From the Daily Star:
"BEIRUT: Residents of the Mar Mikhael neighborhood in Beirut didn’t realize how much sleep they’d be losing once the bar scene moved to their quarter. Thumping music and drunken rants are now as common as the evening breeze drifting in through their windows; and weekends have become a nightmare, some residents said. Bar owners say they are trying to minimize the discontent, but the ever-expanding party scene begs the question: Will this be another Gemmayzeh fiasco?
In 2008, Beirut’s erratic party scene had taken over Gemmayzeh – a neighborhood down the street from Mar Mikhael. Noise, traffic and general debauchery outraged long-term residents, who held town meetings, lashed out at the Tourism Ministry, demanded curfews and put up public signs reminding revelers that it was a residential area. The nomadic nature of Beirut’s nightlife has since relieved residents of their unwelcome merrymakers to some degree, by handing over the problem to Gemmayzeh’s eastern neighbors in Mar Mikhael.
Many pubs and bars said they had been trying to keep the music volume to a minimum, but it’s not as easy to control the clients who now spend most of the night drinking right outside of the bar and on the street as a result of the smoking law and because of the small size of the bars.
Anyway, the restaurant was at a quieter end of Mar Mikhael. Armenian food is similar to Turkish, which makes my Turkish friend very happy (that's why she chose the restaurant). Now my familiarity with food from this region begins and ends with the cheap kebabs you get around Auckland's city centre (the poor imitations my uni residential college tried to produce doesn't count). So, the food scene here is a learning experience. I'm enjoying trying out new things and the taste of food is good, albeit unfamiliar to my Asian tastebuds. I suppose it's not all that different from Mediterenean cuisine - I reckon if you're a fan of Greek-style food, it won't be too foreign to you.
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| Love the decor of the place |
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| Wouldn't mind having a kitchen that looks like that. |
These came before we ordered anything, just like how peanuts are often served as a snack in Chinese restaurants. Clockwise from top left - peanuts (they tasted a bit like the nuts that go with nasi lemak), sunflower seeds (nothing unusual here, my friend expressed surprise that I knew what to do with these as she's had to teach other international staff how to eat them), olives and a kind of pickled vegetable (looks like cucumber, but it's not). The cucumber-like pickle is quite nice, but after a few bites it gets salty.
I think this was couscous. Cooked with a tomato-like flavour. Served cold.
Lentil dumplings and an eggplant dip/sauce/thing. Also served cold. I have never been a big fan of lentils and eggplant, so can't comment much. They basically tasted like how I'd expect lentils and eggplant to taste.
Lebanese saussages. I loved the way these were spiced and flavoured.
Pastry filled with cheese. The pastry is the light, flaky sort - like Filo pastry.
Spicy fried potatoes. This was the second time I've had these. I was quite pleased when they arrived as I was starving and they did a nice job of filling me up.
Cherry kebabs. Basically little meatballs (beef?) in a wild cherry sauce. Very nice - the sweetness of the cherries goes well with the meat.
Dessert. The pastry fingers were filled with crushed walnuts. I don't really know what the cup things were. I had one of the white ones - it was rice in some sort of sauce I couldn't place. Flavour was delicate, neither too rich nor too sweet.
We may have had another dish or two, but as I don't have any photos, I can only conclude that my memory is playing tricks with me.
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