Y.E.E: Family Dinner @ Levant Restaurant

The sun shone brightly on our elite family at Levant for this intimate YEE. Hidden in a maze of a plaza across from Vaughan Mills, this small 35-​ish-​seater joint wasn’t the easiest to locate but felt right at home upon arrival. Levant is a mix of Middle Eastern/​Mediterranean cuisine — perfect for our whirlwind tour of the night.
DRINKS:
— KARKADEH — a cold, carbonated hisbiscus «punch». refreshing! could be interpreted as a less tart cranberry juice/​soda. as it’s served cold, it supposedly helps to lower blood pressure.
— NON-​ALCOHOLIC WHITE WINE — quite sweet; my fave of the wines. Passable for «real» wine, in my opinion
— NON-​ALC RED WHITE — also on the sweeter side, but definitely not grape juice
— NON-​ALC BUBBLY — not bad! would be a nice celebratory option
EATS:
— TABBOULEH — I think this was the first time I’ve enjoyed tabbouleh. Served with some lettuce in the mix, this toned down the grassiness that you’d usually find with parsley and I actually went for seconds
— MUSAKHAM — Palestinian style flatbread with onion, olive oil, chicken, and sumac. the flatbread was fabulously crisp –not flakey, not crunchy, not densely bready– just crisp. Heavy on the seasoning, which I didn’t mind, and topped with slivered almonds, which offered a nice visual and textural contrast
— RESHTAH (new) — a lentil pasta that could be eaten at any temperature. I think the intent is to serve this dish warm, though the flavours were still plenty prominent at room temperature. Definitely tart, would like to have noticed perhaps a hint more of the pomegranate molasses. I think plating and timing would be something to consider, as I would have liked for the pita garnish to have maintained its crispiness — the submerged half of my pita chips melted into the rest of the dish, defeating the purpose of their textural presence
— VEGBALLS (new) — I appreciated the spiciness present in the tomato sauce variety, but it felt too familiar and didn’t stand out. The vegball in the tahini, however, me likey. Unfortunately the vegball was rather crumbly as soon as I tried to stick my fork in. Perhaps there is a way to better bind the vegball?
— CHICKEN TAGINE — I can imagine how good this would be served piping hot, straight out of the tagine. Sweet raisins, savory chicken, fluffy couscous — will definitely be coming back for this one!
— MAKLUBAH — Chef Haifah was kind enough to set up a demo, what fun! fried cauliflower (or eggplant) with fried potato, short grain rice, lamb, and a mix of spices. from the presentation, it sounded like the dish relied only on the fattiness of the lamb, with no added oils. nice! the lamb literally fell off the bone right on its own as we paparazzi’d the dish. personally the lamby flavour was very heavy and I would like some more spice to balance things out, but the yogurt (?) side complemented very nicely.
— LETS GET FREEKEH (new) — somehow I don’t think that name is going to appear on the menu anytime soon. but I sure am stoked for it to enter regular rotation. freekeh (green wheat) was super Q (toothsome), hibiscus gave it a whole ‘nother level of smokiness. this could easily be offered as a hearty lunch salad for those in the vicinity. Hands down tastebud star of the night.
I’m not usually a fan of fusion, and am far from experienced enough to vouch for authenticity here, but i’m so glad I can come to a place like this and try out so many different cuisines. Cheers to Levant and cheers to Kris for this gracious experience!

Family Dinner at Levant was such a fun and amazing event. Thanks to our hosts Chef Haifa, Mohammed, and Ramadan for treating us so well, and our fearless CM Kris for organizing another successful Elite event. I enjoyed every aspect of this event: the intimacy of small groups, the explanations about what we were enjoying, and the live demo. As it was stated that day, it was like a being a judge on Masterchef. I’ve passed by Levant a few times in the past, and now I’m excited to go back and try larger portions of some of the dishes that I sampled.
I took some notes throughout the night :)
The hibiscus drink was tasty and refreshing.
The appetizer platter with hummus, tabouleh, carrot paste, mango salad, and avocado salad — Best. Hummus. Ever. It was so smooth. Everything else was tasty as well.
Msakhan, the flatbread with sumac, chicken, sauteed onions, was really good. I wish I had more.
Rushtiah, a Middle Eastern dish with lentils, coriander, fried onion, was very tangy and delicious.
The rushtiah was paired with an alcohol-​removed white wine, which I thought tasted similar to the alcoholic version, but I didn’t like it as much (as the red).
Vegetable balls in tahini sauce, and tomato sauce. I thought both sauces were very good, but I liked the tomato sauce better mainly because the sauce was on the vegetable ball as well. It was not as dry as the one with tahini.
Chicken tagine with couscous. First of all, I don’t usually eat couscous, but it was really good and I wish I had more. As Chef Haifa said, she knows that everyone likes the tagine. I don’t fault them, because it was amazing!
The tagine was paired with an alcohol-​removed red wine, which I liked the most. It had the acidity of red wine that I like.
We also enjoyed an alcohol-​removed champagne /​sparkling wine. I thought it had a bit of a flat taste to it even though it was bubbly.
Chef Haifa demonstrated how to make ma’alobeh (upside down), which has lamb, fried potato, cauliflower, and rice with saffron and a mix of special spices. It tasted really good, and has convinced me to try adding saffron to rice.
We tried a new yet-​to-​be-​named vegan dish that includes hibiscus, freekeh (green wheat), raisins. I really liked the sweetness of the raisins in the dish. As someone who is used to eating softer grains, I didn’t like the green wheat as much.
And finally, we ended with baklava, a puff pastry dipped in honey that I tried to make in the past without success. The baklava at Levant was very yummy.
All in all, everything was really good and I am excited to come back to Levant in the near future.
Thanks again to Levant Restaurant for their hospitality and thanks to Kris for organizing one of my favorite Unilocal Elite events.

Being of Middle Eastern ancestry all the dishes served up by Haifa and Mohammed at Levant restaurant were certainly familiar. Speaking from experience the execution and flavour profile of all the dishes was spot on. I was glad to hear that this restaurant’s philosophy is bringing the true flavours of the Middle East to people and showing that there is food from the region beyond falafel, shawarma and hummus.
While all the dishes were delicious the standouts for me were:
Maloubeh: Rice with lamb, cauliflower and spices was very delicious, well spiced and certainly brought back memories of my childhood.
Chef’s creation (unnamed as of yet): consisted of freekah (green wheat), sweet potato, hibiscus flower, caramelized onion and blueberries. Very substantial for a vegan dish, loved the interplay of sweet and savoury. As a meat lover I would definitely order this dish which should be a testament to how delicious it is.
Musakhan: served like a pizza with sumac spiced onions and chicken. It was crispy, sour and a little sweet, absolutely brilliant.
While these dishes were the standouts everything on this night was delicious. Chef Haifa has certainly managed to reproduce family style dishes into individual portions. I loved all the new menu items we tried and especially liked the hibiscus tea to drink, it was so refreshing. I will definitely be coming back to Levant for dinner when I have a hankering for some Middle Eastern comfort food.
Thanks to the folks at Levant for having us elites! A special thanks to Kris who did a great job organizing as usual. Can’t wait for the next one!

Like many have already mentioned, this was a top notch event. It was my first alcohol free elite event, so hello drinking and driving!
I liked the fact that we were restricted to sitting in one spot but the event was small enough that I wouldn’t even have to raise my voice to communicate with someone across the restaurant. So it was the best of both worlds I suppose for someone lazy like me not having to walk to socialize :-p
So on to the food which was the whole point to this event! I felt like the most important diner in the world having the responsibility of giving feedback directly to the owner and chef about what could possibly make their new menu. All those years of watching food competition shows finally paying off! And I didn’t even have to bring out the Gordon Ramsey in me because the food was super! My favourites were the Rueshtah, the veggie meatball (I preferred the white sauce over the red version) and the Ma’alobeh (which should surprise no one). Haifa, our chef was kind enough to demonstrate how to actually make Ma’alobeh, and while I can safely say I won’t be making something that fancy anytime soon, I enjoyed the demonstration immensely… and curious to know what’s in their «secret spice»! Oh, I should also mention the bit of avocado in our «starter plate» was heavenly!
As for the drinks, my top choice was the hibiscus drink we had as a welcome drink and the «red wine». I thought while the white wine was good too but it might have been too fruity for me, perhaps because I’m not used to drinking very sweet wine it caught me off guard.
Overall it was definitely one of the more unique elite events I’ve been to with some of the best food, and the intimate setting made me feel like we were all one big Unilocal family. Shout out to my (Android) table-​mates Tasha, Suor, Jennifer, Jo Jo and Namrata! And thanks again Kris for spoiling us GTAers!!!

Cool, cool, cool.
I had a fun time trying COMPLETELY new things at Levant Restaurant.
#alcoholfree
#vegetarian.
Loved the hibiscus drink. It was so different and delicious!
I liked the alcohol free red wine and champagne.
The alcohol free white wine was okay but I would purchase it with the menu item if it was offered or suggested that it enhanced the dish in any way (I definitely liked it better with the food!).
My favourites were the green wheat, the avocado and hummus, and the chicken cous cous one (I forget the names!).
I was so skeptical trying vegetarian food but I did enjoy what I tried!
Thank you Haifa, Mohammad, and Ramadan for your awesome food and hospitality!
It was a great experience.
And thanks to Kris for organizing!

This was an unique Elite party. We were given the type of VIP treatments usually reserved for the rich, famous, experts in the trade and the well-​connected (well, we may qualify for this one). The VIP treatments included:
1) personal address and welcome from the owners and executive chef
2) sampling of 4 types of home made beverages, and 3 of them are not on menu yet
3) sampling of a large variety of dishes (sorry, I lost count), and 4 of them are not on menu yet
4) voting for the best new dishes and beverages
5) live cooking demonstration
As far as Unilocal experience goes, this was the most privileged and unique.

Thanks Kris for another awesome event at Levant. With exclusive elite entrance and limited people. I loved this experience relatively more than the other ones.
Portions were served instead of people pigging out and leaving nothing to others. This is something I look forward coming to.
I really enjoyed trying something outside of my cultural roots. Algeria Egypt, Morocco food is not something I really imagine trying… loved the cooking presentation by the Chef.
Although I can’t spell or read the names of alot of the items. I am now way more open to trying different cultural foods aside from my own and NA foods.
Thanks Again Levant and Unilocal and last but not least Kris.

I really liked my first small, intimate event with the Unilocal Family. Thanks for the experience, Kris. I had a fabulous time! We need more of these.
The restaurant was a tad difficult to find. Kris, can you give us a landmark next time? Or am I just the only challenged one here!
Anyway, back to the experience — what a great one! The Levant family welcomed us like their own and treated us to some absolutely amazing food. I’ve had popular middle eastern food before (i.e. shawarma), but the fact that I could try some of the more ethnic dishes made this experience truly valuable.
I loved the starter plate — hummus, best tabouleh I’ve ever had, carrot paste, avocado salad and pita crackers. To go with it, the lovely hibiscus drink. I need to find that drink somewhere. Do they retail at supermarkets?
Among drinks, I also quite liked the non-​alcoholic white wine. Food favorites — Chicken Tagine, Ressteh, Bread with Sumach and Chicken, and Vegetable Ball with Tahini. Excuse my spellings and descriptions.
Lastly, I have two families to thank:
Thank you, Haifa and Mohammed for having us and educating us on the unique tastes of the Middle East.
Big thanks to my Unilocal family, for making this experience so awesome.

It was a pleasure for me to attend Family Dinner@Levant Restaurant.
Just like a close knitted family, we tried out quite a few samples of what Levant offers and was given an explanation of the ingredients and spices they used.
It was great to meet the people behind the food and see how passionate they are!
Thanks Kris for setting this up! And in fact I really enjoy a sit down and foodie experience.

Kudos to Kris and big thanks to Haifa and Mohammed for putting a lot of hard work in to organizing this wonderful culinary journey through the Middle East.
The evening started off with Mohammed explaining their culture to us and how their food ties in with their values. I cannot praise them enough for their hospitality. Haifa, Ramadan and Liz were interacting with everyone and making sure we enjoyed our experience at Levant. We were given tasting samples for many dishes like Rushtah and the Levant Signature Dish made from Freekeh (which had amazing flavours), which were not on their menu yet.
The food was excellent and you could see that they cooked it with all their heart. The drinks were even better. They gave us a hibiscus drink, white and red wine, and champagne. The drinks were all free of alcohol. I preferred the white wine as it had nice fruity flavours.
Haifa also gave us a demonstration on how to make Makloobah. It is a rice dish with lamb (which melts in your mouth), potatoes and cauliflower mixed with a variety of aromatic spices. Of course, at the end of it all of us couldn’t wait to taste the dish and sure enough there were Unilocalers lining up to get their hands on some.
This event was a lot more intimate than any other event I have been to. It was truly a family experience!

Family dinner of 20+ at Levant was an experience cultural and culinary. A variety of tapas consisting of vegetarian, chicken and even a vegan surprise. It ended with a delicious demonstration.
The family owned restaurant treated my familys curious questionaires with tasty answers that we look forward to tasting the next time we visit. Many dishes and spices are as their family have made and kept secret only Levant serves.
Thank you for a diverse mediterranean fare rarely seen in GTA. Don’t believe the only thing tasty is shwarma because life’s full of spice.