October 28, 2010

The Village Manakish Shop

Another still life on Lebanon; the village manakish shop. This particular one is run by a lovely old couple, somewhere in their 70’s if not older.  Isn't it romantic to grow old this way? Maybe not.

Every village has at least two, if not more. Each neighborhood has a couple of them. Everyone has a favorite. Personally, I’m a zaatar fan (although I was into cheese for years!), and I prefer the ‘saj’  (an inverted wok) over the ‘furen’ (oven). My favorite address? That would be the one at the bottom of the Wardeh ski slope up in Feraya, but that one only operates in wintertime.

The manakish is the early morning address for what in the States would be your donuts or your bagel. In Holland we don’t ‘do’ breakfast out the door. But in Beirut, I do.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooh, i'm a cheese fun! Zaatar burning everything inside of my european stomach:) although lebanese mostly in love with zaatar ones. Thank you for this post! i miiiss manakish...

Anonymous said...

zaatar.

Most of the forns put a cheap cheesy substance instead of the real thing nowadays.

Danielle said...

I'm like you. Zaatar all the way. They are always too liberal with the cheese!