“I don’t really like cities, but Beirut is always memorable”
POSTINGS FROM GUEST MIDDLE EASTERN TRAVEL BLOG QUITEALONE.COM
BE BEIRUT TO SEE BEIRUT
Really enjoyed my recent return visit to Beirut. I don’t really like cities, but Beirut is always memorable. To get a handle on how things have changed since I was last here several years ago, I joined Be Beirut, the city’s only guided walking tour (and the only such initiative anywhere in the Middle East, to my knowledge). I loved it. Led by Ronnie Chatah, we walked for five hours through west Beirut to the shot-up Holiday Inn, then into the Solidere’s “central district” to end, poignantly, at the small garden dedicated to Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir. Ronnie really knows his stuff: his explanations at various stops were fascinating, from tales of the old civil-war days around the cafés and cinemas of Hamra, to the Armenian Haigazian University, the Magen Avraham synagogue (currently under restoration) and the Hariri-built Al-Amin Mosque – all very engaging. Two small criticisms: five hours is an hour too long, and since the company does a separate culinary walk around Gemmayzeh and Achrafieh, our tour did not go into east Beirut at all – a serious omission. That aside, this was a great reintroduction to what was, for me, a half-remembered city.
BEST AIRPORT?
Consultancy firm Skytrax surveyed 8.6 million passengers at 190 airports for its World Airport Awards 2009 – but it was the regional award for best airport in the Middle East that caught my eye, notably the presence of Dubai. Were they handbagged? Dubai, as always, impresses by the achievement on display, but it feels to me rather like checking into a very upmarket, contemporarily styled luxury hotel, where the opulence and disconnect from normality make you feel a bit inadequate. For what it’s worth, this travel writer’s favourite Middle Eastern airport experience, in terms of character if not facilities, is Jeddah’s South Terminal – built in 1981 and, tragically, due to be replaced in a couple of years. There’s no air-conditioning, zillions of people, unrenovated 80s decor, incomprehensible announcements, stale coffee and uncomfortable seating, but I love it: it’s such a relief to experience an airport that feels like the real world.
THE OTHER UAE
Ras Al-Khaimah is an odd place. It’s the most northerly of the Emirates, and so under the least influence from Dubai and Abu Dhabi; it’s mainly industrial, with lots of cement factories (they’re very proud of their ceramics here), but set amid extraordinary landscapes. In tourism terms, RAK’s greatest asset is arguably its access to the mountains and coastline of the Musandam peninsula. During my visit I was taken for a dhow ride through Musandam’s fjords and had a 4WD trip into Wadi Bih, a rocky gorge system that cuts through the Hajar mountains (shared between Oman and the UAE), where there’s climbing, paragliding and long-distance trekking. The potential is huge for RAK to become the only place offering this kind of off-the-beaten-track, nature-based independent tourism anywhere between the Mediterranean and India. In so doing, it could also pick up a substantial slice of business from visitors (not just Western) who have become bored with Dubai’s high-life aspirations.
QUITEALONE.COM is the blog of award-winning travel writer Matthew Teller, who has a thing about the Middle East
A FEW TRAVEL LINKS
grumpytraveller.com
British writer David Whitley casts a jaundiced eye over the travel industry. Always sharp, always funny
travelblather.com
Excellent travel blog by journalist and new-media consultant Jeremy Head
strangemaps.wordpress.com
Writer Frank Jacobs’ eclectic delve into, well, strange maps. Recent posts include a map of London in 2050
grantourismotravels.com
Lively insights from writer Lara Dunston and photographer Terence Carter, who have been hired to spend 2010 on the road blogging from six continents
hiddeneurope.co.uk
Berlin-based travel magazine about the unknown corners of Europe – fascinating and always superbly written
wildaboutwriting. blogspot.com
Fun and readable blog by Australian travel writer Kim Wildman
“Labneh is well on its way to becoming a global ingredient”
POSTINGS FROM GUEST MIDDLE EASTERN FOOD BLOG ANISSAS.COM
HOW I TRAVEL
I have always liked eating, from when I was a chubby little child, but I never carried food with me on my travels, that is not until I started writing about it. From that day on, I travelled like a peasant, stuffing countless ingredients into an extra bag that I carried empty with me to fill with my culinary purchases. But on a recent trip to Paris, I decided to travel light and I took only one small bag, forgetting how irresistible Paris is, both for food and for clothes shopping; and of course, I stocked up at Yamamoto (my favourite designer) and at Desnoyer, the best butcher in Paris. Yamamoto obligingly provided me with a bag, while Desnoyer suggested I get myself a sac isolant (with insulation) from Picard, the French Iceland, to protect my foies gras, boudin and faux filet until I got home. The one thing that I would have loved to bring back, however, although I didn’t dare were sea urchins but I made sure I ate plenty while there. I am now thinking of when I can go back to Paris before the season is over. And to think that I used to hate urchins when I lived in Beirut and could eat them on the beach straight out of the sea!
FOR THE LOVE OF LABNEH
As I walked through the Ferry Plaza building last time I was in San Francisco, I spotted an ice cream shop selling an intriguing flavour: Lebanese mountain yoghurt. I had to taste it. Sadly, it was just like any other yoghurt ice cream, and not a very good one at that. So, I asked the girl serving me why Lebanese mountain yoghurt and not simply yoghurt. She hesitated, then she said it was imported from Lebanon and then, as if remembering an important detail, she said that it was actually labneh. Labneh is nothing more than strained yoghurt. My grandmother made it. My mother made it, and there are still plenty of mountain folk who make it, often from sheep’s or goat’s milk while city folk often use powdered milk to make their yoghurt before straining it to make labneh. However, there is nothing stopping anyone, anywhere in the world, making labneh provided they have yoghurt. Those people making the ice cream in SF certainly don’t need to import their labneh from Lebanon, especially not to make such an indifferent ice cream. I walked away thinking that labneh was well on its way to becoming a global ingredient, the way hummus is now a global dip.
LIKE COFFEE BUT NOT COFFEE
I discovered this extraordinary drink last year. I was walking through the bazaars of Gaziantep in Turkey when I stopped in front of a sack full of pretty small dried berries, some blueish and some red which I had never seen before. I asked the vendor what they were but naturally, he only spoke Turkish and sadly, I don’t. So I bought a bag to show my Turkish friend, Filiz. She explained that they were wild pistachios used to make a caffeine-free coffee that looks like Turkish coffee, but isn’t. After lunch, Filiz took me to the most divine old-fashioned cafe, Tahmis, to taste menengiç – it has a resinous quality to it and a mouth feel that is definitely an acquired taste. I didn’t like it much but it is definitely worth trying.
ANISSAS.COM is the blog of Anissa Helou, the Syrian-Lebanese chef and food writer
A FEW FOOD LINKS
news.curiouscook.com
New York Times writer Harold McGee brings science into the kitchen, using chemistry to create the perfect dish
francoissimon.typepad.fr
Food critic Francois Simon’s blog has expanded to a team of seven, sampling some of the world’s best restaurants
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ blogs/mbauer
Michael Bauer’s Between Meals blog looks at the art of eating-out, from restaurant design to serving sandwiches for dinner
eggbeater.typepad.com
London-based chef Shuna Fish Lydon posts a few too many mouthwatering pictures of her favourite dessert creations
fuschiadunlop.com
The 2006 “Food Journalist of the Year” is an expert in Chinese food, and on her blog shares some of her favourite recipes with readers
ILLUSTRATION: ROSS MURRAY |
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