Lebanon: Varouj Restaurant
Varouj is an incredible Armenian restaurant located in a tight backstreet of Bourj Hammoud in Lebanon. The place is tiny on the inside with only 4 tables and the restaurant is run by a father and son, the son cooks while the father takes care of the guests. Anyone who’s watched the Seinfeld episode with the soup Nazi will feel right at home in Varouj because the father is Lebanon’s version of the soup Nazi.
What makes Varouj unique other than the really good food is the character of the father. We were five people having lunch and we were ordering the cold appetizers when the father decided we had enough appetizers and walked away. He wouldn’t let us order any more. Then when he felt it was time he came to us and asked us what hot dishes we wanted and while we were ordering he again told us that he thought we had enough and walked off. We wanted frogs for example but he refused telling us we already had enough dishes. Then later he even decided to cancel one of our other dishes. So we ordered frogs again and again he told we didn’t need it. The table behind us called the father and told him they wanted some soujouk and makanek (kinds of sausages) and he told them not now later. Its crazy. He also wouldn’t remove a dish from the table unless it was wiped clean.
The food was delicious, we ordered: hommos, moutabal, fattoush, loubyeh, batata harra, labneh, tongue, spleen, kibeh neyeh, sheep balls, little birds, chicken liver, chicken wings, basterma, soujouk and makanek. All the dishes were the best I have ever tasted.
The way everything is priced is also interesting. Basically nothing is priced and there is no menu. You go in, you order what you want and in the end he will tell you how much you need to pay and you don’t even get a receipt. Our bill came out exactly 100$ but according to my friend if we had ordered less or more the bill would have still come out the same. If you are planning a trip to Lebanon this is a place you need to try if you want a taste of local cuisine. The best way to find the place is to ask a taxi driver in Bourj Hammoud to take you or give the father a call on 03-882933
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28 Comments, add your own...
1. Zorbon | May 7th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Anywhere else in the world, this would be strange…But not in Lebanon :D
2. Shoxin | May 7th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Sheep balls…. *shrug*
3. cajie | May 7th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
That’s hilarious. I like this guy. He’s better than the soup nazi.
But…spleen, sheep balls?
I’ve lost all interest in lunch for the day.
4. Mr F1sh | May 7th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Sheep penis tastes even better
5. xeonali | May 7th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
sheep balls = fatayil ‘3anam .. rounded pieces of lamb and its not testicles !
6. Mark | May 7th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
actually, sheep balls = bayd ghanam and they are lamb testicles
7. Shoxin | May 7th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
So erm… How did it taste like? Doesn’t really seem like something I can bring myself to eat @_@
8. Kuwait | May 7th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Sheep balls and little birds…
Can’t stop laughing.
9. nibaq | May 7th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Mark, stop making things up.
10. Yazeed | May 7th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
if this was in kuwait:
the restaurant would get half a star, for the good food
by now you would have emailed a couple ppl about the awful experience that you got.
but…lebanon, ghair :P
11. Rollen | May 7th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
The armenian community in lebanon is very interesting, i went to 3anjar, 4 years ago, the shops and most of the shop banners where in armenian, and a big chunk of them speak arabic poorly, they don’t have “he” and “she” in there language (it causes a lot of confusing for new comers), so don’t be surprised (or feel less of a man :P ) if someone called you “inty” in lebanon.
“hommos, moutabal, loubyeh, tongue, kibeh neyeh, little birds, chicken liver, chicken wings, basterma, soujouk and makanek”
…. your making my mouth water :-|*
12. mocman | May 7th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
some people will eat anything……
13. Basit | May 7th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
love how Rollen left out the sheep balls from the list :P
14. sfsa78 | May 7th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
So basically this guy is trying to get away with giving you less amount of food while still charging you $100…
and thats good how???
15. Jbb | May 7th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
didn’t u notice that there was no reception in the rest. The father thinks its rude to talk when ur eating ..
16. nxman | May 7th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
sheep balls thats bloody disgusting!
17. Mark | May 7th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
what makes people keep going back to the soup nazi?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Yeganeh
18. holla | May 7th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Ok food with horrible service and ripoff prices. Sounds like most places here.
19. sfsa78 | May 7th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
No receipt.. isn’t ther a consumer law against that?? for obvious reasons
And is it true that most restaurants there have two menus with different prices, the cheaper one for the lebanese, and the expensive one for the rest.
20. Mark | May 7th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
2 menus? no never heard of that, probably just an urban legend.
21. Talal | May 7th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
“Armenian food” sounds awfully like Lebanese food.
22. Talal | May 7th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
And you shouldn’t have paid more than $25 for what you ate. $100 for what is basically a bunch of appetizers is just WRONG.
23. Mark | May 7th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Talal $25 is like two appetizers at al mayas or bourj hamam.
24. zaydoun | May 7th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Sounds more interesting than the over-rated Mayyass… although I usually go to Meyrig in Gemmayzeh for good Armenian cuisine
25. Amjad | May 8th, 2008 at 12:02 am
What if he said that I need to pay $100 and I thought what we had was not worth $100 and refused to pay $100 but paid something else? Would he take whatever I pay without arguing ?
I just don’t get the point of having no menu and no receipt ..
26. Oz | May 8th, 2008 at 4:31 am
Try to visit Appo its in burj hammod as well and order special kafta its a must..
27. Moey | May 8th, 2008 at 4:55 am
Armenian food is the best, ask a half armenian :D nothing beats sojouk!
28. Eliedh | May 8th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
hehehe my parents went to varouj 5 days ago!! they described it in the exact same way!!
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