I've never gone for strictly 'Mediterranean' food before, so this was definitely something different. I've heard many good things about Byblos and their tapa-styled dishes, & now I can say I've tried it!
Byblos is located on Duncan Street, right off of King Street West. Serving Eastern Mediterranean cuisine, the dishes from Byblos holds both a traditional and modern ways of cooking to present many of the items served here.
Located in the basement of the a building, you'd never expect to walk into such a beautiful interior (at least I didn't!)
There is an open bar are, as well as a miniature chef's area where they prepare the small plates.
With tables in the centre and couches surrounding the walls, I sat in the back corner with a view of the entire restaurant.
As our first times at Byblos, we left the waiter to tell us all about the menu and certain dishes that were recommended to try.
This is their Organic House Labneh with fennel, honey and olive oil in the middle. With a plate of barbari bread, it was a perfect combo!
The Lamb Ribs were deliciously tender! They are braised and then fried to get the outter crispy texture, coated in buttermilk sauce and carob molasses & topped with dukkah and red chili schug.
Turkish Manti Dumplings with smokey eggplant, yogurt sauce and molasses.
Crispy Hand Rolled Couscous on top of a bed of a collard greens and halloumi cheese
Crispy Squid with bandari spice and green schug topped with drizzles of toum
My dining experience at Byblos was nice. In our little nook, we were able to stay away from the other tables and just sit and chat. Food was awesome. I love tapa styled cuisine as it is a lot easier to try many different dishes. The portions were random though. Their small plates and large plates were relatively the same size (filling-wise), in my opinion. Their 'sides' (the couscous) was massive!! The amount of food was very unexpected (good and bad, depending on which dish).
The service was great - they kept our water filled and let us stay there as long as we wanted. The food itself was delicious! I just wish I didn't eat beforehand so I could enjoy the food more. This just means I have to come again...right?!
(Right.)
