eating out in sidon and other Lebanon Restaurant Reviews

Restaurant Name: the rest house

A splendid restaurant in a splendid building - in traditional Lebanese style, with plenty of tall arches, and a lush garden. There are also unforgettable views of th crusaders' castle - by day at least.

Favorite Dish: Delicious mezzes and seafood. The spinach-filled pastries were heavenly. We also has grilled tiger-praws: fresh and crunchy! Definitely a restaurant to recommend. Lebanese wine is served.

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Theme: Middle Eastern
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: 07 722470
Address: Cornich el Bahr
Directions: if coming from Beirut, it's the first building before the Crusader's castle

Restaurant Name: Le pecheur, Istambuli, Walimah

Le pecheur is a posh-ish fish restaurant on the corniche: great food but quite expensive. Walimah is owned by two lebenese ladies and you'll get home-cooked traditional meals. it's in Hamra. Istambuli is popular with lebanese families and has a large selection of kebabs: it's in Hamra, too

Favorite Dish: Le pecheur: mixed fish platter or fish kebabs
Walimah: great kibbeh (but menu changes daily)
Istambuli: shish kebab and fruits

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Theme: Local

Address: in beirut
Directions: see above for general directions, or my Beirut page for detailed addresses

Restaurant Name: Restaurant Damoun

The restaurant is.. well, just a simple restaurant. Definitely not the one we were looking for (the Wardeh restaurant), but since neither we nor taxi-drivers could find it, we ended up in the nearest place we could find: Restaurant Damoun

Favorite Dish: The restaurant serves only mezzes: we had 4 different ones: 2 cold and 2 warm ones. They were ok, but not special. The hummus was unhappily swimming in oil. OK if you're starving, otherwise you'd better pass on

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Theme: Middle Eastern
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Address: Tripoli
Directions: up the road from the clock tower (Al Tell square), where the buses leave

Restaurant Name: Palmyra restaurant

Food problems in Baalbeck: we tried several restaurants and none of them looked like a restaurant. We were not tempted. The other option would have been some sort of fast-food-lookalike places - once again we were not tempted. At that point we were getting desperate - and especially hungry... until we had a brilliant idea: the Palmyra Hotel would surely have a restaurant. It did, indeed, and it looked magnifically decandent... as if only ghosts have been eating there in the past 100 years. OK, we said...

Favorite Dish: Simple food, like the usual kebabs and mezzes... at the start of our meal we were brought a huge plate of veggies... and equally huge was the fruit bowl we were given at the end of our meal. The best, however was the... hummus! The best hummus I have ever had - delicious and not swimming

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Theme: Middle Eastern
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 370 230
Address: rue Abdel Halim Hajjar
Directions: from where the minibus drops you off, head back for about 200 metres. The hotel/restaurant is on your left