Hit Beirut restaurant Loris chooses Selfridges for its London debut

Loris restaurant is a big deal in Beirut, having opened there back in 2015 and, since then, followed up by opening in Cairo, Riyadh and Doha. Now it's coming to London as the latest new restaurant to open inside Selfridges. 

The restaurant itself is inspired by 1960s and 1970s Beirut, with an emphasis on Lebanese sharing dishes. And for the menu, they say they're taking traditional recipes and applying a contemporary touch. In practice, that starts with mezze like hummus topped with mini fried kibbeh, moutabal made with grilled and fried aubergine and toshka - dough baked with cheese and minced meat. For bigger dishes, they'll have manousheh topped with za’atar, cheese or keshk as well as charcoal-grilled lamb kebabs in sour cherry sauce and a big mixed grill platter. 

The desserts sound particularly enticing - there will be baklawa filled with ashta ice cream and chocolate knefe on offer. And if you're there bright and early at Selfridges, they're also doing breakfast.

As for where it's opening, as it's on the second floor, it sounds like it's taking over the Corner Restaurant space, last occupied by Jackson Boxer, but we'll try to get confirmation of that. Selfridges have been launching some interesting stuff of late, so this should be one to watch and definitely one to bear in mind if you're braving the Black Friday/Christmas crowds.