Arts & Culture

Celebrating Ramadan in true sharing style, Comptoir Libanais are welcoming guests to join them for a feast from May 15 to June 14.

To spread love and awareness about what Ramadam is and to cultivate the inclusivity that is any the heart of the festival, Tony and the Comptoir Libanais team are putting together a special sharing menu for the period.

Tony Kitous, Comptoir Libanais’ found, said: Ramadan is a special time in our culture as it is when families and friends get together and enjoy breaking the fast in the evening. It is about sharing and appreciating having everyone around us, celebrating out culture and being thankful for what we have. I would love everyone to be able to share and experience this special time too, which is why we have created a small feast music, which is available for everyone from 6pm.”

The menu, created by Tony and his team, is based on traditional recipes cooked by mothers all over the Middle East and North Africa during Ramadan and is a time for them to eat together at the same time, each day, for 30 days.

“When I was a young boy, my mum would spend the whole cooking during the time she was fasting,” continued Tony. “Starting in the morning, she would make all of the recipes she knew by heart. But, because as you kids we didn’t fast during the day, we would help her by being her official tasters and check the seasoning. ‘Does it need more salt?’ she’s ask, or ‘Perhaps a drizzle more honey?’ Of course we love this and enjoyed it all the more when it was time to break the fast.”

Tony has taken inspiration from his childhood and these memories and it is him who is putting on the feast in the evening with his mum and family. he invites all of his friends, from every culture and whatever their background, to come and break the fast in the evening.

This year the chain is offering a special Comptoir Libanais Ramadan set menu which will be available for everyone every day from 6pm. The feast menu starts with a little something to break the fast - traditionally this is quite light - so there’s some gorgeous dates and refreshing honey yogurt drink.

Their mezze starter features a soup of the day or lamb harira – the traditional North African soup made with tender pieces of lamb and chickpeas and spiced with chilli and cumin. There’s also fattoush salad – a Lebanese village salad - with tomatoes, cucumber and toasted pitta – and hommos, one of their favourite dips made from chickpeas and tahina. Samboussek – bite-size pastries, filled with feta and halloumi – these are very moreish! Also beetroot labneh (the natural yogurt cheese mixed with beetroot) is a delicious dip made from sweet beetroot and labneh, their traditional strained yogurt cheese.

For the main course, there are four choices: a mixed grill which is a combination of lamb kofta, chicken kofta and chicken shish taouk cooked on the hot grill and served with vermicelli rice and salad. Their vegetarian offering is aubergine moussaka.

There’s also chicken and green olive tagine, our traditional stew made marinated chicken breast, baby carrots, lemons, green olives and spices. And lastly there’s fattet kibbeh, which is minced lamb and bulghar wheat parcels served with a tahina and yogurt sauce, fried onions and pomegranate and served with rice.

Tony said: “We hope you’ll come and join us for the feast and celebrate this special time with us.”

The Comptoir Libanais set menu costs £24.95 per person and is available during Ramadan from 6pm from 15th May to 14th June 2018 in all restaurants around the country. Comptoir Libanais’ sister restaurants, Levant, Kenza and Yalla Yalla are also offering a Ramadan feast menu for guests. Contact our individual teams at each restaurant for more details (www.levant.co.ukwww.kenza-restaurant.com and www.yalla-yalla.co.uk).

For pudding, there is mouhalabia, which is a Lebanese milk pudding, served with confit of dried fruits, orange blossom water. This is a set milk dessert and is a wonderful contrast to the fruit sauce enjoyed with it. Finish your meal with fresh rose mint tea or coffee and a plate of our traditional sweet baklawa, made with pastry, nuts and doused in a honey syrup.

For further information, visit www.comptoirlibanais.com or www.comptoirlibanais.com/loxford.