Ironically in the Seventies when we were discovering extra-virgin olive oil Lebanese housewives were getting excited about
Ironically, in the Seventies, when we were discovering extra-virgin olive oil, Lebanese housewives were getting excited about Mazola and turning their noses up at their native produce.My lasting memory of the Lebanese food I have eaten is of allspice, cinnamon bark and ground caraway, which scent a wide range of dishes including salads. This is where Nada Saleh, the author, was born and brought up. A London resident for 20 years, she began writing four years ago "I didn't care whether the book sold or not. I wanted to express my childhood, and these were the dishes I grew up with." The book's authenticity is refreshing, especially when so many cookery books are tailored for the British supermarket and a "fast" way of life.
It is beautifully produced; the dishes are photographed in deep, lustrous tones that entice the reader.Nada Saleh talks about food with the passion of an Italian on the subject of pasta. It is the mountain dishes she has included in her book that are most fascinating. Basic, parsimonious recipes, ruled by "what the garden has to offer", are easy and nutritious, and accommodate the modest income of rural workers.Makhlouta is a stew of grains and beans: a lovely combination of textures, flavoured with cumin. But now that the country is rebuilding itself, a personal acquaintance at last seems possible. Bar-brasserie open for lunch, 12pm-2pm daily; dinner, 6pm-10pm Mon-Sat Vegetarian dishes Meals pounds 12-pounds 20.
Civil war made a love of Lebanese food a long-distance affair in the Eighties. Theakston's, as ever, was as good as beer getsAngel Inn, Hetton, North Yorkshire (01756-730263). Linguine with tomato and pesto was a bit stodgy but perfectly satisfying. The menu is trend-conscious, so there are lots of pesto-y things about - even with Brie, in a baguette.
No, it is the business of a fourth McCoy, whose tastes are notably funkier and more nightclubby and whose style is a rough-and-tumble sort of urban Bohemia tailored for North Yorkshire farmers The place is draught-riddled and furnished with fun junk. This I did not see - it may be available only in the restaurant I don't think I found - but there was a very decent list of wines chalked on the blackboard by the bar, for those good in queues.Lastly, just over the Cleveland border into the industrial tangle that is Middlesborough, there is a new brasserie called the Purple Onion that is worth noting briefly. If the name rings bells, it is because many moons ago, the marvellous McCoy brothers, of McCoys at the Cleveland Tontine, began with a place of the same name. Contrary to popular belief, this new Purple Onion is not the work of the three McCoys at the Tontine.
An accompanying green salad consisted of good leaves which, curiously, appeared to have been oiled and seasoned, but the dressing had no perceptible acidity, vinegar or lemon The Angel Inn is reputed to have a wonderful wine list. As a consequence, while in the "bar-brasserie" you are not necessarily told that ordering, be it meals, drinks or coffee, is done at the bar, and then the food is brought to you. This you discover by studying fellow diners, and finally aping them. Beware of regulars - particularly a Prunella Scales lookalike with a blue cloche hat and big matching handbag - who queue-jump with startling aplomb.