It’s hardly suprising that the capital of the UAE is an excellent place to enjoy Middle Eastern cuisine, and we’re lucky to have everything from street-food stalls to high-end restaurants serving all the best traditional dishes.
Maison Beirut is one of the classiest places in the city to enjoy Lebanese food, and we’re raring to get stuck into the hummus when we arrive at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr.
There are few things we enjoy more than a session of chatting and grazing on mezze, so we start off by doing just this.
Highlights of the starters are the creamy hummus (we’re not disappointed) and the hindbeh, featuring sautéed dandelion leaves topped with loads of crispy caramelised onions.
We can take or leave the moutabel and tabbouleh, but we recognise that every dish is made with quality ingredients.The portions are huge too, and although we give it a good go, we’ve racked up a stack of takeaway cartons for our doggy bag by the end of the meal.
Moving on to the hot mezze, the batata harra are predictably brilliant, and the soft potatoes have a pleasant kick.
The kibbeh are super too, although we find the fried cheese rolls a bit too greasy, although perhaps we’re just not in the mood for such intense stodge.
By the time we reach our main, the Maison Beirut signature mixed grill, we’ve already tasted enough fabulous food to ensure that we leave full and happy. But we plough on anyway, like the absolute heroes we are (it’s a hard job, what can we say?).
The selection of shish taouk, kofta, lamb kebabs, lamb kutlets and arayes (flat breads filled with minced lamb, tomato, onion and spices), is served a pretty copper grill, and we ask for more warm breads to go with it, just to ensure we’re doing it properly.
Aside from the chunks of marinated chicken and red peppers, its more of a lamb-based grill than a mixed grill, but we know this is in keeping with tradition, and the lamb cutlets and arayes are our clear favourites (that said, we can’t find fault with any of it, and service is quick throughout the night too).
We leave laden with our leftovers, and keen to return.
