La Tabkha (CLOSED)

La Tabkha has all the stylings of a French bistro, but the food is bona fide Lebanese home cooking. Mezze is the name of the game and the restaurant is winning at it, with a broad variety of dishes all prepared to a high standard. Main courses are absent from the menu, and the variety of small plates lends itself to a yuppie-friendly health food theme – where else can you ask the kitchen to resize your portion so that it clocks in at under 500 calories?

In theory the restaurant is only open for lunch, but the nature of Lebanese lunching means that in practice it stays open into the early evening. It’s a popular spot for the working community of Gemmayzeh, who flock here for business meetings or takeaways between meetings. It’s unclear why the area's hipster crowd hasn’t caught on yet, given the budget prices. We can't recommend it enough.