Dubai has another new dining venue, and you certainly won’t go hungry at Grand Beirut, which recently opened in Silicon Oasis. Because, as guests are waiting for their meal to arrive, they can check out its olive oil and vinegar tasting display.
An entire tasting wall, touted as the first such in the country, stocks a range of unique oil and vinegar flavours, from avocado to lemon and basil-infused creations to more niche varieties such as white truffle and raspberry. The virgin olive oil has been brought in from the fields of El Koura in northern Lebanon. Eighty per cent of the infusions are done in-house, says Danny Kattar, general manager at MBT Restaurant Management, the group behind the enterprise.
“The olive oils are heated to a specific temperature, the flavours are added in and they are kept at said temperature for about 45 minutes,” he explains. “We then keep it in room temperature for about a day to let the flavours sink in properly. Guests can have a taste with our speciality bread or add a little to a salad.”
Olive oil wall aside, there’s plenty more to this restaurant, from the colourful wall murals to the greenery and the hand-painted musical instruments that hang from the ceiling. Even the chairs feature an avant-garde mishmash of colours.
Niveen Ibrahim, the parent company’s chief operating officer, says no expenses have been spared when designing the interiors for the home-grown brand. “We went with the trend of something that is out of the ordinary, Instagrammable,” she says.
“But also, it pays tribute to the art, culture, music and greenery of Lebanon.”
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