Stuff We Love
This Mixologist Is Reimagining Lebanese Staple Dishes as Cocktails
If you came home to mjaddara, you would a little disappointed. What if it were a mjaddara martini? You wouldn’t be any less disappointed, but at least you’d be intrigued.
Videographer and photographer Ralph Bassim is dipping his toes into mixology, and somehow, he landed on turning Lebanese staples into cocktails. In a lighthearted series with Studio Tuut, Ralph proves that while not every experiment needs to be taken seriously, you can still somehow celebrate Lebanese culinary traditions.
About the series
The series kicked off with Ralph distilling tabbouleh into a cocktail, setting the tone for the delightfully unconventional project.
Part two shifts gears to meghle, a beloved dessert often served to celebrate the birth of child. But since no one’s giving birth (at least not in this economy), Ralph didn’t want to deny us the pleasure of delicious meghle, so he turned it into a drink.
An abomination? Perhaps.
Crazy impressive? Absolutely.
Up next was a Mjaddara Martini, requested by one of his followers…and somehow, Ralph made it work. It might sound bizarre, but listening to him put it together made it sound pretty good.
And finally, the Wara2 3enab Shot became the most recent installment in the series. At this point, we’re not even sure how he’s coming up with these recipes. Though this one may not have been as successful, we’re absolutely loving this series.
Requests from the team
Ralph, if you’re reading this: we’ve seen the comments asking for a bemye cocktail. Do not—we repeat, do NOT—make it happen. Some lines simply shouldn’t be crossed. We will, however, request a Knefeh Cocktail or a Shanklish Shot. Or something else that sounds catchy.
To stay updated on this series, make sure to follow Ralph Bassim on Instagram! If you enjoyed this read, check out the #Lebanese Proud and #Feel Good sections on our website.
