Jean Claude’s Bistro, Beirut

The last and definitely BEST restaurant I have tried in my Best Restaurants in Beirut (so far) list is … I don’t even know how to describe it. I am so honored to have been given the opportunity of eating here (exaggeration). I am also very excited to review this because it has been very shy of publication, although by that gives a sort-of exclusive feel to it. Chez Jean Claude Bistro Francaise, is the name. Jean Claude himself is a family friend and a tailor, who has converted one (very beautiful) house in Achrafiye, Beirut, to a tailor workshop, a bistro, and a home. Now my uncle has been raving about this restaurant, saying that ever since eating in the bistro, he has never been able “to eat a steak without comparing it to Jean Claude’s”.

The location could be the most beautiful in the whole of Beirut (it’s not really, you know how I overreact), nestled in the surprisingly calm streets in the middle of Achrafiye (which is a very busy district). It sits 6 tables, 4 in the library, and 2 on the terrace, with the workshop overlooking to it. We opted for the terrace tables. Jean Claude and his wife who have been living in Paris most of their lives, have opened this restaurant out of a passion, hence not seeing the need to overly publicize, and choosing to have a limited, but loyal, clientele. It’s one of those restaurants where they don’t have a menu, and so the waiter just reads aloud Today’s Menu, which typically consists of 5 appetizers, 5 main courses, and endless ice cream flavors as dessert (WILL get to that later).

I ordered the white asparagus dressed in mustard sauce for the appetizer, but took a picture of my uncle’s iceberg lettuce (also dressed in mustard) instead. Just thought it looks more vibrant and exciting. he he. Delicious appetizers, I found myself surprisingly liking this alien type of food called.. “salad” O_O shocking.

For the main course I of course did not want to miss the steak, so I ordered the beef steak, served with black pepper sauce and fried potato chunks. Itwas really good. If it isn’t the best steak I’ve ever had, I don’t know what is (although this little place in Bali comes to mind). I usually order it medium-rare, which so many restaurants can’t do right, but this was RIGHT. I was reluctant to finish it. I also tasted my aunt’s ravioli, which was also very delicious. I honestly don’t know how else to describe the food, aside from it being really really good. I feel like I’m not doing it any justice T_T

Now the desserts. They had banana tart, almond tart, strawberry tart, chocolate tart, baba au rhum, and like.. hundreds of ice cream flavors. I ordered the banana tart with vanilla ice cream (a very boring and regrettable choice of ice cream flavor). From what I have heard, the ice creams are ordered from a wholesale ice cream store in Beirut, called Oslo. Anyway, I tried (aside from vanilla) the Creme Brulee ice cream (SO VERY GOOD), the white chocolate ice cream (okay-ish), and the best is the.. wait for it… TURKISH DELIGHT ICE CREAM. YES IT’S HAPPENING. it has these chunks of turkish delight, with a slightly rosy flavor. OMGGG *sigh* what I hate is that I cant find none of that turkish delight shizz in Jakarta ~~>o<~~

*sigh* this has been a very long post. SUMMARY

• Food : the best. I even liked the desserts.
• Place: REALLY pretty
• Price : *sigh* a fitting cost for the food. That’s all I’ll say (i.e. expensive. very)
• Overall: could this be a.. 5 out of 5? I don’t.. know.. leave me some comments.

Cheerios,
Dodilia

6 June 1 Permalink

Racines, Beirut

Next restaurant on my Best Beiruti Restaurants (so far) list is a French establishment called Racines. What strike me most about this restaurant is its decoration, which was really beautiful. Apparently, it was once an Arabic restaurant, converted to French. So the interior is Arabic, but the food itself is French. I didn’t get to take pictures of the interior, the lighting was not sufficient, and I detest taking photos with flash ^^ . Although the food and service was very well done, I notice this from Lebanese people, is that they are a tad bit show-off-y with their French-speaking abilities. The waiters, despite us clarifying that we are unable to speak French, continue to speak it anyway, which gets annoying after a while (same goes for sales clerks, shop owners, etc).

Anyhoo let’s disregard this fact because we’re not here to review service, but to review food. THE FOOOD. What we got before they served our appetizers, were one of those free pre-appetizer snacks, which i LOVE, cos it’s so unexpected!!! god, i love restaurants that serve pre-appetizer stuff. We got a “pomme de terre et poulet” (see how annoying that is?) which is mashed potato with chicken, served in a cute little shot glass. teehee. and i LOVE mashed potato. it’s my favorite side dish OF ALL TIME. I’m getting excited cos I love reminiscing about food. I ordered the Frog Legs as an appetizer, cooked with (lots of) garlic, lemon juice, and some herbs. What I love about frog legs is that they can be crunchy from the outside, but SO tender in the inside, just like fish, but juicier. VERY DELICIOUS. (controlling excitement level). For the main course I ordered King Prawns with mashed potato (he he). Also really good, served with arabic salad drenched (and I mean swimming) in olive oil. And I wonder why I gained 2 Kgs over the last 10 days. I’m not even gonna mention desserts, cos I wouldn’t rave about it unless it’s exceptionally delicious, and this one isn’t (for me. I DISLIKE DESSERTS).

SUMMARY TIME

• Food : VERY good. and the presentation is really well done.
• Place: the interior is nice. Classic without being over the top.
• Price : I’m beginning to lose faith in the idea of saving money while in Beirut. pricey food T_T
• Overall: a good 4.25 out of 5. or maybe I’ll give it a 4.55. 4.55 sounds right. I hate rounding off.

Cheerios,
Dodilia

UPDATE! the pre-appetizer stuff is apparently called AMUSE-BOUCHE (i’ve always wondered what that word meant). anyhoo. amuse bouche. hihi. bouche. 

5 June Permalink

La Plage, Beirut

So, as you have probably read in my last post, I have been in Beirut, Lebanon, this past week or so, and have had plenty of time (and support from my food-loving family) to do food reviews, and so set out to go to Beirut’s finest. In the 10 days that I have been in Beirut, I went to a total of 12 restaurants, gaining 2 Kgs in the process. The cost of living happy. Anyway, almost all the restaurants were very well above average in terms of the food, but I have decided to pick out the 3 best, as to not bore you with incessant Beirut-food mediocrity.

The first on the list is a Lebanese seafood restaurant called La Plage. Overlooking the sea, this was a perfect setting for a delicious seafood experience. We ordered the standard Lebanese Mezze for starters, hummus (pic attached), bread, the likes. And for the main course, we opted for the classic Lebanese seafood dish, deep-fried Sultan Ibrahim fish, which I think is known as the Red Mullet fish in English. The bite-sized fish were fried to crisp perfection, served with deep-fried pita bread. VERY delicious. Following the Sultan Ibrahim fish, we were served a very big fish slowly oven-baked inside excessive amounts of rock salt, which appears to be its only seasoning. Now, I’m not sure what this fish is called, what I know is that it’s a big-ass fish. We ate it with olive oil, and Lebanese-style ‘salsa’ (and of course they got rid of all the salt before serving it to us).

I did realize that the main course meals were very light, basically composing of two fish dishes, and some pita bread. But in the case of Lebanese food, the mezze itself is enough to have filled your stomach, and more. We had desserts, too. The one shown is the Lebanese milk-ice cream (i think), which I did not particularly enjoy. I would have to remind you that I am not a big fan of desserts, anyway.

Oh, and I’ve decided to put a summary at the end of each entry :) so here goes:

• Food : top-notch, particularly the Sultan Ibrahim fish
• Place: swanky, especially in the summer when the beach club is open
• Price : be prepared to spend
• Overall: a definite 3.5 out of 5 (would have been better if it were not for the desserts. Then again, I’m biased)

Cheerios,
Dodilia

5 June Permalink

Scoozi/Sooshi, Beirut

I’m in Beirut right now, for those of you geographically-deprived and have no idea where Beirut is, it’s in the middle-eastern country Lebanon. No, it’s not one of those veil-y, terrorist-y middle-eastern countries -_________- anyway. The first restaurant I went to was in ABC mall located in Achrafieh (hope I got the spelling right), called Scoozi/Sooshi. The concept looks interesting, as it serves both Italian and Japanese food, my two favorite kinds of food. The Japanese proved to be VERY disappointing. So far I have never encountered a genuinely good Japanese restaurant in Beirut (SUGGESTIONS???), and this was..hmm…. So as most Japanese restos are, this one had a conveyer belt lining with sushis, so I started grabbing some plates of highly mediocre sushi (plain california roll, salmon-egg california roll, crunchy CALIFORNIA FREAKIN ROLL).After two plates of sushi, the waiter approached my dad (cos I can’t speak arabic) and told him that if I want to have some sushi, I need to order it instead of just taking the plates from the conveyer belt…. O_O speechless. Slightly confused, I decided to give the Italian a chance. Ordered the cannelloni. It was good, very cheesy, LOOKS appetizing.

Anyway I feel sort of useless posting a review of a so-so restaurant, but I did realize that asian food is not very popular here in Beirut, and I wonder why, while in the neighboring Dubai many Japanese master chefs have opened their restaurants. I DID go to another Japanese restaurant here in Beirut, called Ya-Bani, it was very fouxy, the place looks amazing, really, you had to go into an elevator underground to get into the restaurant. The food: highly meh. So I guess this entry was more of a rant than a review. I hope Beirut can bring more asian food into their choice of cuisine. Oh and any suggestions of good restos in Beirut will be more than welcome!

Cheerios,
Dodilia

4 June Permalink