PROFILED BY DEGROOTS MEDIAEver get a hankering for some hummus, or are you rather fond of the falafel? It’s time for Lebanese please! And Habibi Lebanese Restaurant tackles those cravings with a fervour that the Phoenicians would have been proud of. A few tables are strewn about the street-level dining room, and while the decor is minimal, it’s not integral to having a festive feast. Take the stairs to the second level and discover the cushion rooms that provide a luxurious lounging eating arena equipped with low tables and hookah pipes. Plus, on Friday and Saturday nights, a belly dancer shakes her stuff while diners sip on their BYOs.
Gauge your hunger levels and choose one of the house banquet menus. Soon your table will be laden with smoky eggplant baba ghanouj, fresh tabouli salad of parsley, mint, crushed wheat, tomato and onions, shish kebabs, ladies fingers, crunchy falafels and as much pida bread as you can handle. Or, create your own feast and choose from the large selection of seafood, chicken and meat dishes. Munch on grape vine leaves filled with rice and meat, and oven-baked kebbee of crushed wheat crust filled with minced lamb, onions and pine nuts. Turkish delight and baklava represent the sweeter side of Lebanon and no meal is complete without it. Finish your night off with a thick Lebanese coffee and try your hand at shaking that belly – if you can move that is.