Tintamarre, the good Lebanese restaurant in the 19th arrondissement

This year, Lebanese restaurant Tintamarre celebrated its 3rd birthday! An opportunity to rediscover this fine 19th arrondissement restaurant with its Levantine flavors.

Opened in the 19th arrondissement by chef Gabrielle Beck, who trained at Lenôtre, the Tintamarre restaurant offers Levantine cuisine made with organic ingredients or ingredients from short, artisanal and seasonal circuits. This Lebanese restaurant has also been awarded the Ecotable label, which promotes sustainable food.

To celebrate its 3rd anniversary in style this year, Gabrielle Beck unveils a menu packed with goodies. Alongside mouth-watering sandwiches like pig shawarma, Levantine mezzés like traditional hummus, zucchini caviar and chickpea fatteh (7.5€), a fresh starter, although we'd have liked to see it even more tinged with flavors from elsewhere.

I was particularly taken with the Lebanese-style octopus with parsley (12€), with the octopus cooked for a long time and then snacked. The result is tender flesh with a crispy exterior, a real success.

If you're looking for something even more sophisticated, try traditional Lebanese dishes, prepared from local produce and simmered for hours: pig shawarma, sheikh el mehchi - eggplant stuffed with minced beef - and hejjé - a Lebanese-style frittata.

For our part, we tried the excellent halloumi croquettes (€14.5), prepared in an original way: they are caramelized with honey and zaatar for a pleasantly sweet and salty finish. The famous kefta were also on our table. Made from beef and lamb, these skewers are served pink and dipped in a tangy hummus to be enjoyed with roasted potatoes. To accompany them, try a surprising house cocktail made with arak (Lebanese brandy) and date syrup .

For desserts, we opted not to choose and tried all three: rice pudding with cardamom and roasted peaches (8€), honey yoghurt and zaatar cookie (7€) and citrus pavlova with orange blossom (8.5€). The desserts are very well made, but we'd have liked them to be even more straightforward, even more Levantine!

Before we leave, we'll take a look at Tintamarre's grocery corner, well-stocked with traditional products (sumac, pomegranate molasses, tahini) and homemade jars prepared by the owner, like these chard leaves stuffed with tomato and parsley rice (€14) or these pink radishes and red cabbage in brine.