manakish

Abou Fadel bakery: making the best manakish since the mid 80s

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by • Must-Try Foods • Tags: , , ,

I don’t know if there is a single person in Lebanon that doesn’t love manakish. It is by excellence the people’s food and is eaten for breakfast, a quick lunch, dinner, or anytime during the day.

Today, a lot of restaurants propose manakish on their menu, but traditionally, manakish were the baker’s job. I remember being a kid and seeing my mom every Sunday prepare the zaatar mix at home, then go to the bakery and wait for the baker to spread the zaatar on the dough and bake it, then come back home so we’d enjoy a family breakfast of manakish with tomatoes, fresh mint, cucumbers, black olives and green fava beans.

This process is alas, cut in half today. People no longer prepare the zaatar or other fillings at home and it has become the baker’s job to do it all for you. And this, unfortunately, has left a serious question mark on the quality of ingredients and mostly zaatar used in a lot of bakeries across Lebanon.

But then you go to Abou Fadel, a small family-owned bakery located in Beit Mery, and you have the best manakish you can ask for! The dough is fresh, well baked and with just the right amount of everything. The zaatar mixed with olive oil is of superior quality and tastes exactly like the one in my childhood memories! The cheese is heavenly – not too sweet nor too salty; the lahm bi ajin are just perfect and the pizza they make is out of this world. You feel that what they do is done in an artisanal way, with love and with great ingredients that they never compromise on for the sake of profiting more. And this is the very reason why they have been in the market for over 30 years and are packed from the moment they open until they close – because people recognize the quality of what they’re eating there, and it is unlike anything else in the neighboring market.

If you haven’t paid them a visit yet, it is time you do. Then you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about, as they will become by far your favorite bakery.

 

goat-labneh

If there is one thing I can eat every day for the rest of my life, it’s goat Labneh

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by • Tips • Tags: , ,

I am a raving fan of Labneh. I don’t think there is a single household in Lebanon that doesn’t have Labneh anytime, any day in the fridge. Labneh has evolved from a mere dairy product to become a Lebanese signature that’s very much incorporated in our culture.

What I’m even crazier about is goat Labneh. Generally speaking, dairy products that come from goat milk are healthier than the more widely used cow milk products, as they have fewer calories, more vitamins and less lactose. But going beyond the sheer technicalities of goat dairies, goat Labneh is absolute perfection. It is dense, tangy, earthy and has a mix of textures and flavors that give my taste buds a kick with every mouthful! Add to that the fact that it comes in balls soaked in olive oil, so it gets an even richer taste from the earthiness and playfulness of the oil.

Goat Labneh being more dense and acidic that cow Labneh, I like to enjoy it with a more particular set of combinations. Cow Labneh is perfect with mint, olives, cucumbers and tomatoes but I find these not to go as perfectly with goat Labneh. Hence, I like it to mix it with different tastes, like green or yellow apples, grapes, figs and Armenian cucumbers or me2te grown in Jezzine (if you don’t know what I am talking about, they’re the ones that come in a darker shade of green, have a velvety skin and are thicker than the regular Armenian cucumbers). I find those combinations to be juicier and sweeter, so they really give better justice to how goat Labneh can be enhanced from a taste perspective.

Goat Labneh is probably one of the simplest, yet most delicious foods to have ever existed. It is something I can literally eat every day with saj or oat bread and just enjoy a pure moment of culinary bliss.

meia-duzia-and-alexandros

Meia.Dúzia & Alexandros: whimsical flavors and packages

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by • Must-Try Foods

I’ve been wanting to write about Meia.Dúzia & Alexandros ever since I stepped foot in that shop, but I wasn’t a blogger back then :). Meia.Dúzia & Alexandros is a small chocolate shop located in Beirut Souks. It sells two brands of chocolate; Meia.Dúzia, the famous Portuguese brand of chocolate, jams, honeys and teas inspired by the world of painting, whose products actually come in tubes of oil paint! The second brand, Alexandros is a Greek brand of fine handmade chocolate with so many whimsical flavors that it’s a pure, enchanting pleasure to your palate and taste buds.

I had the pleasure of paying them another visit last week and take time to discover every single one of their products.

Starting with Meia.Dúzia, I got to taste the chocolate pastes that you playfully squeeze out of the tube. Each one is totally unique thanks to the unusual flavors mixed with it; strawberry and chili, blackberry, hazelnut and nutmeg, passion fruit, etc. Then we moved to the honey, served in the same way but with its own kick; orange blossom honey with chili, honey with ginger, eucalyptus honey with pear, etc. The grand finale was for the jams that I totally fell in love with. Imagine tasting pineapple jam with lemongrass, or blackberry jam with lavender, or pear jam with vanilla. Every combination I was trying left me imagining how I can use it with food; drops of orange blossom and chili honey on roasted chicken, pineapple jam on charcuterie, or blackberry jam on a medium rare steak… They actually have a book in store that teaches you how to use each product with food!

Then it was time to have some chocolate chunks from Alexandros; I only had dark chocolate because I usually don’t eat anything else. So I tried their rusk & rosemary chocolate, their strawberry and rose pepper chocolate, their chocolate with ginger, their chocolate with masticha, and the list goes on. What I love about these chocolates is that every ingredient used really stands out and perfectly complements the earthiness of the chocolate.

Meia.Dúzia & Alexandros is a small shop with a big potential. Make it a point to visit it when you’re in Beirut Souks and feast your eyes and taste buds on a unique décor and enchanting flavors!

charcuterie

The hams that have forever changed my list of favourite charcuterie

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by • Tips • Tags: , , ,

I am a HUGE fan of charcuterie. I’d choose it anytime and every time over any cheese whenever I have the choice. Ever since I was a kid, I loved the dryness, saltiness and aftertaste of cured ham. As I grew older, I had the chance to travel around in Europe and taste charcuterie that has been a real discovery for me, especially when I’d get to taste hams that haven’t been processed. What we grew up accustomed to in Lebanon are processed cured meats that have a mild taste meant to please every palate. But then you try the unprocessed ones and you fall in love. It’s that simple. There is something so raw, so powerful about them, yet so sophisticated, that your taste buds cannot go back to liking the tedious tastes and flavours of processed cold cuts.

The biggest influence on my taste choice came from Spain. They simply have incredible hams, and are closely followed by Italy and their exquisite charcuterie. So I have noted below my list of favourite hams, that you’re sure to find on my table whenever we’re hosting a cheese and charcuterie dinner.

Jamón Ibérico: this Spanish (and Portuguese) ham comes from the black Iberian pigs and is my all-time favorite. It is left to dry for months and the best one, the one you should by all means try, is the Jamón Ibérico de Bellota. Once you try this delicacy you’ll want to keep coming back for more.

Lomo: I don’t know why Lomo is so hard to find in Lebanon, but it is the next best thing I’ve tasted in Spain. It comes in smaller, thicker cuts that are soft and oh so rich in flavor. You can find it at Aziz here in Lebanon, so I strongly, strongly advise you give it a try and serve it as an entrée on your next dinner occasion.

Jamón Serrano: Jamón Serrano is more available in Lebanon and you can find it in big supermarkets that have a delicatessen corner. This Spanish ham is a real delight! It is served in thin slices over a piece of bread covered with tomato and garlic sauce. It is as delicious if you eat it by itself. It is oilier and with a more distinct aftertaste.

Chorizo: Chorizo is a sausage that has a slight orange color, due to it being mixed with smoked paprika. It can be either spicy or sweet. My personal recommendation is definitely the sweet one because it goes easy on your taste buds and it’s incredibly delicious!

Speck: Speck is an exquisite Italian ham (there are German and Austrian varieties too). It has a very robust and smoky taste and comes in smaller slices than regular ham. It is an absolute delight! It has hints of dryness that don’t allow for a long aftertaste, so you can easily enjoy it in a slightly larger quantity :).

Prosciutto di Parma: This one is probably the most known in Lebanon because we’re constantly served this delicacy in Italian restaurants across the country. Prosciutto has a softer taste than Speck or Jamón, and goes perfectly well with melon.

Voilà! I hope you get to try my ham recommendations, especially that the colder season is upon us and wine nights are just around the corner :).

nuts

While the big guys are fighting, one small roastery is making the best nuts in town

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by • Must-Try Foods • Tags: ,

I am amused by the recent “fight” that some roasteries started against each other and how fans of each are defending them. I can understand how it is important for them to maintain their positioning in the market and be perceived as having the best services (and nuts) in Lebanon.

Of course, I didn’t introduce this blog post like that to criticize what is being done. But while these big brands are focusing on showcasing who does things better, there is a small roastery that is truly focusing on making the best nuts you’ll probably ever taste in Lebanon, without any bling-bling marketing around.

If you happen to be driving in Broummana towards Printania Hotel around 10 in the morning, you’ll get a whiff of freshly roasted nuts that will be the highlight of your day. And you’ll know you just passed right next to P. Nut House, the roastery that makes the best nuts I’ve ever tasted in my life.

P. Nut House is a small roastery that has been around for a few years. It does zero communication efforts, yet is crammed with customers anytime you walk in there. The nuts it roasts and sells are incredible; always fresh, crunchy, with just the right amount of salt and with an unparalleled quality. I can explain exactly how each type of nuts looks like and tastes, but it is more interesting that you pay them a visit and discover what I am talking about. And when you do, you must by all means get a pack of cri-cri (the nuts that seem to be everyone’s favorites), because you’ll never savor anything that looks or tastes like they do in your life.

P. Nut House is yet another small place just around the corner, selling exquisite nuts that do not need any marketing stunts, and that are an absolute delight to your occasions and taste buds alike.

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