Anise bartender, Avo,
mixing drinks. Opposite,
from top: fresh produce
at a corner shop; the
lunch buffet at Tawlett.to prepare dishes that express their heritage, on a
roster that changes weekly. The generous buffet
includes a bottomless glass of homemade lemonade,
arak or house sharab, and a range of savoury and
sweet dishes – perhaps mjaddara, a southern dish
of lentils and bulgur topped with fried onions, or
kibbe Zghertewiyye from the northern village of
Zgharta, the minced lamb and bulgur patty stuffed
with a lump of fat, which melts during frying and
oozes out at the first slice.
Branches of Tawlet have since opened in Ammiq
in the Bekaa Valley, the historic city of Saida in the
south, Deir El Qamar in the Chouf mountains, and
there’s a summer pop-up version at the organic farm,
Biomass, in the hills of Batroun, in northern Lebanon.
Most of these regional canteens have a guesthouse
attached to them. Last year Mouzawak’s team opened
Beit El Tawlet, a stylish guesthouse of five rooms
on the fifth floor above the original Tawlet. His
next project? To revive the dekkeneh, Lebanon’s
traditional neighbourhood grocery store.12 Rue
Naher, Armenia St, Mar Mikhael, soukeltayeb.com
Sept
Beirutis like to boast that they can swim in the ocean
in the morning and ski in the afternoon. But some of
the best daytrips from Beirut are to regional wineries
- the revival of the industry in the past few decades
has spawned more than 30 in Lebanon. My favourite
wine destination is the Batroun Mountains just north
of Beirut and, in particular, a biodynamic vineyard and
winery called Sept. With the
aim of celebrating the diverse
terroir of Lebanon, maverick
winemaker Maher Harb
works with vintners around
the country. He uses viognier
grapes grown in Riyaq, the
indigenous grape obeideh
grown in Zahlé (once popular
only in arak distilling),
cabernet franc from Ain
Treiz and tempranillo from
Deir El Qamar. With his
own winery’s syrah and
cabernet sauvignon grown
in the hills of Nehla, Harb
is making some of Lebanon’s most interesting wines.
Sept is a two-hour drive from downtown Beirut, but
feels a million miles away.Nehla, Batroun Mountains,
+961 70 570 170, levinsept.comRestaurant Varouj
Armenian cuisine is an important and much-loved
part of the Lebanese table. Every couple of months
we gather a group of friends and head to Restaurant
Varouj, a tiny and very popular eatery in Bourj
Hammoud, the Armenian quarter in the city’s east.
It’s named after its recently deceased owner, whose
son, Kevork Hagopian, now runs the place. Just five
tables occupy a room decorated with Armenian
antiques, and Varouj’s portrait hangs beside a
collection of antique pistols.
There’s no written menu – the day’s dishes are
recited and diners are meant to nod when they hear
the dish they want. Fried hunting birds are dressed in
lemon and garlic or doused in pomegranate molasses.
There’s generally Armenian sausages and basterma,
a sun-dried beef dish, on the menu, and sides such as
fried okra, mouhammara, a hot-pepper dip, and itch,
the Armenian version of tabbouli, heavier on the
bulgur and without the parsley. But the place is best
known for offal: boiled and sautéed cow’s tongue,
raw chicken liver and boiled intestines stuffed with
rice and ground meat, fragrant with cinnamon.
Cojones are required when eating here (no pun
intended).Alfred Novel St, Bourj Hammoud,
+961 3 882 933●GOURMET TRAVELLER 139Getting
there
Emiratesflies one
stop to Beirut from
five Australian
cities via Dubai.
Emirates operates
91 direct flights
a week to Dubai
from Adelaide,
Brisbane, Perth,
Melbourne
and Sydney.
emirates.com/au