Al Baylassan

The Room

Al Baylassan occupies a two-storey stone building in the heart of the Byblos Old Souk, a five-minute walk from the Crusader castle. The restaurant has become, over the past decade, the de facto venue for Byblos's most-serious Lebanese fine dining — the room where Beirut-trained chefs apply modern plating, reduction sauces, and genuinely confident wine pairings to classical Lebanese ingredients.

Chef Hadi Dagher's menu is structured as a contemporary tasting: a mezze amuse, a cold mezze progression, a single hot-mezze plate built to order, a principal course (usually fish or lamb), and a dessert sequence that frequently rotates Lebanese pastries reinterpreted with French technique. The labneh with wild thyme oil and the kibbeh nayyeh (raw lamb tartare) are as good as any in the country. The grilled prawns with tahini and the whole sea bream on salt are the dinner-hour signatures.

The interior is the quiet option — vaulted stone ceilings, low lighting, and a wine cellar that occupies the entire basement. The terrace is the reason to book. Set in a small stone courtyard with jasmine on the walls and a view across the souk roofs toward the harbour, the outdoor seating is one of the most romantic dining environments in the Eastern Mediterranean. Six to eight tables only; reserve well in advance for Friday or Saturday dinner.

The wine list is mostly Lebanese — Château Musar, Ixsir, Massaya, Domaine des Tourelles — with a small international page for guests who need the comfort of a Burgundy. Al Baylassan does the hard work of convincing international guests that Lebanese wine belongs in the world conversation; the pairings are thoughtful, the staff are educated, and the bottles are priced reasonably.