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For Bahrainis and Bahrain-lovers, the holy month of Ramadan elicits a treasure trove of sweet memories – many of which revolve around the feasts that come at the end of a long day of fasting.
Last weekend, for our Eating Review, we ventured down one of these memory lanes by visiting Hala Lebnan on Reef Island – a Lebanese patisserie and sweet shop that boasts authentic flavours from Tripoli, a city renowned for its delicious desserts.
Tripoli, the largest city in Lebanon, is a hub of sweets, with entire neighbourhoods filled with families engaged in the careful preparation of desserts like kunafa, atayef and mafroukeh.
Although a trip to Lebanon may not be in the books anytime soon, we decided to go for the next-best thing – authentic sweets prepared by four chefs from Tripoli with ingredients imported straight from the land of milk and honey.
Located along the shore of Reef Island, I was swooned by Hala Lebnan’s seaside views and idyllic outdoor seating while I waited for my colleagues to arrive.
I also observed a constant stream of people picking up packages to take home for their Iftar and late-night feasts. In fact, since the shop opened several weeks ago, it has managed to sell out every night, with many of the popular treats sold by 9pm, so make sure you get there early!
Soon, I was joined by my colleagues as well as our hosts for the evening.
“All these desserts are made fresh on a daily basis with ingredients imported straight from Lebanon, with an added touch of nefas,” Hala Lebnan’s restaurant manager told us excitedly, explaining that nefas is the Arabic word for passion and love.
“For centuries now, there is a tradition of exchanging sweets and gifts, and many students, who used to go to Lebanon from Bahrain, made sure to bring back some of its desserts.”
As he talked about the history of dessert-making in Tripoli, a platter of four of their most popular desserts appeared at our table.
Now, being an Arab dessert novice, I could only recognise the kunafa, which, in the platter, was served with ashta – a rich and luxurious clotted cream, layered between the kunafa.
Joseph and Chef Ahmed, who joined us at the table, also enlightened me about mafroukeh ashta – a cross between a pie and pudding, again topped with ashta and garnished with a caramelised lemon flower.
When I was introduced to the atayef al safeeri – a sweet dumpling filled with cream and topped with nuts, I started to notice a pattern.
Each of the desserts were prepared with the same base ingredients – semolina, cream, cheese and nuts, but with very different methods.
The mafroukeh for example, takes the same base as the kunafa, which takes a day to prepare, and adds some attar (sugar syrup), to make a foundation on top of which the ashta is layered.
And although I have tasted ashta among some other Arab desserts, having it fresh was a revelation.
The fourth dish on our platter – the halawat el jibneh - completely blew my mind. A semolina and cheese dough, mixed with ashta cream – it is like a dessert version of pasta.
Joseph told us that while we were enjoying the shredded version of the dessert, the more popular rolled version was already sold out.
Ah snap! An excuse to visit Hala Labnan again, I say!
And as we sipped on our coffees, the team also brought out another kunafa – this time layered with fresh melted cheese, which the laws of desserts dictate, must be eaten while fresh and hot. And although the kunafa with ashta was quite good, the one with melted cheese was out-of-this-world!
And because we had started with dessert, we capped off the evening with their only savoury dish – laham bi ajeen – a Mediterranean pizza of sorts made with fresh phyllo pastry and a meat paste at its crux.
A tour of the facility followed which gave us more reasons to revisit Hala Lebnan. So this weekend, if you are missing the Iftars and feasts of yesteryear, head over to Hala Lebnan and pick up some desserts. Make sure to try the kunafa with melted cheese and the halawat el jibneh – but I warn you, other desserts will simply pale in comparison afterwards!
For more details, follow @halalebnan.bh on Instagram.
