The Souk El Akel, Christmas Edition at Mar Mkhayel was a first in Lebanon, thanks to No Garlic No Onions (NGNO)… people were all over the place… we were hungy… we went straight to the street food section…
My wife and I were waiting for Chicho since we arrived a bit early… so we decided to walk around while he showed…
I couldn’t decide what to eat, however my wife knew she wanted to taste at least a Taco from El Gringo ( voir previous review : http://yummylebanon.com/2015/11/27/el-gringo-the-food-truck/ )
So we went to see our good old friend Marwan who greeted us with his usual smile… he had our review printed and displayed on his stand… lovely surprise and thank y…
- Heeeeyyyy…
- What Cozy? (My wife’s name)…
- Can you please snap out of your review and order me a taco?
- Okay sure, sorry honey I’ll order one… (She is hungry and when she is hungry she gets cranky) let’s get you a Taco…
- A beef Taco please…
- Okay honey… a beef taco it is…
I was smelling a nice pine odeur floating in the air, but couldn’t pinpoint its source, and I was wondering why that smell was here in the first place… I started looking around when my eyes crossed those of my wife and a jolt of jealousy hit me… she was eating that taco, rolling her eyes nearly closing them, just like when she… when we… when together… enfin, you understand what I mean… she was sharing that very same moment with a Taco… trahison!.. There comes that smell again… intriguing…
When Chicho arrived I immediately shared with him the intrigue of that smell… we walked around and met with NGNO just as I was about to get a merguez sandwich… of course, I took the opportunity and asked him about that odeur… he smiled and replied:
- Keep roaming around, a food stand will call out for you… (hmmm… even more intriguing)
So we kept on going, trying to identify the source like three hounds in the woods sniffing out the hare… and then we saw a faint light smoke twirling around by the late night wind that snuck into the exhibition area… we followed… it did call out for us… there it was : SUD, representing Sud Restaurant Mar Mkhayel…
A simple humble stand… 3 persons were busy working there, doing specifically one item… the Pine Cône Chargrilled Lamb Burger…
We immediately knew we had to have a taste… we ordered two burgers and watched as professional hands were preparing the lamb patty on a grill where pine cônes were slowly being consumed while emanating this wonderful smell we had noticed earlier… it was transferring to the lamb a story of pine trees… of woods… of earth… of old… enhancing every fiber of the meat as it was cooking up to perfection…
Meanwhile, other expert hands were preparing the buns, with layers of ingredients and mustard that were only meant to compliment that grilled lamb patty… I was melting at the sight and my mouth watered up in an almost embarrassing way… I was ready for my first bite…
And what a first bite it was… It is hard to describe the perfect mix of a given taste, the “accouplement” if I dare say of ingredients… You could feel their pleasure rising all around your tongue transferring to you aromas you knew existed only in your imagination… only the mustard was a little bit sticking its nose more than it should… I immediately felt the weight of the small portion that it was… it was gonna end very shortly leaving me wanting more… more of a burger that was really a celebration of good taste, culinary professionalism and a good deal of know how…
Fantastic idea to use the pine cone as olfactif attraction and as savory additive to the meat…
We will be visiting your restaurant soon… keep the creativeness up…
Gaston a petit feu
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