Damascus Gate

Price for two: €€
Portion: Moderate
Overall experience: 4/5
Website: https://damascusgatedublin2.com/

The one thing that binds all humans together is food. Taste, being one of the commonly used senses, has the power to create bonds among all species. As a foodie myself, my husband and I are in the process of trying out different cuisines whilst living in the capital of Ireland.

Having only heard about how excellent Lebanese cuisine is, we decided to try it by dining at Damascus Gate in Dublin. Cosied with Middle Eastern interiors, this restaurant will welcome you with warmth.

Since we did not have much knowledge about this cuisine, we were assisted by the employee on what would soothe our palate based on our food preferences. However, we also wanted to use this opportunity to try their traditional drinks and dishes.

We started by tasting their traditional alcoholic drink called “Arak”. Although this drink tasted sweet with a flavour of fennel seeds, we were strictly warned that this drink could make you ‘very drunk, very fast.’ So having tasted a little bit of this drink, we moved on to the next big thing; Starters.

A vegetarian starter called ‘Baba Ghanouj’ caught our attention. We were subtly surprised by the burst of flavours among the different items on the platter, which included mashed smoked aubergine with a mix of sesame tahini floating with the flavours of extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.

Being in Dublin,  fries are a very, very common snack. So we were not sure if their ‘Traditional Syrian fries’ would be any different from what we had tasted before, and it turns out it was nothing like we had ever tasted. But, with a twist of spice, you will enjoy this side dish, which was quite filling, to be honest.

For the main course, we tried their very famous ‘Kabseh’. A mixed rice dish with well-cooked lamb, dressed with the most flavour ablest spices, sprinkled with nuts and served with lamb, nicely filling our appetite.

This place not only has many non-vegetarian dishes, but it has plenty of Vegetarian and VEGAN options to serve people with their varied food choices. And if you are a sweet tooth like me, you can complete your meal with their traditional pastry called  ‘Baklava’.

So if you are on the lookout to try a new cuisine this weekend, Damascus Gate would be an ideal choice.