🧳ARMANDO: https://www.instagram.com/armandomaalouf 🌎 MY TRAVEL/FOOD BLOG: https://davidsbeenhere.com/ My adventures in Lebanon continued in the national capital, Beirut, where I went on an epic tour of the Little Armenia neighborhood. Join me and my guide Armando as we explore this unique area of the city! Little Armenia is home to Beirut’s sizeable Armenian community. Armando is half-Armenian and half-Brazilian, so he was the perfect person to show me around! 👕 DAVID’S BEEN HERE MERCH: https://teespring.com/stores/davids-been-here Lebanon was a French colony until 1945, so a lot of the people speak French. We started off with some Lebanese coffee for less than $1 USD before stopping by a kebab shop. The guy inside was making a salad, and they had some spices there as well. We also passed lots of jewelry shops on our way to get some sujuk shawarma. They sold gold necklaces, bracelets, rings, and more. At Basterma Bedo, we saw the cooks slicing chicken and lamb shawarma off the the giant stacked meat. But we were headed to Basterma Mano, a more famous shop! It’s said that they have the best shawarma in the city. They have beef, chicken, and lamb shawarma, and they only cost $2.50 USD! First, the add pickle and tomato, and then they add the sujuk shawarma, and add either garlic sauce or mayo before toasting it in the panini press. The guy even cut some meat off for me. It was really juicy but only mid-level spicy! The sandwich was crispy with a nice burst of juiciness from the tomatoes. I loved the spicy beef sausage. It was so filling and tasty and took me straight back to my time in Armenia! It was even better when the cook come and added some creamy garlic sauce! Then, we saw them make some roast beef sandwiches with lettuce, pickle, tomatoes, and more. I got to see them smoking the sujuk and basturma. From there, we headed through the main square in the area, where we found an open-air cafe where they offer shisha and juices. Shisha is traditional in the Middle East. We also got some freshly pressed carrot juice. Both cost us less than $6 USD. Then, at Basterma Bedo, we watched them make basturma sandwiches out of the peppery beef and vegetables on a baguette. The beef was really peppery! The dried, aged, peppery beef was unbelievable. I loved the toasted baguette, pickle, and tomato as well. It was really nice and full of flavor! Where have you been? Subscribe Here! http://bit.ly/DavidsbeenhereSub Top videos! http://bit.ly/DavidsbeenhereTopVideos Follow Me: + INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/davidsbeenhere + FACEBOOK ► https://www.facebook.com/davidsbeenhere + TWITTER ► https://twitter.com/davidsbeenhere + MY BLOG! ► http://davidsbeenhere.com/ Contact Me: +BUSINESS EMAIL ► [email protected] #Davidsbeenhere #[CITY] #Lebanon#LebaneseFood#DavidinLebanon About Me: My name is David Hoffmann. For the last 13 years, I have traveled the world in search of unique destinations and cuisines. Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have explored over 1,200 destinations in 84 countries, while documenting them on my YouTube channels, travel blog, and social media sites. I focus mostly on cuisine, culture, and historical sites, but my passion is food! I love to experience and showcase the different flavors each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining. Where have you been? P.S. Thank you for watching my videos and subscribing!
What's up guys, David Hoffman here from David's Bin here coming at you from beautiful Beirut,
Lebanon with my boy Armando. Today we're here in Little Armenia. If you guys didn't know,
here in Beirut there's a huge Armenian community. I love Armenia. I went back in 2019 and my boy is
half Armenian. You speak Armenian, right? Yeah, I do. All right, awesome. So what are we doing
here today? We're gonna, first we're gonna have our coffee and then go try sujuk shawarma, which
is amazing here, Armenian made. So spicy sausage. Yeah, spicy sausage and then we're gonna try
basturma, which is one of your favorites. Yeah, it's like peppery beef. Yeah, it's like another
like cold cut, right? Yeah, cold cut. And then basically explore the neighborhood. We're gonna
see the shops, we're gonna see the people and right here they have a flag of Brazil, my boys.
It's half Lebanese Brazilian. Look at this, Brazil. Ah, Brazil. Okay, coffee. If you guys didn't know,
Lebanon was a French colony at one point and then obviously they broke off in 1945. I'm learning my
history here. Yeah, they got their independence from the French in 1945. No, we're having a fun
time today, huh? We're both very tired. We just drove an hour from the mountains and we're gonna
explore. I'm super excited, it's gonna be great. I'm super jet-lagged. Second day in, oh it's tiring.
You know, traveling 24 hours from Miami takes it out of me. Coffee? Hey, cheers. Cheers, man.
Good? It's really good. Me, it's cold brew or doppio espresso.
Super hot. Oh, it's good. It's good. Very nice. Oh, wow. Do you need any sugar?
No sugar. If coffee needs sugar or milk, it's not coffee. It's not coffee. It's garbage.
Don't go to Starbucks.
All right, let's go. Both $20,000 which is less than a dollar now. No way. Yeah. Merci, merci. Welcome.
All right, let's go. What is this guy doing? So, basically this is a kebab shop. He's preparing
the salads special for the kebab. Oh, wow. It's a kebab shop, huh? Let me see this. Oh, wow, look at this.
So, you have like basically tomatoes on a skewer and he's cutting up a salad and then he has like
some spicy paste right here, right? Yeah. Merci. Merci. Basically, there are a lot of shops,
clothing shops, kebab shops, sujuk, shawarma, basically all Armenian food. So, and there's a lot,
a lot of jewelry shops. They were very popular for jewelry, especially gold.
All right, right here. This is one of the shops here. This is somehow vintage. So, we have vintage
jewelry here. So, we have right there. Yeah. Over here, we have necklaces. Necklaces and wristbands. So,
just a bunch of different shops. This is another shop here. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. This is nice. Super
nice. This is like real gold, huh? Beautiful display, yeah. Wow, look at that. Love this bracelet. It's
like a snake bracelet. So, obviously, most of this is for women but they have some stuff for men.
They do. In case you want some, right? Yeah. I mean, that's awesome but I can't put that on my neck.
This here is a gift shop. A gift shop. Yeah. All right, here we have a shawarma shop and that's
chicken, no? Chicken. Ah, chicken. Oh, wow. You are on TikTok? YouTube, YouTube. Yeah, I've seen you.
You've seen me before. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Are you Armenian? No. No, okay. I'm Lebanese.
Lebanese, okay, okay. It's Armenia. So, I have a lot of people in for Armenia but it's awesome, man.
So, this chicken, what's that? This beef right there? Oh, it's fat. It's a lamb, right?
Oh, wow. Look at that. It's so good.
Merci. Merci. Thank you. Thank you. So, that was Basterma Bedo. Bedo, yeah. Okay. So, that place
had a few different ones but that's the place we're going to to eat the sujuk. We're going to a
different spot because it's more famous, right? Exactly. It's called Basterma Mano. Basterma Mano,
okay. Sounds good. I mean, the neighborhood is awesome. It's like bustling right now. Lots of
people. Lots of shops. Sun setting. It is 3pm, right? So, obviously, a lot of buildings here.
Also, you already have shade. It's cold. It's winter. It's January 28th right now. Yeah. Wow.
Smells great. It smells like food. Food everywhere. Food everywhere. Look at this. Everybody's eating
right here. Basically, we arrived the Basterma shop, Basterma Mano. It's one of the best places
for shawarma. They have the best shawarma chicken, shawarma beef, and shawarma sujuk.
Let's go in. Let's go. Look at this. The sujuk. This is just like straight up spicy sausage.
Alright, let's get one of these. How much for the sujuk? Sujuk sandwich is $58,000 here.
$58,000. How much is that in dollars? It's like two and a half dollars. Two and a half dollars.
Two and a half dollars. Perfect. So, two and a half dollars for an incredible sujuk shawarma. Yeah.
Okay, I'm ready. Let's eat. You ready, dude? Thank you. It's amazing. Look at that. Wonderful.
Alright, so first, he starts with pickle, right? Pickle. Tomato. And then right there, we have the
spicy sausage, sujuk. Tomato, then he adds the sujuk, then he toasts it, right? So, he wraps it
in the pita and he toasts it really fast on the panini press. Yeah. And that's it. That's it.
Perfect. Garlic. Okay. So, whatever you think. Garlic. Garlic always, right? You can add anything.
You can add mayonnaise or just garlic paste. So, yeah. But usually, it's much tastier the way it is.
We're going the way it is. We don't have to add anything. If I was going to add anything,
I'd add garlic just because we're in Lebanon. No mayo. I hate mayo. Sharpen those knives.
These guys are so nice. So nice. Dude, I am in awe with this.
My man, he just cut up a little piece of sujuk for me.
Oh, man. It's so juicy. Nice and spicy. Not too spicy. I give it a 5 out of 10 for me.
You know, I eat a lot of sujuk.
This guy is awesome.
Hey, whatever you think. That side better, bud? Okay. That's yours. That's yours. That's mine? Okay.
Great. I've never seen it that big before. It is huge. So good, my man. So good. That's it? Yeah.
Oh, my gosh. Look at this thing. All right, guys. Let's do this. Sujuk. Let's see how it tastes.
The meat is nice and toasty. So crunchy. It definitely is. Oh, wow. So I love
a little burst of that tomato. The pickle, too. Yeah. Those are fresh.
Wow, as you can see. So this is the spicy sausage. It is. Beef sausage. Yes. If you ever find
yourself in Armenia, you're going to obviously eat this. Sujuk and basturma are the two most
famous things for Armenia. Yes. And you can find them in Lebanon.
Dude, it's so big. It is. Nice and filling. It was two bucks? Yeah. Two bucks.
Takes me back straight to Armenia. Yeah. Same spices. Same spices. Very nice and juicy.
It means so much to overload it. Dude, right here. Let's do it. Yeah.
Oh, this guy ate too much.
It's good, huh? Nice. It doesn't feel like overly loaded garlic. This is homemade garlic.
Super creamy. Yeah. Armenian. This whole part of the world, my favorite part of the world.
And right here, we have the basturma. They also prepare really good sandwiches,
basturma sandwiches, sujuk sandwiches,
rostu sandwiches. Amazing. Let's go try them. All right, let's do it. Wow.
Over here, the sandwiches. What's up, guys? Sandwiches, huh?
Roast beef. Roast beef sandwich, huh? Yeah. Looks good. Tomatoes, pickles. Tomato pickles,
some lettuce. Look at this guy. He's acrobatic with the hands there, man. Some garlic paste,
right? Yeah. Some lettuce. More pickle. And then he wraps it up really fast.
And then basturma right there, right? Yeah, that's basturma. This is the final product. This
is how the basturma is aged and dried before it's cut and served. Yeah, so these are sujuk. So
that's spicy sausage. Yeah. So intestines, right? Yeah. And then over here, we have peppery beef.
Yeah. Oh, you smell the pepper. The pepper, man, it kills you. It's like, oh, it's amazing. Oh,
I would lick the top of that, man. So we're going next. Basturma, right? Yeah, we're going to try
basturma in another place. We wanted to change it up. You know, we want to walk around. We want
to see different places. Obviously, I suggest going in here and trying both sujuk and basturma
before we go to another spot. Yeah. I love it, man. This is amazing. This is a different world,
right? Exactly, yeah. And this is my favorite car owner. The G-Wagon. I rented that in LA,
man. What a car. What a car. So what is this place? So this is the square, the main square
in Burj Hammud. This here is the coffee shop in the center of Burj Hammud. We're just having a
very quick break before continuing to eat the basturma sandwich. Yeah, so this place has shisha
as well, and it's literally in the center. Like, it's between four different streets, right? Yeah.
Great. Love it. So an open air little cafe, right? It's great. So what do you want to get here?
Anything? I want to get shisha. I'm done with shisha. We can have a juice or something. A juice?
Yeah. Yeah. Coffee, coffee or juice? Coffee or juice. Coffee or juice. What do you want?
Let's see, let's see. What are we doing? We're trying shisha in the middle of
Burj Hammud square. Let's try this. It's apple. You gotta pull harder.
Oh, there you go. There you go. Oh, thank you, thank you. Always, right?
So Lebanon, they don't really do too much shisha, right? But it's, you know, traditional in the
Middle East. So whenever I'm in the Middle East, I'll do shisha. You know, anywhere I go,
we do shisha. So it's like this, right? Perfect, right? You know, I don't smoke anything,
but I'll do this here and there, right? It's good. Apple flavor. Yeah. Not too strong. For me,
I noticed it right away. If I get lightheaded, I feel it and I don't want to get lightheaded.
But after a few days, I'll feel lightheaded. It's okay, right? Just lightheaded. I've already
smoked three cigarettes in my life. Really? Yeah. I don't like cigarettes. I never wanted to smoke.
Also, my grandfather had a cancer like at 48 or 49. Oh, okay. Lung cancer. So for me,
it was always like, hell no with tobacco. You know, especially cigarettes. It's a bad habit.
You smoke cigarettes. You can do it. I just don't. I don't do it. We're actually getting
some juice. We're getting some fresh carrot juice. You know, I want something to cleanse my system.
So we got, oh my man, carrot. This is freshly squeezed. They press it. They press it.
This is so good, man. Nothing beats fresh juice. Freshly pressed carrot juice. For me,
the vegetables, the greens, they're always better than just fruits. Why? Because it cleanses your
system, right? So long day of eating, this is going to help cleanse the palate and get ready
for basturma. That's going to be a lot of pepper. Carrot juice, some shisha. Sun has set. Let's go
for basturma. You ready? Yeah. Let's go. My friend, how much do we owe you?
$130,000. Yeah, which is in dollars. It's like $6 somehow. Six bucks. Good deal, man. Hey,
okay. Thanks. For free. No, no, I'm joking. Goodbye. Bye-bye. All right. So we're going
back to basturma. Let's have some basturma. All right. Let's go inside. We got basturma
sandwich or how are we doing it? Sandwich. Sandwich. Okay. Great. So that's the basturma
right there. Nice. It's a peppery beef. Love it. I'm going to put some tomatoes.
What's next? Pickle? Pickle right there. Yes. Nice. Give it the next crunch. That's it, right?
A little more sujuk. They're filling me up with some sujuk.
That's good. It's hot. It's spicy. Basturma sandwich. Let's go. This one?
That guy's basturma sandwich. Look at this. I literally just placed the camera on top of the
car. Obviously, I asked the owner for permission. Look at this. Look at that. So basturma sandwich,
tomato, pickle. You know what? Take half. Okay. The rib half. Oh, yeah. Here we go.
Oh, it's going to be good, right? So this one's not a pita bread.
I love this one. It's super peppery, right? Yeah. That's the difference. Yeah. You know,
obviously, that one's sausage. This is like fermented, right? Exactly. With pepper all over
from the outside. All over. A mix of spices. It's like a lot. They spread it all over the beef
until it's dried and aged and whatever. They just cut them in the trenches. Okay.
And they make a sandwich out of it. Wow, that's good. Nice baguette. Inside, you have the pickle.
You have the tomato. And you have the basturma. Love it. Nice spices. Super peppery.
Nice crunch of the baguette. Super toasty. Wow. It's so tasty. It's spicy. It's really good.
Yeah. I mean, it's not so spicy. It's more just pepper. Nice spices, though. Oh, man. So good.
Basturma and sujuk are so delicious. So juicy. Incredible beef. Wow. Armenia, you are amazing.
Love it on you, too. Oh, man. How do you say good in Armenian? Good as tasty.
I love it. I love it. I love it. So this is Armenian street food here in Little
Armenia, right? If you have basturma and you have sujuk, obviously, you can go with beef,
you can go with chicken. I recommend this. Come to the square. You know, have that little coffee
that you can have. Juices. You can have shisha. Just walk around. Enjoy your local life here,
right? Exactly. Amazing, dude. Thank you so much. So guys, I hope you enjoyed this tour of Little
Armenia here in Beirut, Lebanon. Incredible experience to all my Armenian fans. Thank you
so much. Oh, man. It feels like I'm in Armenia with this bite, dude. It's so good. It literally
takes me back. Incredible. Guys, if you enjoyed the video, please give me a thumbs up. Leave me
a comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. I'll see you in the next
food adventure somewhere in Beirut. I like the pickle aspect. Yeah. It's crunch as well.
Like crunch, crunch, spice, pepper, nice meat.
