Furnsaj Restaurant & Bakery — Restaurant in Los Angeles

My family's heritage is Lebanese, and it's really hard to find a really good Lebanese bakery. That's why we love Furnsaj so much. Their food reminds me of my childhood. Furn means bakery in Arabic, and bread, pastries and Mana'ish are made on a traditional saj, which looks like an upside-down wok with fire beneath it. Thus the name Furnsaj.

We love the Zaatar Mana'ish, cheese melt Mana'ish, and the spinach pie. Zaatar means thyme in Arabic, and it's usually dried and mixed with extra virgin olive oil, dried sumac for tartness and toasted sesame seeds for nuttiness. The Zaatar mixture is then spread on fresh dough and baked under very high heat, similar to pizza. It's eaten with tomatoes, cucumbers and mint leaves. The spinach pie has excellent flavor, with the tartness of sumac, lemon juice, and onion all coming through. It's very authentic. The cheese Mana'ish is golden brown with a hint of saltiness from the Akawi cheese that is used. This is truly delicious. The items I mentioned can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

They also have more famous Lebanese menu items, such as sandwiches or plates of chicken or beef shawarma, roasted in a vertical spit, felafel, or chicken tawouk, which is roasted and served with garlic paste and pickles on the side or in a sandwich.

I recommend you give Furnsaj a try for a little something different, but oh...

Let me start by saying I went to this place because of the menu and prices they have online. But it turns out that when you're actually there, they are so over prized and nothing like the plates seen on Google, they probably serve it like the pictures on google for their family members, but I ordered a combo which was $25 dollars and all I got was 3 pieces of chicken kabob and 3 pieces of beef kabab, a whole load of dry rice "which was mainly what my plate was filled with, RICE", wish it would have at least been good rice but it was disgusting. I also ordered 6 grape leaves rolls, ONLY the rolls. 3 falafels which were completely dried and flavorless. The point is I was very disappointed of this place, all I got was rice practically and the girl that took my order was rude and seemed like she was in a hurry the whole time. Not a very friendly or pleasant place at all. At the end I paid $60 for a meal that was very disappointing. Never again!! I love all kind of middle eastern food, and I have been to many restaurants that serve the same type of food, and by far this was the only poor food, poor serving, poor service, poor flavor that I have been to. Save your money and...

LEBANON 🇱🇧 Excerpt from Eat the World Los Angeles: 2020 has many side effects, the least important of which is probably the inability to enjoy a few cups of hot tea after a big meal at Furn Saj, surrounding yourself with the gossip from other tables and sounds from the kitchen. Thankfully this seven year old restaurant and bakery is still churning out the same quality of foods that have made it both a local favorite and something worth coming long distances to enjoy.

Some people will say the magic is happening on the multiple shawarma spits, or the incredibly light falafel, and they would not be wrong. But the true marvel of Furn Saj is happening with the bread. In years past as you enjoyed that tea, you were hovered over by a large wall mural that depicted a woman stretching out dough in front of her and a man cooking it next to her.

They are both in deep concentration, making sure each piece of saj is perfect. Traditionally the bread is cooked on an inverted (convex) griddle that most people in Los Angeles would call a comal, but in the Levant the instrument is called a saj and where the bread gets...