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Luxurious Lebanese food, hookah water pipes, and fine alcoholic arak all make Abdel Wahab a popular place four tourists and locals alike. Serving grand portions of mezze such as hummus, tabbouleh and labneh over one main room and a rooftop terrace you will leave Abdel Wahab with your appetite satisfied and your belt a few notches looser.
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One of Beirut’s oldest Lebanese restaurants Al Ajami features lush comfy sofas and low tables and simply good food. Fantastic schwarma and mezze, plentiful bowls of olives and friendly waiters, it’s a good alternative to the main restaurants areas of Downtown and Achrafieh.
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Good, solid cheap Lebanese food in the pedestrianized centre of downtown. Dine inside or outside, try the lamb kebabs, the mezze, the hookah water pipes and creamy desserts and pastries. Go for a casual lunch or dinner and spend some time people watching as the crowds in Downtown walk by.
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Al Dente, is probably the best Italian restaurant in Beirut and is located in an exquisite old Lebanese house. Ten years old and running strong it does a roaring business amongst the older fashionable crowd of big businessmen and politicians. IT has great fresh pasta made on the premises and good risottos, and the wine list is lengthy and international.
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A traditional Lebanese restaurant in a lovely renovated old Ottoman house with lots of space and room to relax, Mijana is one of Beirut’s secret delights featuring plenty of their own Lebananese specialties like red hummus and shish kebabs. Good wine and good arak too.
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This rooftop restaurant located right in the centre of downtown Beirut was the first to open high up in the trendy district. With an indoor main room and an outdoor bar area with stunning views over the capital, the cuisine is Asian fusion in style, for example yakitori beef with basmati rice and is popular amongst Lebanese gourmets. A very “in” restaurant.
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Balthus is probably the most exclusive high-end French brasserie in town, with solid cuisine and classic service and décor. The crowd is businessmen, politicians, bankers and all those with cash to spend especially at lunch, and the food is typical French brasserie including steak, lamb, rabbit and a good foie gras. Good for business lunches.
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Brookes is the British gastro-pub of Beirut and a good one at that. If you are getting homesick, you can enjoy the sausages and mash, a good beer, fantastic wine as well as that old favorite – beer battered fish and chips. With a long bar as well as low slung wood tables, Brookes is a welcome addition to Beirut’s burgeoning restaurant scene.
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Casablanca is famous in Lebanon, and trendy as hell – a place to be seen. Full of atmosphere, built into an old Lebanese Villa right on the seafront it does a great Sunday brunch and is decked out with contemporary art and different coloured walls. The food is East- West fusion and experimentation with good fresh fish and lobster and organic vegetables.
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Eat either inside in the cavernous open plan dining room of this renovated old Gemayzeh house or outside in the covered courtyard where each table is separated by greenery and enjoy a fantastic atmosphere in one of Beirut’s most popular nightspots. The French fusion cuisine is solid with good steak and fish, and the many Lebanese wines on offer are well worth sampling.
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Downtown’s finest seafood and Lebanese restaurants, Diwan, is a great place for lunch as well as dinner. But it is really its fresh fish that is to die for. Try the sea bass, mallifa, red mullet, and bizri (deep fried sardines) for a real pleasure of taste. Reasonably priced, especially since fish can be so expensive in many restaurants here, Diwan Sultan Ibrahim is definitely worth visiting.
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Located on the top floor of the Phoenicia Intercontinental Hotel, with a fantastic view of the Mediterranean, Eau de Vie features fine European cuisine and beautiful furnishings. Expensive and plush with service to match this is a place to impress. Reserve in advance for table by the window, eat from a selection of roast veal and plentiful shell fish and choose what to drink from a wine list of 585 possibilities
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Decorated all over in white with wide glass windows overlooking a small outdoor terrace Fennel is an Italian eaterie off the beaten track featuring your non-classical Italian food such as a swordfish ragu or pumpkin gnocchi for example. The pasta is fresh and the wine list comprehensive, and the service competent making Fennel a good place to eat alone or with friends.
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The newest and best of a small selection of Indian restaurants in Beirut, as Indian food is not hugely popular here, but it is far from the UK version of a mere curry and beer. With Punjabi and colonial feel to it, India is a delight of downtown away from the crowds on the roof of one building with a selection of grilled and vegetarian dishes, great chutneys and some selectively spiced curries too.
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L’O, which stands for original, is another of the fusion cuisine restaurants so popular in Beirut. Located on the main street of Gemayzeh, it is hugely popular and shaped like a cylindrical tube in what used to be an old cellar. The lights change colour at night giving L’O a constantly changing feel and the food is excellent.
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Reserve a couple of days in advance for the best Armenian Lebanese restaurant in the capital. A cozy familial atmosphere combined with the traditional mezze and grilled meat dishes such as the kafta with cherry sauce, Mayass, is an all round heartening experience and very good value for money.
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Probably the best Chinese restaurant in Beirut, Memoires de Chine, is located downtown off the main drag of Maarad Street, and features relaxed Buddhist style décor and straight forward Chinese food. Good wine and good tidbits such as spring rolls, and fried shrimp, Memoires de Chine, is a good spot to eat alone or with friends.
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Relaxed, earthy and tasty with an organic delicatessen in part of the restaurant, Olive is one for the foodies and a very different venue on Beirut’s outgoing scene.
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Solea is Beirut’s only Spanish restaurant and so authentic in feel and vibe that you might as well be in Spain. Fantastic tapas and strong, strong sangria, Solea is well worth a visit. Sit outside in the garden or inside with the flamenco guitarist and have great early evening meal before hitting Beirut’s bars in Monnot Street.
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