Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Excellent food and service |
| Disadvantages: |
Belly dancing safety hazard |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
INTRODUCTIONI thought it was time to escape the Dutch food for a weekend and visit somewhere that appreciates real food - welcome to Brussels. Along with some friends also visiting Brussels, I was taken to the restaurant by a friend of mine from Brussels who was recommended this place by her sister. This was a little bit outside the centre of town, in one of the ethnic districts. There were many other restaurants in the same area, and I was impressed in general by the choice available in the city. We decided on Lebanese food as we'd heard it was good due to all the Middle Eastern immigrants and were keen to try this with the recommendation in our minds.
THE RESTAURANTFirst impression were good; a roomy restaurant, with room for about 100 diners, with several Lebanese people eating there - always a good sign. The atmosphere was pretty convivial and relaxed. We were shown to a large round table, covered with a huge white tablecloth, with plenty of room for the 4 of us dining. Most of the restaurant had such tables and most people were in groups of 4 or so. I was also under the impression that the Belgians love their food and have high standards. So why are the Dutch the complete opposite, living so close? It's a mystery.
THE FOODBefore our starters arrived, we were served with some pitta bread and some marinated tomato slices which didn't last long, so tasty they were; fresh tomato in an aromatic mix of spices & olive oil. The tomatoes were almost black in places from the amount of spices on them. The pitta was soft and delicious, cut into conveniently sized quarters, perfect for dipping. Some olive oil was on the table to mix in with whatever you fancied and this was also top notch stuff.
We ordered a mix of starters and had two kinds of cold humous, aubergine paste (I know this as baba ganoush but it had another name here) and some salad. The humous was fresh and delicious, with a rich taste of chick peas and smooth texture; one had some whole chickpeas in and a splash of olive oil. The other was with some red chilli and coriander. Both were eagerly mopped up with the pitta by all and sundry. The salad was well dressed, crisp and tasty, with chunks of crispy stuff (nachos?), cucumber, tomato onion and lettuce in olive oil. The aubergine paste was lovely too; smoky, with a slightly stringy consistency you'd expect from mashed up aubergines, full of flavour.
For the main, we each ordered meat based dishes; chicken on skewers with garlic sauce, beef and lamb skewers. Each dish came on a metal tray, with some more pitta above and below the meat, so the one below would absorb all the juices. They were absolutely delicious; the chicken was lean and well marinated, and the garlic sauce totally blew my head off, so garlicky and spicy. My friends says they could still taste the sauce 2 days later! The lamb was lean, well cooked and tasty, not stringy at all. The beef was just as good; full of taste, a slighty spicy flavour and well cooked. Each dish was marinated to perfection and you would expect just meat and pitta to be quite plain; it was anything but. It had been grilled to perfection; not greasy at all, and not dry from overcooking.
We all had mint tea after the meal which was lovely; freshly brewed with lots of fresh mint leaves in the pot. Add some sugar and you have a lovely refreshing drink.
THE BELLY DANCING
As we were served our tea, the lights went down, a belly dancer appeared and the restaurant went mental! Personally I like my meals peaceful, and listening to 1 song with the accompanying athletic pelvic thrusts and chest jiggling was enough from me. I didn't appreciate the dancer trying to drag me to dance twice either. Most of the restaurant got up and danced, as one onlooker from outside stared in, gorping. Fair enough, the locals seemed to like it. I think it lasted about 20 minutes, with the staff joining in. It was too much for me! Well come on, I'm British, we're reserved. She nearly took my head off a few times with a stick she was enthusiastically twirling round her, and right behind me, so perhaps that might have coloured my opinion somewhat. She was a good dancer, to be fair. But that stick is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
CONCLUSION
I can highly recommend the food, and the service was also excellent; very friendly and helpful. They could also speak English so if you can't speak French you won't encounter any problems. To feed 4 people for about 90 Euros seems pretty good value to me considering we were all stuffed by the end. I would check when the belly dancer performs though. We were there on a Saturday night and this is something you would either want to see or avoid!
CONTACT INFORMATION
Chantelaine Du Liban,
Place du Châtelain 7,
1050,
Brussels,
Belgium.
Tel. : 02 534 92 02
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