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| - An absolutely exquisite meal! Came here with a party of three... Although my expectations were high coming into the restaurant, the food still well exceeded my standards. I was completely blown away! We reserved our table well in advance (a month ago), so this was a long awaited meal.
The waitress told us that the style of Byblos is sharing plates, and that roughly 6 plates would be needed to serve the three of us. Naively, we told her that since we had small appetites, we shouldn't need six plates. Little did we know... The food was so addicting, and the portions were fairly small, leading us to order round after round after round.
We started off with a couple appetizers, outlined below.
Turkish Manti Dumplings:
I've heard so many different things about this dish - some people love it, others find it too bland. We loved it! The flavours were super complex; although being completely vegetarian, it didn't taste it at all. The eggplant had a rich smokey flavour that accentuated the dish. The creamy halloumi and tangy yogurt balanced the salty flavour of the eggplant. I didn't really taste the sweetness of the molasses, and really enjoyed the crisp dumpling surface contrasted with the creamy sauce.
Fig Salad:
The first and foremost flavour that jumps out at you when eating this salad is the floral taste, stemming from the orange blossom vinaigrette. The tangy vinegar had a very delicate blossom undertone; I could truly taste the fragrance and perfume of the orange blossom. The figs added a nice touch of sweetness; however, there were very little pieces. When we brought that up to the waitress, she was kind enough to accommodate and brought us a dish of a fresh fig cut up. The fig was delightfully fresh! I liked this salad - however, given its high price point, it was a small portion with few ingredients.
For the mains, we had a variety of different dishes such as the following.
Tah-Dig:
This is a classic Mediterranean dish with crispy rice, and surprisingly small for its ingredients and price (I think I'm seeing a trend). That said, the rice was addicting crispy and delicious! The lamb was braised to be fall apart tender, and the warm figs highlighted and lightened the meal. The nuts were a nice addition.
Grilled Whole Banzino:
This was by far my favourite dish of the entire meal! It was my first time having chermoullah, a pesto-like savoury salty sauce. The parsley and cilantro green dressing with the lemon juice really lightened up the grilled fish. The skin was also the right amount of crisp. I was amazed by this dish, and ate every single last piece.
Ora King Salmon:
We didn't have enough, and so ordered this additional protein. The four pieces of salmon were grilled to a perfect char, rendering the skin crispy. Meanwhile, the salmon was cooked just right - the inside was moist and tender. It was the perfect pink, and by no means dry. The harissa sauce was a lovely spicy addition. Though good, it didn't stand up to the banzino for me.
Crispy Hand Rolled Couscous:
This dish was very similar to the Tah-Dig in that it was likewise crispy. That said, I enjoyed this dish so much more! The creamy halloumi with the collard greens was absolutely delicious. I'm not a fan of cheese, but this and the Manti Dumplings really won me over.
We ended the meal with a dessert. We couldn't decide between the baklava and pavlova (both executed in fusion style), but the waitress recommended the baklava.
Stuffed Baklava:
This dish had mint ice cream stuffed inside crispy pastry (similar to a cannoli), sprinkled with pistachios and topped with a dark chocolate mousse. It was an interesting mix and juxtaposition of flavours and textures - the crisp of the pastry and pistachio contrasted with the creamy mousse/chocolate and ice cream. The sweetness of the dark chocolate and ice cream was cut by the sudden addition of sea salt. To be honest, this dessert wasn't my favourite as the salt caught me off guard. However, I did enjoy the dark chocolate and pistachios. Most certainly an interesting dessert style.
This place is quite pricey, so save up! Moreover, come with a larger group to both split the cost and share more things. Next time, I will definitely try the pavlova (the table next to us seemed to thoroughly enjoy it) and the sweet jewelled rice!
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