Review: Du Liban, Cowley Road, Oxford

Nassar Fawaz had retired to the sunny climes of Curitiba in Brazil with his wife, continents away from Oxford, having spent his life serving Lebanese food here to a very appreciative audience, mainly above Boswells.

He needed a rest, some sunshine, to be on holiday for once. “I was tired,” he told me, after our meal.

And yet it took just one phone call to lure him back to the fleshpots of Cowley Road, where his son-in-law was setting up a new restaurant.

“It was too much of a temptation to turn down,” Nassar shrugged. It seems that old restaurateurs never die they just serve their thyme.

The result, Du Liban, is well worth the effort, both his and yours. A tiny restaurant just past the end of Divinity Road, nearer Magdalen Road, you could pass it quite easily without realising you’d be missing some of the best Lebanese food of your life.

That Nassar and his son-in-law Akil Budini have chosen the perfect time to open up is obvious, Lebanese food being currently very trendy. And yet Nassar tells me that the highest concentration of Lebanese restaurants outside of London is in Oxford. Pomegranate has also opened in Cowley Road, as has brilliant new deli Elham’s in Little Clarendon Street alongside the stalwarts Al Shami in Jericho, LBs in Summertown and Al Salam in Park End Street, but now that I’ve been to Du Liban I’m ruined, because the food there was out of this world.

It’s a simple spartan place without airs and graces, no Middle Eastern opulence. Thin, with white walls and a steel counter, it does boast a large new shisha garden/lounge at the back where we retired after dinner for some baklava, a blueberry and vanilla shisha pipe and some lovely mint tea.

But back to the food. Nassar, sensing we were like kids in a sweet shop, offered to choose for us, something which usually irritates me, but knowing I was in capable hands we left him to it.

It was a wise move, because soon afterwards dish after dish of chef Kamal Eddin’s wonderful food started appearing, stopping us in our tracks, halting all conversation. And while appearance–wise it looked fairly ordinary, it tasted much better.

For example the hommos Beiruti, a seemingly innocuous sounding dish, was so carefully and beautifully flavoured I wanted to hide it under my coat, slope off and eat it somewhere alone, the tiny pool of oil accentuating its musky, smoky flavours. As it was, I surreptitiously moved it nearer my elbow and wolfed down the lot, a very unladylike reaction I’m sure you’ll agree, but I couldn’t help myself.

The baba ghanoush (a smokey aubergine dip) and the moutabel (more auberginey) followed suit. Plain and served on little saucers, all priced around £3.50, they challenged you to pick up the chewy flatbreads to mop up every last morsel. Then a plate of kibbehs – crispy parcels of lamb or spinach with an almost polenta crispness to the shell and a wonderful piquant, lemony herbed filling that had us all in raptures.

The falafel were similarly well received, all accompanied by tahini and pickles, and the sanbousek bil lahmi – pastries stuffed with meat, others with feta and mint – the grilled smokey halloumi in flatbreads and the tabbouleh parsley salad, disappeared in an equally enthusiastic fashion with much gesticulation and appreciative murmuring.

• Simple: The tiny restaurant packs a big punch, with Kamal Eddin’s food

Accompanied by the fool moukala (fried broad beans in olive oil, garlic, onions and coriander) and my favourite, the zahra maqlia (fried cauliflower topped with tahini and cumin), which was beautifully cooked, the soft yet crispy texture and its silky sauce. No dish cost more than £4.50 and yet it truly was a feast for the gods.

The last platter to complete our table was the meat offerings: a shish taouq (chicken marinated in garlic, lemon juice and olive oil) and the lahim mashwi (lamb cubes grilled and marinated) all equally delicious, which completed the meal perfectly.

I can’t remember the last time I ate such unique, simple, flavoursome food. An absolute privilege from start to finish. Brazil’s loss is certainly Oxford’s gain.

ESSENTIALS

Du Liban is at 282 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1UR. 

Telephone: 01865 701228.
Opening hours: Noon-11pm Sunday-Thurs, noon- midnight Friday and Saturday
The people: Nasser Fawaz and his son-in-law Akil Budini run it with chef Kamal Eddin in the kitchen
Parking: Tricky but possible
Try the: Shisha lounge/garden