Bangkok: The Beirut Restaurant

I enjoy eating food cooked in almost every style.  I love italian food, japanese food, french food, italian food, indian food, and yes even british food.  (There's something about mushy peas as well as fish and chips)....The list is endless, but tonight I want to talk about middle eastern food and a great place to have it at Beirut Restaurant.

Beirut Restaurant is a Lebanese restaurant and apparently has quite a few branches.  I went to the one at Ploenchit Tower (accessible by BTS station Ploenchit) with some good friends who like to explore. The restaurant and the food turned out much better than we expected.  So good that since then we have all been back again together as well as with others.

So what do they serve?  As Lebanon borders on Syria and Israel, the food you get there is the classic range of blended beans, eggplants and other kinds of dips.  My favorite is the Hummus made of blended chickpeas and olive olive oil, Babaghanouj which is an eggplant dip, and Labneh which is a creamy farmers cheese dip made from strained yogurt topped with olive oil.  You can have it with garlic too.   If you like it with fried lamb or beef you can also have it.   I like Shawarma Chicken.   

Another favorite that also brings be back to college days is Falafel.  These are vegetarian patties made from chick peas, onion, garlic parsley and other spices.  Its especially good if you have it as a sandwich in pita bread.  

If you like something more healthy, there are Vine Leaves.  These are actual vine leaves rolled over rice and olive oil.  Its served cold which I always fine so refreshing.

With all this menu, what about the food?  I have to say the food tastes good.  It's middle eastern food that I enjoy served in a convenient and clean location.  Tables are comfortable and not too small nor too big. It looks like it was just renovated. There were middle eastern customers too so I think it should be quite authentic.  The owners take your order in english and I am guessing they are Lebanese, but helas we never had that conversation.   It's all done quietly without much talking.  You say what you want and they take your order.  No rush.  There are plenty of staff around too, but it can be a bit hard getting their attention. 

The good thing is that it's not an extremely busy place so you can sit, eat and linger there for a good while enjoying your meal.  It's not somewhere you have to eat quickly and get out quickly so that waiting customers can come in.  There's also a starbucks upstairs and a Villa supermarket where you can take a nice stroll and relax your afternoon away.

If you drive, there are plenty of parking spaces for you to choose from (if you go on a weekend).  Entrance is opposite the JW Marriot hotel.

Price wise is also quite reasonable.  The dips are roughly 150-160 thb each, Vine Leaves 220thb.  If you order 3-5 things there is also a special price for sets.  You can have a full meal with a couple dishes for roughly 300-400thb.  Not bad is it? :)

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