I always try to eat local dishes when I travel, but when I learned that Indian food is popular in Lebanon, I knew I had to have some! Come with me as I try Lebanese Indian food in Beirut, Lebanon!
I’d be dining at Get Grilled Indian Fusion, a homestyle Punjabi restaurant in Beirut. Inside, I met the owner, Anthony, and saw their two dining rooms. There are four tables in one and three in the other.
They also have a Buddha statue, a map of India on the wall, and a bar! Then, we went into the kitchen and watched them make some roti, aloo paratha, and more. I noticed that they made their aloo paratha a little differently here!
They also marinated some chicken tikka to make their tandoori chicken. In Lebanon, they don’t like bones, so the dish would be boneless. They grill it and then add it to the butter chicken gravy along with cream and butter.
I also watched them fry up some masala fries. Then, they grilled some paneer. They would also make a creamy palak dish with kofta. I’d never had meatballs with spinach.
At our table, Anthony and I had five appetizers: aloo paratha, cheese sambousek, aloo samosa, masala fries, and aloo bonda with five different chutneys. I also had a salty mint-chili lassi! It was really refreshing, minty, and flavorful!
The aloo bonda with apricot chutney was sweet, crispy, and spicy. The bonda had a Lebanese twist, because it also had chickpeas in it. The aloo paratha with lime pickle was very zesty and spicy.
The masala fries weren’t too spicy, and the cheese sambousek came filled with ackawi and mozzarella cheeses. They were crispy on the outside and doughy on the inside. The aloo paratha with mayo-chili dip was also great.
We also had four mains, including dal makhani, butter chicken, and palak kofta. The dal makhani with garlic naan was delicious and felt very healthy and home cooked. It wasn’t too thick or creamy. The butter chicken was Anthony’s partner Shaggy’s recipe. We poured it into the rice.
It didn’t contain much oil or cream. I loved eating it with my hands!
The palak kofta was amazing by itself and really fantastic with the vegetable rice. And finally, we dove into the vegetarian coconut curry, which they make with coconut milk powder instead of coconut cream to make it lighter.
We added it to some rice and ate it with our hands. It contained fresh carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, cauliflower, and capsicum. I loved the fresh vegetables.
For dessert, we had coconut barfi, which was basically a dense coconut cake with lime zest. Then, we finished with some mouth fresheners called mukhwas. They make their own here. You can find them everywhere in India. It teleported me back to India!
What a fantastic Lebanese Indian food feast in Beirut!
Counter
101 Countries • 1432 Cities
