Liquid: New Lebanese & Syrian Dining in Heliopolis

Restaurants

Liquid

- 27/05/2012

Liquid: New Lebanese & Syrian Dining in Heliopolis

15 El Merghany St. (opposite Heliopolis Club)
Lebanese
01111166727

reviewed by

Aly Gaballa

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Liquid: New Lebanese & Syrian Dining in Heliopolis

Imagine a place that combines both art and great food. Located across of Heliopolis club on El Merghany Street, with a little taste of Damascus, Liquid offers just that.

Finding Liquid is quite simple; its smart architectural design is unlike anything on El Merghany Street, although locating the entrance can be quite confusing. An entrance on the left side offers a walk way through which leads to the bottom floor. Liquid is divided into two seating areas; a smart looking downstairs open-area and an upstairs lounge. Ascending up the open air stairs, one gets a pretty good view of El Merghany Street. The combinations of grey, brown and orange in the upstairs lounge are blended together exceptionally well. Grey couches are available directly beneath effective air-conditioners. Tables with chairs are also available for more formal purposes. The walls are primarily covered with large windows that may give a feeling of an airport control tower.

Liquid’s menu offers a variety of traditional Egyptian grilled dishes and Syrian and Lebanese cuisine. Knowing prior to our visit that the Liquid’s chef is Syrian, we immediately targeted the Syrian dishes. We ordered the arayes (25LE) – meat-stuffed pitta bread – from the vast appetiser section, and the chicken shawerma fattah (49LE).

The arayes meat was large enough in quantity to be a main course meal. Complimenting the appetizer was a large sum of fries. With a slight hint of mint, the arayes tasted a lot like the hawawshi, cut up neatly into quarters. However, it was slightly burnt. While waiting for our fattah to arrive, we enjoyed traditional music played by a Syrian lutist l, which put us in the right mood. The chicken shawerma fattah was quite un-traditional as the plate was organized as such: the rice formed a circle in the centre of the plate, containing the crispy bread while the chicken Shawerma was scattered around the rice circle. It’s a pity the chef spent so long worrying about the appearance, as mixing a fattah is fundamental to the dish. Despite this, we devoured it all in less than five minutes, and were pleased with the outcome.

The staff at Liquid sent off very friendly vibes; we even struck up a conversation and were pleased with the fact that they backed up their politeness with something more substantial than a shy smile. Overall, we’d be happy to come back for more chicken shawerma fattah and the excellent music.