BARON — Restaurant in Medawar

An experience to be rated as high as the grades allow!

So what is Baron: as they define themselves perfectly on their website, Baron is a  Mediterranean influenced, European executed and entirely Beirut! They are striving to be creative and provide a welcoming place  and to be the favorite, neighborhood joint! They are cooking food that is meaningful and delicious with local ingredients coming from all over Lebanon.

Without a reservation, we were tempted to try our luck of finding 2 seats in the very busy newly opened Baron in Mar Mikhayel. Lucky us, not only we had two seats but hey were on the Bar, food station as they call it! A sort of live cooking station that will make your mouth water to try all their "creations"!

A versatile menu to satisfy all cravings! You can find the menu on their website (though prices are slightly higher than what is written).

The welcome bread basket was two pieces of very tender focaccia style bread pieces with a muhamara like dip: the best way to start teasing your palate and prepare it for the coming treats! Loved the twisted plate:)

We ordered:

The aubergine salad: hail to their chef, how creative can someone go with such basic ingredients: a perfect tribute to Mediterranean cuisine indeed: A big aubergine sliced longitudinally in two, roasted till its meat got tender, then topped with Tahini sauce, pomegranate seeds and lots and lots of roasted pine nuts!

Calamari à la provençale: with Zhoug: which is technically the coriander, garlic and parsley mix that coats the calamari: cooked to perfection

Apple pie: their version with a twist: it reminded me of the Lebanese fried atayef stuffed with caramelized apples and dusted with cinnamon and walnuts all coated with caramel sauce and a vanilla ice-cream scoop on the side: a perfect end of the meal.

As I told you before, being seated on the bar, we witnessed several preparations that only made us more eager to come back. That includes the chicken dumplings: where Shawarma meets Chinese dumplings served in bamboo box, the whole roasted cauliflower salad as well as the kale salad decorated with edible flowers.

Baron placed the barre really high with their innovative cuisine. Thank you for such a unique experience; can not wait to be back indeed!

That was my face expression...

I made a booking for 7 but I decided to turn up early as I finished my tour early. I did asked on Whatsapp whether there will be any issue arriving earlier and they were nice to accommodate me. I arrived at 6 and there was no one in the restaurant. I think they have just started the hours for dinner but the staff were obviously not well prepared yet and still in the midst of cooking/eating their dinner. I was brought to the "bar" to sit, though it was just a slightly long wooden table before the kitchen where they would put the dish there after finished cooking to do the garnishing and seasoning. I looked at the menu and asked the staff for some recommendations, in the end I didn't really follow because I wanted to eat some seafood while they recommended red meat. The staff was quite nice though, just as I wanted to order the 3rd dish he asked me if I could finish the food. I thought he told me the portions were not big, but he told me I could order later if I still felt hungry after finishing the food I ordered. I quite like the food I have ordered. Starting from the bread they offered which was full of seasame seeds, it was soft, warm and good. The oyster mushrooms were bigger than I expected, and it was quite flavourful, the seasonings used were more on the strong side. The calamari was expected to be rather small but was also very enjoyable. By then was quite full and decided to have the dessert than ordering another main. I thought the baklava was supposed to be the signature so I ordered it. Tasted good initially but was later too overwhelmed by the spices. Not sure if they had too much cinnamon the taste was just lurking inside the mouth with a bitter aftertaste, it was good but I didn't like the aftertaste. Overall a decent meal, one of the better ones in Lebanon. Price is a little steep but is quite worth the money. It was a little strange though, I finished the meal at about 7 and I was still the only diner in the restaurant. Do people only come...

Sadly very disappointing. If it weren’t for the great service I would have given the place a 1 star. We’ve traveled around the world and lebanon and this till date was unfortunately one of the least please food experiences. The food overall had bland or over spiced dishes depending on which one you got. We may have ordered the wrong items but these came as a recommendation from the waiter so you’d think he would be recommending the best dishes. We got the Brussels sprouts which had a beautiful seasoning but you lost the taste of the vegetable. I thought I was eating a delicious potato. I would get this again but manage my expectations that it’s just the dressing that was good. We got the potatoes nuggets which were sometimes undercooked and had a weird seasoning that just didn’t fit well with the salsa and mayo. We also got the calamari which perhaps might have been the best dish. The padron peppers were sub optimal and has very low composition to the plate. The shredded Bao which we had high hopes for came in a stale bun and extremely over salted meat. We actually couldn’t eat this so left it after a few bites.

The drinks were also not super great. Strong alcohol and they were generous but the only drink that was enjoyable was the gin basil.

The waiters were great and service was amazing … sadly the food was extremely disappointing. I think this place might have once been good or we may have come on a bad night. Not sure...