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While the season for harvesting grapes is upon us, Chateau Kefraya is organizing tours for every wine enthusiast who wants to live the experience from end to start. Come to Kefraya, one of Lebanon’s finest wine producers, to understand how a grape becomes an award winning wine.
During the harvesting season, Le Relais Dionysos, Kefraya’s restaurant welcomes you for a Lebanese breakfast served between 9 and 11am. Come and enjoy some fine labneh, local cheese, and fresh vegetables from the Bekaa Valley, eggs bel fekhara and foul mdammas...
Before we go into the details, most of us might agree that Kefraya’s restaurant has not been one of the best not to say the worst restaurant for a while now. I have come here over ten times only to be served by employees who had never worked in the hospitality field before and to eat meat that was too hard to chew among others things.
Now with a new executive chef, Hadybal Hage, I believe things have changed around here. The new chef has traveled around a number of restaurants and hotels before landing in Kefraya.
I can safely tell you about breakfast for now... and it was great.
Let's take a look around. The place is bigger and boasts new furniture made of old wine barrels. The have a new terrace while inside is the restaurant. Near it is a shop that sells fine bottles of wine, which have become unavailable to the market.
For LBP25,000, you can live the harvest experience, see the wine making process and the caves, as well as enjoying breakfast.
The celebrations started when a plate of fresh, crunchy vegetables landed on our table. I’m not sure how to explain it, or if you’ll even believe me, but the vegetables’ taste and consistency felt different compared to those we have in Beirut. It’s like they were picked just minutes earlier. Labneh followed, a tasty white cream from local producers, and a selection of mini manakish and fatayer.
Things got even better when the eggs arrived. Enjoying eggs in a clay pot was an interesting experience for me. Piece of garlic on top added a certain flavor without being overpowering. I stopped eating as soon as I discovered them but honestly, I didn’t feel any side effects afterwards. If you’re intolerant, don’t be scared; enjoy these perfect, moist and seasoned eggs, without eating the garlic itself for sure. Lightly oiled, every bite is full of taste.
The foul, or fava beans, was as good as the ones served in specialized establishments. Full of taste and body, everyone enjoyed them.
Just when we thought breakfast was over, a bowl of jam made from grapes and mixed with walnuts landed on the table. The idea was perfect! The texture was great, but the taste was too sweet for me. Even at a quarter of the sugar quantity you’d normally expect, the mix was still sweet. It could be better in my opinion.
A pleasant morning around the beautiful vineyards in the heart of the Bekaa, I promised myself to plan a lunch at Le Relais Dionysos soon but this time it will be on their terrace, which is made entirely of old barrels.
