best of byblos

byblos. a toronto favourite of mine. drinks and decor alone make this king-west spot top-ranking. occupying two floors of the storys building, the ambience is perfect, exquisitely decorated and worth perusing. though our favourite bartender has moved on to alo, we were not disappointed with our drinks. in terms of food, the eastern mediterranean menu, created and executed by executive chef stuart cameron, is full of strong flavours with traditional and local ingredients. we opted to order a ton of different sharing plates in lieu of main dishes, which left us more than satisfied.
a strong recommendation--check it out.

interesting and authentic cloth menus (not pictured)

evening's drinks: nightingale sour, old fashion, gulab in a chalice.
we all ordered multiples ;)

one of my favourite menu items: roasted red beetrs with pistachio and labneh (a variation of greek yogurt), served with barbari bread (pictured below)

barbari bread to dip in the labneh (above)

tuna ceviche: green schug, creme fraiche buttermilk and squid ink chip. this had a real kick to it. really delish.

another fave of mine, and a must-have when at byblos, is the guernsey girl cheese. grilled haloumi cheese (shoutout AP), on a bed of watermelon, mint and upland cress

unfortunately, my photo-taking skills were too slow, and i missed photographing the lamb ribs. though they are quite game-y, the flavour is outstanding. they were spiced and topped with dukkah, buttermilk sauce, carob molasses and red chili schung

turkish manti dumplings, definitely a go-to. the smokey eggplant and yogurt sauce with molasses has such a memorable and distinct burst of flavour. can't go wrong here.

against our better judgement, we kept ordering food even though we were full. the flavours were all so robust it was hard to know when to stop. along with the crispy eggplant (not pictured and not a favourite) we ordered the steak tartar: roasted red chili, mint, labneh and barbari bread. this was the last of dinner.

although we were BEYOND full, you can't celebrate a birthday without dessert....

we opted for a sweet cap to our glorious meal. we had the brik pastry cigar. the cigar was flaky, and willed with a tasty fig caramel with some light honey cream. 

this whole meal, overall, was delicious. after each stunning dish, we were all blown away by the intensity of the flavours. way to go, byblos. can't wait to return soon!