Welcoming:9/10 Menu Choices: 8/10 Food Presentation: 8/10
Food Temperature: 8/10 Food Taste: 17/20 Service: 8/10
Ambiance/Music: 7/10 Architecture/Interior: 7/10 Air Quality: 8/10
Total: 80/100
My favorite Lebanese establishment, Abdul Rahman Hallab & Sons is now closer to home. A place I used to purposely travel to Tripoli for, has now expanded its services. Recently opened on Jounieh highway, I was excited to have some of my favorite bites at Abdul Rahman Hallab & Sons. I decided to visit them on an early sunny morning and see what’s cooking behind this large facade.
Hungry or not, the minute you step into this establishment fresh and yummy smells will open up your appetite. Two floors, high ceiling, a variety of sweets, ice creams and ready to go items, a restaurant area upstairs where you can enjoy a cup of coffee along with a yummy breakfast… is just a few of the things that Abdul Rahman Hallab & Sons has to offer.
Facing the entrance is a long bar filled with the largest choice imaginable of delicious know-how that started in 1881. Stone arcades, marble reflective floor all perfectly lit by natural sunlight throwing spells around every corner. I couldn’t but walk around the place and saturate my eyes with the beautiful pastry pieces designed for your satisfaction. Baklava, maamoul, knefe, packaged sweets, the diet section, ice cream parlor, chocolate and much much more.
We headed upstairs to enjoy a nice breakfast.
The menu sections:
We ordered:
- Lahem Bil Ajeen 6,000 L.L: The one and only Lahme Bil Ajeen known all around the country. The famous square shaped piece of bread covered with rich meat. Nothing like the average lahem bil ajin that’s extensively in Lebanon’s bakeries. The dough is unique, thick and the filling doesn’t have garlic but pure goat meat with pomegranate molaces. It is served with a plate of vegetables. Simply excellent. Each bite is rich and tasty …
- Znoud el Sit 6,000 L.L: An indescribable potentially orgasmic piece of heavenly creation. Four small bites constitute a portion of this unique dessert. A warm rolled pastry filled with warm kachta and covered with sugar syrup. Just close your eyes and put it between your tongue and palate. Afterwards, press your tongue up your palate to dissipate all the flavors and aromas while hearing a mix of crunchiness and softness blend together. I don’t think that there is something tastier than this anywhere else on earth.
- Croissant Knefeh (kasha! Chocolat) 4,000 L.L: The inner filling is too cold and the croissant is even colder. The overall mix is served dry without any sweet syrup. I didn’t feel the chocolate flavor as I had imagined. I would add sugar syrup, a bit more chocolate and heat the sandwich to make it crunchier and the filling a bit softer. Even though I added sugar syrup to the third and fourth bite, I still felt the taste of bitterness – something I didn’t want to taste especially not during breakfast. This item needs improvement
Mona, our waitress today was nice, welcoming and professional. She smiled, explained and made our breakfast memorable, even though she didn’t approve much of me taking so many pictures. But she was nice enough to turn a blind eye.
All of this, in addition to a delicious breakfast, Espresso and Nescafé; for only 20,000 L.L.
If you’re passing along the Jounieh highway make sure to visit this castle of sweets, ready to serve you breakfast, lunch or dinner at any hour of the day.
In 1881, the Lebanese city of Tripoli, renowned for its ancestral history, heritage and vestiges, witnessed the rising of a new dawn in the world of traditional oriental sweets…The variety range then widened and enriched with numerous sorts of sweets, all unique for their authentic taste and bearing that secret everyone still wonders about until today. Is it the unique freshness of the ingredients? Or the extraordinary skillfulness in the preparation? Or the superior quality in every single piece? The secret probably lies in the mixing of the three, which gave the sweets of Abdul Rahman Hallab & Sons this special uniqueness in the quality and an unrivaled name in the world of oriental sweets.
My Latest Discovery: Meat Ouzi from Abdul Rahman Hallab
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