I’ve been asked by few of my friends where they should take out their dates for Valentine. Not that I am a Valentine expert but I’ve been to a considerable number of restaurants and places all over Lebanon; so I can help them out a little bit.

My favourite idea for a perfect Valentine diner is inviting your date to a nice overlooking chalet or old house in the mountains and preparing yourself the diner (or ask your mum to do it), but this needs too much preparation and requires you to be able to cook at first. Nevertheless, for those interested, I saw this cool dish that you can easily prepare.

So where can one go?

French and Italian restaurants are most suitable for a Valentine diner, and you have a great number of those in Beirut, La Posta, Pinocchio (now open in Antelias), Fiona’s, Tartuffo, La Piazza, Da Giovanni, eCafe (in Jbeil and Achrafieh), DT (or Down Town), and Telyani to name few. All are almost within the price range (80$ + per couple)with Da Giovanni and Fiona’s being a bit more expensive, nevertheless all are great places to eat.

Now if you are looking for something classier and more expensive, I suggest you try out the recently open French restaurant Stove in Monot Street, Eau de vie at Phoenicia, La Table D’Alfred in Sursoq street, Up on the 31st in Habtoor Hotel and Al Dente in Achrafieh.

Of course there are many others, but those are the ones I’ve been to or been recommended to go to. I will be trying out Stove’s french cuisine tonight and will let you know how it went. They don’t have anything planned for Valentine which is great because I only like having a calm dinner and that’s it. However, if anyone is interested in getting Mariachis, I have a friend who’s planning to do so and can provide me with their number.

For those interested in Japanese cuisine, there’s also a whole bunch of Sushi places in Beirut, mainly one of my favourite places Maki, Le Sushi Bar and Wok Wok in Phoenicia. Outside Beirut, there’s Le Yen in Antelias and Ichiban on the Jal el Dib highway worthy trying.

As far as Chinese places are concerned, there’s Memoires de Chine in Downtown and the Jasmine Room on the Jal el Dib highway.

Funnily enough, I received an email from Benihana Sushi place in Le Commodore hotel regarding a Valentine menu and I’ve always wanted to try it out but am boycotting it until they drop their lawsuit against Mark from 248am.

Happy Valentine everyone!