Stuff We Love
Danielle Issa

Our Favorite Home-Based Bakeries in Beirut

Homemade is always best, isn’t it? Whether it’s Grandma’s aromatic molasses biscuits or a zesty loaf cake chock-full of citrus and grated carrot, you know love can’t simply be bought from the supermarket pastry display.

A number of people have taken this realization and transformed it into a living, breathing concept: the home-based bakery. Beirut boasts a growing number of these food outlets. We featured a batch of them months ago, and here’s a fresh, new selection worth its weight in sugar, spice and everything nice.

1. From Grandma With Love

(Image via Facebook)

Farah Malhas and Joy Zahar founded the boutique home bakery From Grandma with Love a mere six months ago, though they’re anything but amateur. They craft seven varieties of cookies, 11 cakes, five cheesecakes, and four other desserts including brownies, lazy cake, donuts, and date delights. Get a whiff of their carrot cake: “superbly moist, textured, spiced, and slathered with tangy cream cheese icing.” Not only will you fall in love with their edible delights, but the rustic packaging has a quaint, homey feel to it, too.

From Grandma With Love
Mob.: +96171889088

2. Better From Scratch

(Image via Facebook)

Better From Scratch is a catering and bakery service conceived by Nahlan Saadé, a current fashion-merchandising management student who’s been honing her culinary skills for years. She offers a wide variety of appetizers and main courses, including a Greek gyro and giant stuffed pasta shells, as well as decadent desserts like her signature red velvet Nutella cookies. Don’t miss her ice-cream-cone-studded rainbow sprinkles cake!

Better From Scratch
Amir Omar St.
Minet el-Hosn
Mob.: +96178965285

3. Dulce n’ Banana

(Image via Instagram)

Have a few hours to spare? Because a few minutes of browsing Sarah Menassa’s Instagram account will quickly stretch into hours—you simply can’t get enough! The 20-something home baker and food blogger is creator and founder of Dulce n’ Banana, and she crafts everything from extravagant candy and chocolate-adorned cakes to chocolate-dipped meringues and baby shower cupcakes. There’s no limit to her genius, as her sinfully delicious truffles attest.

Dulce n’ Banana
Deek el Mehdi, Metn
Tel.: 9613360141

4. The Food Dealer

(Image via No Garlic No Onions)

The Food Dealer in Mar Mikhael features a deli-counter and café whose quiches are sourced by home baker Sarah Chaoul. She fashions three mouthwatering varieties: Wild Zaatar with “zouba3” and white cheese, Quiche Lorraine à l’Ancienne, and Wild Mushroom with Truffle Salt. Thick, buttery, sable-like crusts; silky, creamy fillings; and premium ingredients intense on flavor: these quiches are undoubtedly first-rate.

The Food Dealer
Street 61, District 75
Mar Mikhael
Tel.: 03-946174

5. Maison S

(Image via Instagram)

Maison S, whose tagline is Createur de Saveurs, is an authentic French pastry production kitchen by pastry chef and cake artist Reem Seklaoui. A graduate of the esteemed culinary institute Le Cordon Bleu in Montreal, and a former student of Chef Christian Faure who boasts the prestigious title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France, Seklaoui recently returned to Lebanon where she opened her own atelier and exhibits the art of French pastry with her unique finesse.

Maison S
Main Road
Tallet Al Khayat
Tel.: +9611816916