Citrón, the Lebanese cuisine that goes home in Lisbon | Gastronomy
Karim Yafaoui missed the “authentic Lebanese cuisine”, the spices, the mixture of sweet and savory, the “explosion of flavor”. He knew what he was looking for, but decided that the best thing he could do was to cook these dishes himself – and, by the way, share them with all the people from Lisbon who also like them or who simply want to find out what Karim is talking about.
Lebanese by birth, but Swiss “by adoption”, he came to Portugal with his family “because there is a climate that we like a lot”. They came for the first time in January and in April they were back, with suitcases and luggage, settling in Lisbon. “I used to work at the bank and my wife [Virginie Maillard] is linked to luxury products, but we have a passion for food”, he says. “I said ‘we need to show what true Lebanese cuisine is’”.
The project grew in both their heads and at this moment it is reality: based on a dark kitchen, Weat, in Alcântara, Citrón operates with a Delivery (the dream is to be able to extend this service to Europe, with frozen food), and to remove, but also meals and events. There is also a possibility to eat in the place, where there are some tables, both inside and outside. And the couple has also started to organize themed nights.
In addition to the fixed dishes on the menu, there are special dishes on different days of the week (ideally, take a look at the Instagram, which can be, to cite the most recent examples, cauliflower with bulgur and vermicelli or freekeh (cereal made from green wheat) and meat or chicken with lemon confit and roasted potatoes.
Karim’s idea is to go on testing these different dishes to find out which ones are most pleasing and, eventually, introduce them to the menu. “Lebanese cuisine is extremely rich”, it says. “Here in Portugal, people don’t know her well. We won’t be able to do everything, but we will try to introduce a new dish each time, a new recipe, to show this richness. ”
He has three Syrian citizens who have refuge in Portugal, working with him at the Citrón and guaranteeing to get practically all the ingredients he needs here, with precedents for some spices. “You have extraordinary tomatoes here. In Switzerland, tomatoes with the same taste have not been researched. It’s something that transports us to the terroir Lebanese. ”
The menu runs through the classics of Middle Eastern cuisine, the humus, the Baba Ganoush (aubergine batter), the tabbouleh (salsa-based salad), the Kibe. “Turkish and Ottoman cuisine is at the base of Lebanese cuisine,” says Karim. “O Kibe, for example, is born out of necessity. As people took an animal, they killed it, beat the meat until it was soft, mixed grain and salt, if they could find it, and so they had protein and carbohydrates. ” What makes the difference, in this case, is the mixture of spices used by each cook (without Citrón there is, among other things, pomegranate molasses).
One of the dishes Karim is particularly proud of is the fatteh of meat, which includes meat, yogurt, crispy Lebanese bread and pine nuts. To accompany the food, create your own lemonade, flavored with orange blossom, which they sell in the bottle.