What Chez Jean-Claude
Where Rue Gabriel Khabbaz, Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon
Since October 2009
Why A charming, intimate and utterly authentic French dining experience that has considerably raised the bar.
Honestly, new restaurants bore me probably because they’re rarely new. Inside you will find the same old tried and tested concepts, rehashed over and over again. Their décor is typically blah, their food mediocre and the amount you must spend is largely unwarranted. But once in a while, a restaurant will come along that has the ability to ignite a foodie’s passion. Chez Jean-Claude is just that kind of place. I absolutely love it, so did the majority of the Ultimate’s judges and I am certain you will too.
Having opened in mid-October 2009, this French bistro is funnily enough the only place I ever eat these days, that’s when I’m not staying at home of course. Located in an Achrafieh back street, deep in the heart of French-speaking Beirut, it’s a very small place that seats only 26 lucky diners at any one time and there’s no menu so your meal choices are limited. “I import a lot of my ingredients from France and the rest I shop for on a daily basis,” says Jean-Claude Alfa, the owner and head chef of the exclusive eatery. “I tailor the menu accordingly, and we will constantly adapt according to what’s in season.”
Sophie, the bistro’s maitre d’hotel is Jean-Claude’s wife and she’s as authentically French as the place itself. Graciously and charmingly attending to each and every customer, Sophie and Jean-Claude’s stable presence in the restaurant add a personal touch to the experience. The fact that there are only 26 seats and just two waiters servicing these tables is of course the main source of intimacy however. But this is a restaurant in which every detail has been scrutinised and carefully tended to. From the excellent acoustics, which were achieved thanks to French oak panelling on the walls and deep pile carpets on the floor, you may be a little amazed by antique silverware if not by the rich Holland & Sherry fabrics on the tables and seats.
But of course it is the food that separates Chez Jean-Claude from the plethora of restaurants blossoming across our region. So for once the high prices are well deserved. I personally recommend the asparagus starter, the pepper steak main course and the honey ice cream desert although everything here is divine so you really can’t go wrong. “Light, refined, learned and noble, harmonious and orderly, clear and logical, the cooking of France is, in some strange manner, intimately linked to the genius of her greatest men.” This quote by the 19th century French writer Marcel Rouff may just as easily have been a modern description of the genius of Chez Jean-Claude.
