Cookies Preferences
I’m not letting any cats out of the bag when I tell you how wonderful El Soussi restaurant is. Anthony Bourdain’s eaten there on his show. CNN named it one of the best breakfasts in the world. The New York Times has written about its charms. Still, its unpretentious facade and charming owners have a special place in my Beirut life because in spite of all the fame, this joint stays true to what it does. El Soussi serves breakfast on plastic tables in a grimly-lit room. Breakfast consists of foul, fettet, hummus, chicken livers, and eggs and qawarma. Now there’s more on the menu for sure, variations on the dishes I listed above. But essentially, this is what you come here for. It’s heavy, it’s a bit of a shock for the early hour in the day, and it’s delicious. When you show up bowls of raw vegetables, mint sprigs, and raw onions are placed on your table along with large rounds of Arabic bread. If you come on a weekend they don’t serve tea. If you come when they’re not as busy, one of the waiters will pop around the corner to the tea shop and retrieve a cardboard thimble of Lipton tea for you. It’s bare bones, service verging on surly, except for Raji Kebbe himself who is a little cherub of a man who has been frying up the livers and qawarma for decades now alongside his cousin Ahmad el Soussi. Their first family location was opened more than 100 years ago closer to downtown, but they’ve been in this very location on a dead end street in the Mar Elias neighbourhood of Beirut since 1975.
Mr. Kebbe is obviously so proud of his craft, happily posing for photos as he busily moves around his tiny kitchen, and taking the time to share with me his secrets for the softest, tastiest qawarma. He salts his meat liberally the day before he cooks it in the lamb tail fat. It’s then cooked over low heat for 6 hours before being put into jars where it lasts up to a year. You can find the qawarma recipe I settled on in the Essentials section. Qawarma and eggs done the El Soussi way is a weekend treat without any fuss, just a very messy stovetop when you’re done.
Scoop out the qawarma with its fat and place it in a frying pan on medium heat. Allow the fat to melt and the pieces of lamb to get nice and crispy. Keep the heat moderate as if it’s too high it will splatter and spit hot fat all over the place (I have the scars to prove it)! While that’s crisping up, whisk together the eggs and black pepper. You shouldn’t need any salt because the qawarma does that for you. When the qawarma is crispy add the eggs to the pan and stir with a spatula, bringing the mixture together until the eggs are just set. Put the eggs on your serving dish and sprinkle liberally with sumac. Serve with bread - here no forks would be used.
