I pass next to this place almost every night yet I never thought about trying it out until last week. The place is called “3al Baladi” and is located in Jeita right before Frulatte and Starbucks.

The place is a wooden house with wooden chairs and is decorated with some old tools used in fields and in Lebanese villages. Some walls and lights are also covered with lamb skins which I did not like.

Moving on to the food, this place serves authentic Lebanese dishes and I liked almost everything that I ordered. Fattoush was really good, Cheese Chanklish and Labne were great, and their Saj was also decent. Added to that, they serve Arak Baladé, which is stronger and better than the regular Arak and is rare to find in restaurants.

The best thing about this place though is that it’s located in Jeita, which is 5-10 minutes from the highway. I used to drive all the way to Ajaltoun or Faraya to go to similar restaurants (such as Erzel), so it’s good to have a place this close specially in winter.

Price-wise, the restaurant is really cheap and its portions are relatively big. For instance, Arak comes in a full glass not a small shot glass and their Fattoush platter can feed up to 4 people.

One last thing, they have singers and entertainers on Friday and Saturday nights, so if you don’t like a crowded place full of arguiles, go on week days or Sundays.