Cafe Munir

Last night I attended a dinner with my husband at Café Munir.  It was a party for the company he works for and we were celebrating fifteen years in business.  His boss loves Café Munir, a Lebanese restaurant in Ballard.  Below is copied from the cafe's website and tells a little about the place.

Cafe Munir is a family-friendly, local, neighborhood restaurant and whisky bar.
Cafe Munir was born of a desire to reconnect with the flavors and smells of my youth. The familiar tastes  I grew up eating in Lebanon and Jordan. Tastes that were not well represented by the Seattle food community.
I want to have these flavors work, unadulterated and authentically, not re-purposed through the guise of Fast-food!
The food of the Middle East and especially Lebanon are some of the most delicately balanced, wholesome and varied cuisines in the world and it is my goal to represent them as truthfully as possible.

Well, the owner and chef, Rajah Gargour, definitely did represent the flavors well!  We all loved the food and appreciated the new food we were able to experience. 

                      The wine was flowing freely and each table had a couple of bottles of red. 

 Because they closed the restaurant for us, the food was served buffet style and we were able to try very many things.  There was countless kinds of hummus and each one had its own flavors.  At each table was a plate of naan, a leavened, oven-baked flatbread, to dip in the hummus.  So good! 

 My little plate, loaded up with hummus, feta and sheep cheese, green beans and tomatoes. 

 The servers brought this little plate of goodness over to each table.  I can't recall the name but its a pie with chicken and a flaky crust with cinnamon on top.  It was the perfect blend of savory and sweet and reminded me of Mincemeat Pie, a Venison pie from my childhood. 

 Then it was time for the meat course.  This was also served buffet style and we tried three different kabobs-lamb, chicken and beef.  So tender and absolutely delicious. 

 After eating for three hours it was time for the final course, cheese and dessert.  The Baklava was wonderful.  I've never met a Baklava I didn't like.  How can you go wrong with layers of phyllo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with honey? The other dessert was something new, none of us had ever tried.  I loved it.  It was a Lebenese savory dessert called Fragole E Farfalle.  It had cheese with a crunchy texture.  I love trying new desserts from around the world. 

We had so much fun at Café Munir and I would like to go back and order off the menu sometime. 

To see Café Munir's website and to read more about it, you can click here.