Tim Hughes is delighted by the return of a culinary institution that lets its excellent, and reasonably priced, Lebanese food do the talking

With belly dancing, shisha pipes and huge platters of the best Lebanese food, Du Liban was an Oxford institution.

Up a flight of stairs above Boswells in Broad Street, the sprawling restaurant offered a slice of Beirut chic in the very heart of Oxford. When the store refused to renew its lease in 2007, however, owner Nasser Fawaz was forced to move.

He settled on a spot by the Thames at Folly Bridge but plagued by licensing issues over a pontoon, reluctantly walked away.

Now Nasser is back – and, with him, some of Oxford’s best Middle Eastern cuisine, courtesy of chef Kamal Eddin. The new Restaurant Du Liban, at the eastern reach of Cowley Road, is intimate compared to his previous establishments, but that’s no bad thing.

Decor is stylish and minimal and does not feel cramped. That said, belly dancers would have their work cut out to avoid knocking over bottles of the excellent Lebanese wine or the groaning platters of Levantine delights served at Du Liban. And with food like this, no distractions are necessary.

The menu offers a bewildering range of dishes, so I asked Nasser to decide.

He emerged with a mezza of 11 starters (£3-£4.50 each), and a mixed grill (£9.50) of kafta (minced lamb), shish taouq (chicken marinated in garlic and lemon juice) and lahim mashwi (lamb cubes).

They were served with rice (so perfectly cooked, I asked for the recipe) and flat bread.

Of the mezza, the best were the delicate sanbousek – heavenly crisped pastry parcels stuffed with either feta cheese and mint or lamb; fatayer sebanikh – pastries stuffed with creamy spinach and pine nuts; and lamb and spinach kibbeh – crunchy on the outside and yielding inside.

Tastiest of all were the thin and spicy sujak sausages.

To balance the meat, was a smooth fool moukala – broad beans in a rich garlic and coriander sauce; a tangy tabbouleh and zahra maqlia – fried cauliflower with cumin and tahini.

All were delicious and were quickly hoovered up, followed by treacle-thick Lebanese coffee, served in a long-handled stove-top pot, and fluffy baklava.

To finish, Nasser proudly offered his latest gadget: an e-shisha, allowing diners to merrily ‘vape’ away on apple-scented tobacco without incurring the wrath of Environmental Health. Very nice too.

But he and director Akil Budini don’t intend to stop there.

They have big plans for the back yard, with permission already granted for an illuminated shisha garden, and possibly even the return of belly dancing.

After tonight’s belt-loosening meal, I shall be first in line with my application to strut my stuff when it opens next month – though, in my heart of hearts, I don’t think Oxford is quite ready for that... yet.

Restaurant Du Liban, 282 Cowley Road, Oxford.
01865 701228