Beirut

Came here for a friends birthday dinner. Unfortunately for me the food was average and on the expensive side. The waitress suggested we ordered the breads for starters and in her words the bread is «pretty big», which was a slight under statement when it came to the table. I ordered the sous-​vide beef — because I have never had tried sous-​vide dishes before. It had no seasoning and it was rather. Chewy. I’m no expert in sous-​vide but by reading up on it and watching MkR/​master chef, I’m sure it’s suppose to be melt in your mouth and tender. I guess what was the highlight of my evening would be the delicious Arabian doughnut’s… You must get these if you dine at this place, its exceptional ;)
Just a word of warning, their shrubs (fermented cocktail) can be very vinergary. So if you are not a fan of vinegar, don’t order it.

A busy place for a good reason — try and book ahead but my family was lucky and we arrived they were able to sit us about 30min later. Great food and lovely service.

Auckland you are very lucky, yes you are. Beirut is really something you all need to experience. Lebanese food can be really beautiful and complex. Beirut demonstrates that. But first, the décor. Take note that the back wall is not painted black. But singed wood. I have never seen this before, but love the look. The furniture and decoration follows that industrial look; Bold and confident. When you walk in the restaurant, you know that you are in for a treat.
This restaurant is great for a formal catch up with friends. There is lots of space available for group bookings. I would suggest that the menu is more suited to sharing rather than ordering separately. You do really want to try as many items as you can.
As for the food, my party ordered a range of items on the menu. There were a few stand out dishes, but the consensus was that each meal was beautifully presented. Check out the photos and I’m sure you will agree.
For myself, I could eat tubs, live and bathe in the Smoked Yoghurt Labna. Perfectly seasoned, great texture, and some added crunch with the chickpeas and the bread was very fresh and fluffy. Somehow you found your hand back in the bowl going for more without thinking about it. We cleaned that bowl up fast!
I also really enjoyed the Fattosh. A foreign concept and taste to me. The watermelon was cold marinated in the most amazing broth of some sort. This changed the flavour profile of the watermelon into something more savoury. The beetroot was more of the sweet element of the dish, while still having that earthy flavour.
The Beef Basturma was not only really good looking it was delicious. Cooked medium rare (like it should be) and served with all sorts of yum. You can’t go wrong with torched cauliflower, pickled cauliflower and cauliflower cream. Love a three ways dish.
Finally, oh yes, dessert. Pashmak. Just order it and thank me later. If you are full, you can totally do this dessert as it is light. It is served with an apricot tea to cut through the sweetness of the floss. But, the clotted cream and floss a lovely way to finish a meal. Leaves you on a high note!
Oh, and be sure to order a few cocktails. They are delish! Come on, you deserve it!

Went to try food just after 3 weeks they opened. Food was interesting, unique and tasty.

One of Auckland’s newest restaurants, in ever popular Fort Street. Pretty hard to get a table here, but so worth it. There’s also an adjacent bar with some pretty amazing bartenders. Moody styling and great food with classic but modernised Middle Eastern flavours. We shared a selection of dishes and my only complaint is that the main dishes are not really big enough to share. The burnt eggplant is delicious, as is the smoked yoghurt labneh and I’m afraid you’re going to have to get all three desserts I loved — the Arabic doughnuts, buttermilk icecream with Turkish delight and saffron floss with clotted cream!

We had a girls’s night at Beirut shortly after it opened and had a great night. The staff were super friendly and informative and helped me choose a shrub (cocktails inspired by an ancient Persian drink method) while I waited the arrival of the other girls. I had the fig & apple with calvados which was so, so delicious — I had to stop myself from drinking it in one slurp! Once the others arrived they too chose shrubs which were refreshing and delightful with nice sour notes from the vinegar that the fruit is preserved in that is characteristic of this drink style.
The plates are meant for sharing which was perfect — we ordered a bunch and just tucked in. We started with the Afghan bread and za’atar, both of which were very moreish. We then moved onto the fattoush which was almost too beautiful to eat, lovely and sweet with bites of watermelon. The chef sent out a complimentary plate of bubba (eggplant) which was smokey and most appreciated — it was next on my must try list! We decided to be brave and try the venison kibbeh nayeh which was raw venison chopped with berries, rhubarb and chocolate. It was certainly an interesting flavour and texture, but not the favourite of the table.
The portobello mushrooms served with haloumi were quite delicious, although some of the elements on the plate seemed better individually than as a whole which was a little counterintuitive. Similarly, the duck ras el hanout was tasty, as were the carrots and rose petal jam, but we preferred them as delicious bites than as one mouthful.
Having had a quick nosey at the start of the night we knew that dessert was inevitable but with them all sounding equally intriguing the choice was hard. We caved and ordered three between three, the chocolate ganache, the arabic donuts and the saffron floss. Sadly the donuts were underwhelming, especially as they took so much longer to reach the table (they were comped to us which was appreciated, though a bit sad that they were then our least favourite dessert). The floss was whimsical and packed some flavour given its light texture, but overall the chocolate ganache had the best all round dessert qualities.
We were pretty full by the end of all this and would most definitely recommend Beirut, but next time maybe we’d skip the raw venison, and make sure that the wait staff’s recommendation of the buttermilk ice-​cream was heeded!

I have been so excited about the prospect of Beirut opening on Fort Street that I managed to get to it in its first week of opening. This little gem has a setting of industrial chic with big brass doors, drapes semi sectioning off the dining room. The lighting provides you with a sense of privacy but you can, thankfully, see both the menu and the food without wishing I had my headlamp on. There’s a stylish indoor/​outdoor bar, this is great if you only intend on coming for a drink and not dining.
The style is the customary «small plates» sharing method, which suits this sort of food as there are just so many great flavours you want to try the whole menu. The recommendation was a bread dish, an entrée plate, 2 main plates and 1 or 2 desserts between two.
There is something intriguing in every dish, the black courgette hummus was lovely but my standout dish was the soft Turkish flatbread with moreish labna, a dulcet ghee with a date purée. Pure ambrosia!
Then my friend and I shared the Portobello mushrooms with the best Halloumi and then Monkfish with kumara which both were creative dishes.
I loved the addition of the little plate of seasoning — seaweed, pepper, lime salt, chilli that you could use to spice up your meal. The lime salt was soporific!
For dessert we had the donuts which were not my favourite, they reminded me of the batter on fish — and quite oily. Fennel is the rage in dishes like the ice cream that accompanied this dish and that was delectable. For me the floss with clotted cream and apricot tea was a spectacular dessert — so maybe just get that.
Our waiter was top notch and had to be tipped. He made for a perfect night, he had great knowledge of both the food and the wine and suggested a fabulous Spanish red that we loved. Every grace note added to the totality of the score on this place. I will be sure to go back to try some meat on the menu next time.

Beruit. A place I had never heard of or travelled to. Turns out it is the largest city and the capital of Lebanon. I know of Lebanese cuisine, but not enough to be an expert. And because of this, I was very excited to try out the latest restaurant on Auckland’s dining scene.
Walking in, the décor is rustic, yet stylish and very inviting. We were greeted by the lovely Louise, the manager of Beirut, who gave us an introduction about Beirut and its cuisine, in that they not only serve Lebanese food (i.e. Kibbeh and Fattoush), but a range of Middle Eastern dishes as well, all of which have been modernised. Louise also explained all the dishes on the menu in thorough detail, which was great, but it did make ordering difficult because she made everything sound divine!
Beirut’s menu is ideal for sharing, which suited our group of five well. All of the dishes are served on beautiful ceramic plates (from Studio Ceramics in Auckland) and presented well. For starters and mains, we ordered the following:
— Smoked Yoghurt Labna with citrus burnt ghee, date, chickpea and scorched flatbread. This was easily one of the best dishes of the night, even though it is literally just bread and dip! The yoghurt was creamy and very moorish. Also loved the presentation!
— Za’atar with kale, thyme, coriander, sumac and goats cheese. This is a traditional Lebanese bread made with a za’atar topping (a blend of herbs, sesame and salt), however Beirut have modernised it by adding goats cheese on top. It was pretty as a picture and had great flavour.
— Afghan bread with black courgette hummus and poppy seed. This was another great starter, with pull apart bread and tasty hummus.
— Bubba with burnt eggplant and black cabbage. I love eggplant and cabbage, but did not enjoy this dish. Presentation was strange also…
— Fattoush with watermelon, beetroot and cucumber. I loved this dish! It was fresh, light and it would be perfect in the summertime!
— Kingfish Kibbeh Nayeh with turmeric, citrus and honey. Unfortunately they did not have any kingfish, so it was made with tuna instead. It tasted more along the lines of ceviche, rather than a Middle Eastern dish. I did however still enjoy it because I love raw tuna.
— Portobello mushroom with haloumi, artichoke and chickpeas. This was a very small dish, especially for the price of $ 24. One teeny tiny slice of haloumi was difficult to share between five people!
— Merguez, a spicy North African sausage that arrived twirled in a bowl. Accompanied by large Israeli couscous, it well flavoured, quite spicy, but very enjoyable.
— Duck Ras El Hanout with rose petal jam, red cabbage and heirloom carrots (which strangely looked burnt). It was an unusual dish and sadly did not ‘wow’ me over.
To accompany our starters and mains, we ordered a few of their ‘shrubs’. When I first read ‘shrub’ on the menu, I instantly thought of the shrub plant that you would find at a park, and then I kept thinking to myself, how could that be a cocktail? It was yet another interesting word that I had not come across and again, I was very excited to try one.
A ‘shrub’ is basically an ancient Middle Eastern drink consisting of a a sweet vinegar-​based syrup, herbs and water. Beirut offer six alcoholic ‘shrubs’, but you can also opt for non-​alcoholic and also mix up your options. I ordered the ‘Honey Dew Melon’ with fresh mint and tequila (instead of vodka), while others ordered the ‘Raspberry’ with citron vodka and the ‘Persimmon’ with tequila. They were all delicious — sweet, nicely presented and decorated with fruit and herbs. I can see these becoming a hit come summertime!
Beirut also offers four desserts — Pashmak served with a saffron floss, clotted cream and a small cup of apricot tea, Arabic doughnuts with fennel ice cream, Chocolate coffee ganache with cardamom and pine nuts and last but not least, Buttermilk ice cream with candied walnuts, plum, meringue and Turkish delight ice. Of course, as all five of us are foodies, we had to order all four desserts!
My favourite dessert was definitely the buttermilk ice cream. It arrived in a beautiful light pink ceramic bowl and came topped with candied walnuts (sweet and crunchy), plum, dehydrated meringue sticks and best of all, Turkish delight ice. I have never heard of or seen Turkish delight ice, but it was surprisingly good! The flavours and textures worked well, and it was a lovely way to end our meal.
We had a fabulous night at Beirut — the food, the service and the drinks were all spot on. I cannot wait to come back (especially in the summer when it is a bit warmer) to try more of their shrubs and delicious food!

This beautifully decorated restaurant is in the heart of the refurbishment of the Fort street dinning scene (Lucky Buddha, Ima, Sal Pizza all in the same vicinity) severs seriously good cocktails with inventive flavour combinations. Watched the barman put together several impressive cocktails while waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive for dinner.
Service was great with clearly professional wait staff that were enthusiastic about the new venture and the style of food.
More of a sharing dishes type place with amazing dips and homemade breads, great for larger groups as it would be really hard to pick just one or two dishes. Dish of the night… this is hard choice because they all tasted delish but the Smoked Yougurt Labna Citrus burnt ghee, date, Chickpea and scorched flatbread brought together some surprising elements that just worked so well together.
The only dish I thought that needed some work was the Kingfish Kibbeh Nayeh, maybe because the kitchen had run out of Kingfish and resorted to Tuna which I found to overwhelm the dish and I couldn’t taste any other flavour.
I can see this bar becoming a hot spot on the Auckland scene for a relaxed drink out somewhere grown up.

Eagerly anticipated and well worth the wait. Auckland has been overwhelmed with great restaurants lately, but one cuisine is often overlooked: The Middle East. Authentic middle eastern dishes have been transformed with a contemporary twist while staying true to their roots. The ingredients are fresh and exciting and you’d struggle to find these items anywhere else. The service was excellent, friendly and efficient. Would highly recommend this place!