Beirut’s High-End Mezze and Old-School Classics

With a rich agricultural bounty packed into the farms, orchards, vineyards and waters of their tiny Mediterranean nation, Lebanese chefs have an impressively vast array of raw materials to valorize. Left, Abd el Wahab is a top destination for mezze, the catch-all term for an array of appetizers that range from grilled chicken livers to exotic bread dips.
Photo: Tamara Abdul Hadi for The New York Times

A view of the dining room at Abd el Whab, where the hummus is creamy and flavorful.
Photo: Tamara Abdul Hadi for The New York Times


A bowl of molasses and sesame paste, which is swirled together and eaten with a sweet dessert bread.
Photo: Tamara Abdul Hadi for The New York Times


With kefta meatballs, lamb cutlets and grilled chicken wings, the menu at Istambouli is designed for carnivores.
Photo: Tamara Abdul Hadi for The New York Times


Hummus and bread at Istambouli. Around the world, in cities from Paris to Dubai to Melbourne, the best Middle Eastern restaurants are turning out food from the Land of the Cedars.
Photo: Tamara Abdul Hadi for The New York Times


Le Chef is an old-school home-style joint niched like a fossil among the trendy new bars and sleek restaurants of the fast-rising Gemmayzeh neighborhood. Order lamb over rice, laced with nuts and raisins, then the get the aromatic rice pudding for desert.
Photo: Tamara Abdul Hadi for The New York Times