Let’s go for something new and different
As we planned our move to Lisbon, one thing we were looking forward to was being close to a wide variety of restaurants. We wanted to be able to sample many different cuisines. Since we’ve moved here we’ve had Indian food (one of our favorites) in a cozy little restaurant a block from our apartment. We had homemade pasta in an Italian restaurant. Several times we’ve enjoyed what one restaurant calls “progressive Portuguese food”. And, of course, there are always the quiosques.
Our latest outing was to a Syrian restaurant called Tayybeh that Mary had read about. Their homepage says that they “serve homemade Syrian food in an immersive environment full of stories that refer to a cultural travel experience to the Middle East. We want you to feel like you’re being welcomed into our Damascus home.”
That’s an appropriate description. Their name comes from an Arabic word that means “kind” and a colloquial Syrian word that means “delicious”.
Behind the food there is also a mission: “… to promote the integration of Syrian refugees, incorporating Syrian women into our operation and providing them with a fixed income while doing what they like best, cooking dishes from their home cities.”
After reading about it and looking at the photos on their website, we both wanted to try it. We decided to go there for dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We were looking forward to a memorable meal on our special night out.
Learning about the cuisine was interesting…
The menu at Tayybeh changes every week. For our anniversary week, it contained seven dishes with very tempting descriptions.
We didn’t think we had eaten Syrian food before, and we wanted to understand more about it, so we started by looking in our “Guidebook” – Mimi Sheraton’s “1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die”* for some suggestions. But we were surprised to see that Mimi had not included a section for Syria.
We did some searching for descriptions and recipes for the different dishes on the menu. Nothing we found referred to the dishes as specifically Syrian. But in several places we saw the word “Levantine” used to describe the cuisine. That’s not a term I was familiar with, so I had to look it up and get a quick lesson in Middle Eastern geography.
The Levant, I learned, is a historical name for a region at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, made up of modern-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and a part of southwest Turkey. (The dark green area on the map below.)
But eating the food was better!
The entrada (appetizer)
Vegan hummus, falafel, and yogurt, served with a piece of warm pita bread.
The hummus was cool and creamy, perfect with the pita bread. The falafel rings were served piping hot, with a crisp outer crust and a combination of spices that complemented the ground chickpeas. The white yogurt was accompanied with pale green olive oil and black sesame seeds.
The falafel salad
Crisp lettuce, ripe tomatoes, pomegranate seeds, and chunks of falafel. Served with a tahini and yogurt dressing.
Yes, we might have gone overboard with the falafel, but it was so good! The pomegranate seeds added a sweetly acidic “pop” to the dish.
Uzi
Filo pastry stuffed with basmati rice, peas, carrots, veal meat, and almonds. Served with salad and yogurt sauce.
Mike said the meat reminded him of roast beef he loved at his grandmother’s house growing up – warm strings of meat, a little dry. The rice had a touch of cinnamon.
We enjoyed the meal with a bottle of good Portuguese wine – vinho branco from the Douro region in the north.
Let’s go back again!
We will definitely go back to Tayybeh. But next time we’ll take a group of hungry friends. Every item on the menu was labelled “one dose” (portion), but there was plenty of food for two or more people. Ordering several dishes for the table would be a great start to an evening full of fun and laughter.
Until next time / Até a próxima vez
Mary and Mike
The Cook and The Writer
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* This link is direct to Amazon.com, but we do not receive any affiliate payment if you buy a copy. If that changes in the future, we’ll let you know. [Updated September, 2023]
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Looks excellent. I would enjoy almost everything on the menu. You chose we’ll. The prices are really reasonable. Those dishes are more money in Philly. One of our memorable meals was Mongolian food near my cousin’s house in San Francisco. We weren’t sure about liking it, so it was a great surprise that we did.
Hi Alice,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, the prices in restaurants here are generally very reasonable. We’ve been to a few that are expensive, but we try to save those for special occasions. We used to enjoy Mongolian Bar-be-que at a little place in Indiana. Loved the way they threw everything together on top of the big rounded griddles. Now we’ll have to look for it over here.
All the best,
Mike
Please add me to the list of your hungry vegetarian friends!
Done! You’re at the top of the list.
Looks amazing! I love middle eastern food and because of where I live, it’s hard to find here. I seek it out when I travel. We visited our daughter in Baltimore a few weekends ago and had yummy crab several times. We also ate at a Venezuelan Restaurant which was delicious. Take care!
Hi Kelly,
It’s great to hear from you. We’re happy to know that you’re taking advantage of the variety of restaurants you find when you travel. We haven’t tried Venezuelan…yet. Now it’s on the list!
Have a great week,
Mike
It is 4:46 AM EDT on this side of the pond, and I am wishing it was 12PM EDT and I was in Lisbon enjoying supper at Tayybeh! It sounds fabulous!
Hi Nan,
Thanks for your comment. It would be great to take the old gang to Tayybeh. Round ’em up and come on over!
Mike