Food review: An authentic taste of Lebanon

Beirut’s Lebanese menu favours balance and freshness, letting vegetables and herbs take centre stage.

Lebanese food has become familiar enough in Kathmandu that most people think they already know it. Shawarma has become street food. Hummus appears on café menus. Falafel is not an unfamiliar word. But somewhere between those borrowed dishes and their original context, it is easy to forget that Lebanese cuisine was never meant to be built around one signature item. It is a cuisine of many small plates, herbs used generously rather than sparingly, vegetables that receive as much attention as meat, and meals designed to cling.