This blog has brought me many good things, including many good friends who share a common interest in good food. One of those friends is Alice from American in London, and while she hasn’t blogged in a long long time, I still hit her up for advice and pay attention to where she is going and what she is eating thanks to the magic of Facebook. She has added Tonkatsu East to my list, and she is the one who first flagged the opening of Beyrouths on Upper Street to me.
In my dreams, I marry a Lebanese man. I love Lebanese food. I think it has something to do with a Lebanese restaurant in Chicago that I used to walk by all the time that always looked so cozy. (Maza, which used to be on Lincoln in a nice little spot south of Belmont, but moved a few years back to a creepy bit of Ashland, just north of Fullerton.) When I finally dropped in for dinner at Maza one night, I fell in love with Lebanese food, something I had never had before.
So on a random day off in November, I wandered up Upper Street, in search of this mysterious new Lebanese place. I didn’t even know the name of it at the time so it was nearly a fool’s errand. The Internet wasn’t helping much either — I had to work really hard to find “new Lebanese restaurant Upper Street.” But finally I did and found myself sitting in a nearly empty restaurant…there was only one other table of diners besides me, on my own.
I ordered the lunch plate for £12 because it seemed like a good value and it had a little bit of everything. Some shwarma, some hummus, some spicy Lebanese potatoes…and some tabbouleh, which truth be told, I really don’t like at all. Everything arrived perfectly presented, along with a generous serving of thin Lebanese bread. I went to town, particularly on the potatoes, which were particularly delicious. Everything was quite enjoyable actually, until I got the bill and realized the lunch platter I had demolished — the now empty lunch platter, except for the tabbouleh — was meant to be a sharing plate…for two.
The Verdict: I liked it here. I’ll go back…and order that sharing plate again…only this time, I will share it with someone. Maybe Alice! I also liked the industrial chic vibe. Although the stairs look a bit scary…too scary to check out the loo.
