May We Suggest: Beirut
A boutique hotel, a bold new cuisine, and a play that buries the polite
MAY 25, 2025
Ghannouj Recommends
May 2025 Edition
A monthly guide to where to linger, savour, collect, and return to—curated for the culturally curious.
This month: Beirut, in full bloom.
When the air is heavy with orange blossom and the sea breeze carries a hint of sun-drenched possibility, there is no better city to wander. Beirut in May is a moodboard of contradictions: sensual, cerebral, soft, and searing. Here’s where to check in, check out, and check your cynicism at the door.
Where to Stay
Albergo Hotel in Beirut
Albergo Beirut
Achrafieh’s grand dame still knows how to flirt. A boutique hotel where Italian marble meets Levantine opulence, Albergo’s charm is all in the layering: Damascene silks, antique brass, and just enough velvet to make you feel like you’ve entered the salon of someone glamorous and ghostlike. Don’t miss an apéritif on the rooftop, where the view flirts with the skyline and the negronis come with za’atar-dusted almonds.
📍 Albergo Beirut | Achrafieh
Where to Eat
Uniizakaya Beirut
Uniizakaya
Tucked into the vibrant folds of Beirut’s Mar Mikhael, Uniizakaya is where Tokyo precision meets Levantine spirit. A Japanese izakaya by name but not by cliché, this spot reimagines sake pairings and sashimi platings with local produce and a sense of humour. Expect black garlic miso dips, shiso tabbouleh, and dangerously good craft cocktails. Sit at the bar. Order the omakase. Stay longer than intended.
📍 Uniizakaya | Mar Mikhael
Object of Desire
Syma Fine Porcelains
There’s tableware, and then there’s Syma. A love letter to heritage rendered in luminous porcelain, these handcrafted pieces by Beirut-based Syma Debbaneh are as poetic as they are practical. Think scalloped edges, inky calligraphy, and glazes that evoke Ottoman tiles and Mediterranean dusk. The kind of plates that make olives feel like a still life and labneh worthy of a museum wall.
📍 Syma Fine Porcelains | Beirut
Cultural Moment
Abdul Hamid Baalbaki courtesy of Barjeel Foundation
Abdul Hamid Baalbaki at the Sursock Museum
A retrospective that reads like a visual autobiography, Abdul Hamid Baalbaki: The Painter of the South brings together the myth, memory, and resistance that defined his career. From pastoral dreamscapes to searing political canvases, the show is a haunting, urgent reminder of Lebanon’s artistic lineage—and its unquiet ghosts.
📍 Sursock Museum | Beirut
What to Watch
“Al Arba’in” by Chadi Haber
Because of COVID, no one showed up to Madame Harawi’s husband’s funeral—or to Madame Sakkakini’s. But since both services happened in the same church, the two women met. One story led to another (with a healthy shake of salt and a scandalous spoonful of spices), and soon the funerals turned into a confessional—and then a battlefield. Secrets spilled, lies unraveled, and the question lingered: were they rivals... or just two women caught in a society that doesn’t forgive?.
Currently playing at Theatre Monot | Tickets Antoine Ticketing
Until next month...
Keep wandering, keep tasting, keep collecting.
And if you bring back anything from Beirut—let it be stories (or at the very least, a porcelain bowl).
Curated by Ghena El Hariri