November 01, 2016 Hamra & Verdun Beirut Lebanon Middle East

BreadBerry: A Cafe in Beirut with a Lost Identity!

RATING:67/100

Welcoming: 4/5

Food Temperature: 8/10

Ambiance / Music: 6/10

Menu Choice: 4/5

Food Taste: 15/30

Architecture / Interior: 7/10

Food presentation: 9/10

Service: 7/10

Value for money: 6/10

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Breadberry is a casual restaurant located in Verdun. It is a cafe trottoir kind of place that serves a selection of sandwiches, salads, burgers and pizzas... Wood is almost everywhere around, white tiles and an open kitchen... and the logo is inspired by the American culture. We sat and received the menu, three papers on a carton clipboard. Interesting I thought...

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The first impression:

  • Soft music plays in the background.
  • You are obliged to sit outside; The restaurant doesn't have an air conditioning unit inside.
  • Waiters or managers do not wear a uniform; that's disturbing.
  • Is it a restaurant or a cafe? It is not clear; probably you should explain a bit about the concept on the menu or somewhere around. An employee in uniform will surely clarify that as well.
  • Three different booklets for the menu; one for the main deal, one for breakfast and desserts and a third for coffee.

The menu:

  • Salads (7 choices)
  • Burgers (6 choices)
  • Pizza (11 choices)
  • Sandwiches (10 choices)

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Breadberry opens for breakfast, lunch and dinner and offers a special menu for the early risers. Labneh and local cheese, scrambled eggs, omelette and pancakes.

The place looks nice, the person taking care of the order is gentle... up until an "Arghile" landed on the table next to us! Oh my God! What the hell just happened! Chicha at Breadberry... call the place "Tout W Khoboz" and serve Arghile. The waiter smokes the chicha, no uniforms, bizarre food, mistakes on the menu... It's a place with a lost identity! Let's eat...

The food experience; one item of every section:

  • The Breadberry salad served in a bowl looks fresh and colorful. Mixed lettuce, orange slices, grapefruit delices, pears, figs cut in quarters, pecan, almonds, dried cranberries with red pepper sauce. It's a good and healthy salad... lots of berries nuts, caramelized walnuts, flavorful sauce and a mix of greens. A great first impression.
  • An extremely dry burger: Dry meat that tastes more like kafta served in a chewy bun. The patty is too dark in color. The vegetables   don't add value much. There is some sauce on the lower bun but not enough. The fries are good though.
  • The pizza feels more like a cheese mankouche. It's thick dough tastes like Lebanese manakish, cheese, arugula and blueberry sauce. The pizza looks good but nothing else.
  • The turkey and cheese sandwich needs to be fresh, it needs toasting and needs to be simpler than this complicated mix. Turkey, white cheddar cheese, cornichons, caramelized beetroot, mayo, mustard in a ciabatta and not campagne bread like the menu states. The bread feels stale... dry and chewy filled with a complicated mix. Not my kind of cold cheese and turkey sandwich.

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Good ingredients and a generous mix of colors but unfortunately nothing was tasty enough to make me want to come back. And the chicha is surely not a great idea.

Tags: Cafe Verdun



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