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Up on the 19th floor is a restaurant. Up on the roof is where breakfast is served every morning until 10:30am in a nice ambiance and a beautiful view over Beirut's bay.
After visiting the Lancaster's Iftar last week, I planned to come back to this beautiful hotel where a fresh breath of perfume welcomes you alongside a smiling valet, an attentive receptionist, while a feel of cleanliness takes over the whole building.
The first impression is great. Leave your car and take the elevator to Fumé bar up on the 19th. The door opens on a large, varied buffet set in the heart of a fresh place oozing positive vibes. You'll find light blue colors and old style chandeliers on a terrace with an arabesque finish.
Fayrouz welcomes you with her majestic voice and accompanies you during breakfast... I wished I could stay here all day.
We walked in, choosing a table on our own when I would have preferred that someone welcomed us and brought us to the table. Afterwards we asked for coffee when it should be offered automatically. The staff is indeed welcoming, the saj woman wants to please you with every bite she creates, the egg chef works with finesse and passion and the management walks around to make sure everything is smooth.
I took a walk around. The buffet is clean and appetizing, the sections are varied and the portions generous are with two live cooking stations serving eggs and saj.
I started with scrambled eggs and vegetables. The chef is a king of eggs. Oil free, round, of a beautiful light yellow with mixed colors, moist on the inside lightly cooked on the outside without any crunch and fresh vegetables. That's a really well prepared plate.
The saj is good, generously filled, a thin dough embraces a smooth white cheese, zaatar or keshek the three choices are available and served in a plate decorated with tomatoes, cucumbers and mint leaves.
The buffet:
- A selection of jars with Labneh, olives, eggplant in oil and one with pickled cucumbers.
- Six choices of cheese and more than four cold cuts.
- Labneh, white cheese, mchallaleh and halloumi.
- Hot choices: Baked potatoes with cheese, sausages and boiled eggs.
- A selection of bread and viennoiseries with croissants and cakes.
- Fresh fruits and a fruit salad.
- Fava beans (foul) and sahlab.
- Cornflakes and freshly squeezed fruits.
I filled a plate of labneh, white cheese, goat labneh and local white cheese which I enjoyed with a brioche bun. All was good. Afterwards I moved to the dessert part. The cinnamon rolls are delicious, the croissants very well done and the cake adequately cooked. The sweet part is well done.
While walking inside I discovered a table flyer proposing pancakes and waffles as well as eggs from the kitchen. They don't have Eggs Benedict and the shocking part is that they don't have pork bacon; an international five star in Lebanon that doesn't serve pork bacon? The poached eggs we ordered were pathetic. Two tiny little unappetizing eggs served in a small plate on moist toast. That's deceiving in shape and taste.
For me, breakfast at a five star hotel should offer Eggs Benedict. Unfortunately, not at The Lancaster.
Breakfast at The Lancaster Plaza is priced at LBP50,000 including the open buffet, the choices prepared back in the kitchen and two live stations which seems to be reasonable.
I had an espresso before moving on to my next stop.
I enjoyed my breakfast and would surely come back to enjoy the view, the fresh breathe of air, the soothing music and the food, it's perfect for meetings and gives a fresh start of day.
