Full of flavour

Lebanon has not received the best publicity over the years: Beirut and the Bekaa Valley now conjure up visions of conflict rather than culture and cuisine.

But this tiny country on the Mediterranean, whose capital was once described as the Paris of the Middle East, has a long history as the meeting point between Asia and Europe, and in London its sophisticated, elegant cuisine seems finally to be getting the attention it deserves.

The similarities with southern Europe are notable: mezze are a Lebanese equivalent of tapas; powerful spices are tempered by more familiar flavours such as lemon, olive oil, mint, parsley, garlic and tomato; bread is an integral part of meals and is often used as the main eating utensil.

Not that you'd appreciate much of this by going to a standard British Lebanese restaurant. The same old dishes are peddled again and again, usually grills served alongside indifferent renditions of tabbouleh (cracked wheat salad) and houmous (chickpea dip). For those passionate about Lebanese food, it's a cause for despair.

Karim Haidar, head chef at Piccadilly restaurant Fakhreldine, was drafted in when the restaurant's owners decided to swap the belly dancing clichè for a different approach. In Haidar's Parisian restaurant, he'd caused consternation when he decided not to offer mezze at all.

'Normally, if you go to a Lebanese restaurant, you know what dishes you will find,' he says, 'but the food eaten in Lebanese homes is different.

'A lot of those home recipes are never included in restaurants. We're trying to change that.

'We're also trying to innovate. Lebanese food is like Latin or ancient Greek - beautiful but dead, nothing ever changes. There are ingredients that only ever get used in one particular dish. Why? We want to introduce new ideas.'

Showing off the hidden delights of Lebanese home cooking is also what inspired Amal Oakes to set up Amoul, her delicatessen in Little Venice, last summer: she has already been asked to provide the food for the trendy Notting Hill bar Tom And Dick's.

Oakes, originally from southern Lebanon, is dedicated to her cause: she prepares fresh bread daily, cooks the chickpeas for her houmous, makes the lemonade herself, and changes her menu every day.

'People are tired of eating fabricated food,' she says.

For her baba ghanoush, the aubergines are charred before being mixed with tahine (sesame seed paste), garlic and lemon to create a punchily smoky dip. The tabbouleh and fattoush (or peasants' salad, with toasted bread) are made piquant by the addition of juniper. There are sparky vegetarian dishes such as hindbeh (wild chicory with caramelised onion) and simple but flavourful lamb and chicken dishes, such as lamb mince with spinach, served with rice.