A-Z food challenge: L is for Lebanon

When I lived in Brisbane, my favourite place to go and eat was this tiny hole in the wall Lebanese joint, the Baalbek Cafe. To the unknowing outsider, it just looked like a kebab shop at the side of a ugly, suburban shopping mall but for me and a few friends, the place was an undiscovered treasure of incredible, cheap Lebanese food.

When we first discovered it, the owner Corey was doing a 10-course meze banquet for $15 per person. But he would just keep bringing us food until we were like 'Stop!! You're killing us!!' Over the years, I went through quite a few boyfriends but I was always faithful to Corey and even when I moved across town, I would make some of the aforementioned boyfriends drive 25 minutes out of their way to pick us up dinner from Baalbek. I could always ring and just ask for Corey to throw together something for X people and then he would always stick in some extra sweets for me to give to my Mum. It was the perfect food joint in my eyes.

So, long story short -- when I got to 'L', there was no way I could do anything but cook some Lebanese food as a homage to Corey (who sadly sold the restaurant and moved back to Lebanon a few years ago).

So, in the picture, I have made Kibbeh (meat & bulgar wheat dumplings), Lobieh bi zait (green beans & tomatoes), Hummous and, for dessert, Harissi-Namora, a semolina syrup cake.

It was all delicious and easy to make but definitely not a mark on Corey's amazing food! The memory of his food will always be a treasure to me.