - are there any places of interest food related i could visit whilst in dijo - it will be a thursday so will miss the market, many thanks for your help

It sounds like it could be a truffled brillat savarin maybe? Trying to paste a link without much success!

Am on a bit of a vegetarian binge at the moment so here is a selection of recent meals Aubergine, Spianach and Roasted Pepper Parmigiana Puff Pastry Base topped with a paste made from sunblushed tomato and crushed chillis with Plum toamato and Basil Vinaigrette grilled on top Roasted Ramiro Pappers stuffed with vegetable couscous and topped with Feta Cumin and Coriander roasted Butternut squash filled with Cherry tomatoes,Spinach, Asparagus, Mushrooms,breadcrumbs and Gruyere cheese feeling rather virtuous and enjoying all the colourful meal at the same time!

Trying to add more vegetables into my diet as i have been feeling a bit run down recently but any excse for a cooked breakfast suits me! Poached Egg with aspargus and mushrooms with fresh green chilli