CNN asked Lebanese-American food blogger Bethany Kehdy about her favorite Middle Eastern dishes and got inspired from Kehdy’s taste to list the top 20 Middle Eastern foods. Hummus came on top of the list, followed by Manakeesh, grilled Halloumi, Foul Medammas and Falafel.
The majority of items on that list are found in the Lebanese cuisine but there aren’t that many recommendations for restaurants in Lebanon so I thought I tweak the list and add some of my favorite restaurants in Lebanon (when applicable) to try out these items:
1. Hummus (Al Halabi – Al Sultan Ibrahim – Babel – Chez Sami)
2. Manakeesh (Furn Beaino for Lahm Baajine – Furn el Sabaya for Manakish)
3. Grilled halloumi (At home 😀 even though I still think ZWZ should bring back their shredded Halloumi in the pan)
4. Foul meddamas (Al Falamanki Beirut)
5. Falafel (Falafel Zeinoun – Joseph in Sin el Fil)
6. Tabouleh (Babel – Sultan Ibrahim)
7. Moutabal/baba ghanoush
8. Fattoush (Babel – Leila)
9. Umm Ali (I only had it at Phoenicia
10. Shanklish (Liza Restaurant – Babel)
11. Shawarma (Boubouffe)
12. Shish tawook
13. Dolma
14. Kofta
15. Quwarmah Al Bajaj
16. Mansaf
17. Kebab karaz (Mayrig – Mayyas)
18. Baklava
19. Knafeh (Baba or Assir in Saida – Hallab Tripoli)
20. Iraqi masgouf
There are so many items we could add to that list, like Me7she Malfouf, Kishik, Wara2 Enab and Kebbe. In fact, I think I should come up with the top 100 Middle Eastern or maybe Lebanese dishes list. Wait for it 😀