AUTHENTICALLY LEBANESE

When the loyal patrons have ties with the country and the ambassador dines there, the restaurant has to be worth a try at least. By Janine Walker

It has just grown. One person talks and we have 10 new customers. Henri Hage Co-owner

PIZZA MEZZA Cramerview Village Centre,

277 Main Road in Bryanston.

Tel: 011 463 2514. Open Monday to Sunday from 8am to 10pm

Its name gives no indication that Pizza Mezza is one of Gauteng’s best Lebanese restaurants but its customers certainly do. The Lebanese ambassador has dined there and many of the patrons clearly have ties with the Middle Eastern country. Little wonder since the food — which is authentic, fresh and bursting with flavour — is prepared by Chef Nader Zorkot who for years built up a loyal following at Beirut restaurant, which closed a few years ago.

Pizza Mezza opened with no fanfare more than a year ago and it is word of mouth that has seen its clientele grow and a formerly quiet neighbourhood restaurant draw people from all over the city. Owners Henri Hage and Jamal Orfali, who were both born in Lebanon, explain that the space was formerly occupied by a pizzeria. They decided to keep the woodburning oven to cook a variety of manoush (flatbreads) and also continue supplying Italian pizza and a small pasta offering.

Says Hage: “We have dishes from the Mediterranean but, once we knew that Zorkot

was on board, most of what we serve is Lebanese, hence the name Pizza Mezza. And from there it has just grown. One person talks and we have 10 new customers. Every week we see new people.”

It’s hardly surprising as the food is delicious and affordable. The mezza is a treat — the bigger your party, the more dishes you can share and sample. I would strongly suggest you try one of the three raw (tartare) meat dishes. All have minced lamb but it’s how they are prepared that make them different. The kibbee nayee — which has its roots in north Lebanon — has the minced meat combined with special spices, onion, mint and burghul. The kafta is pure tartare with no crushed wheat while the fraki, which comes from south Lebanon, has the most burghul. They are available in both small and large portions costing R60 and R120 respectively. Try them with the paper-thin Khobz Marquq bread and add your own raw onion slices, mint and chilli.

If you prefer your meat cooked then opt for the fried lamb kibbee at R60 for four portions.

Everything is made fresh on the premises — from the creamy labneh and the light-as-air toum (Lebanese garlic sauce) to the hummus and smoky baba ghanouj.

Other mezza items worth sampling include the fried cauliflower served with tahini; fattouch salad with crispy fried pita bread and a variety of the Lebanese pies (from spinach, onion and sumac to the sambousek which are filled with minced beef and pine nuts and deep fried).

Kebabs, grills, wraps and shawarmas make up most of the main dishes. And while they may not be originally Lebanese, the French fries are hot, crispy and a moreish accompaniment with all of these.

Lebanese pizzas are available for breakfast and throughout the day — from the traditional Man’oushe Za’atar flatbread topped with thyme, sesame seeds and sumac (R62) and the Lahme B’ajeen pizza topped with beef mince, tomato and onion to the Manoush-B-Awarma topped with egg and lamb mince (both R60).

Hage tells me that to produce the menu, Pizza Mezza stocks about 400 ingredients.

“Lebanese food may look deceivingly easy but it is, in fact, complex with all the spices and components. Next door at the fish restaurant that we also own, there are only about 40 ingredients! But we pride ourselves on the fact that we prepare food authentically and well.”

Upstairs is his popular Escobar Lounge Bar and next door is a store selling Lebanese and Arabic food and products.