Lebanese STREET FOOD TOUR in Sidon - Brain Sandwiches & Bread Factory in Saida, Lebanon!

Good morning everyone, I hope you're all doing well. This is David Hoffman from David's Bin here coming at you from Saida, Lebanon, a beautiful coastal town about 45 minutes south of Beirut. Today we're gonna go on an epic food tour starting off right here at Al Baba with Knafeh, which is like the most traditional Lebanese breakfast. From here we're going straight to the soup and we're gonna eat lots and lots of incredible Lebanese cuisine. And right here is my friend Nico. How you doing man? I'm excited for this day. I mean we're gonna try some Lebanese sweets, some sheep brain maybe. Later on we're gonna see the soups, old soups, the citadel by the port. Saida is a famous town. And today is January, it's a little cold, it's a little wet, but we're excited. Let's go into Al Baba and let's try some Knafeh. So here at Al Baba, as you can see over here, they have Knafeh. So this is Knafeh, right? So it is cheese with semolina dough and or phyllo dough. It's amazing. It's always on this like big plate, right? And it's hot and then after they cut it up, they put it into the bread and they add syrup. What an incredible breakfast item. I mean it's gonna be super decadent. And over here they have other stuff, right? They have lots of sweets. I mean it's endless. There's like five, six, seven different types. Lots of nuts here. This is Masbousa. Some nuts and some sweets. It's like namura. It's made from yogurt and also semolina and some syrup of course. It's basically dough that's very sweet, right? I mean this reminds me a lot of like Armenian cuisine, right? This. Some of these over there too. Very, very similar. Obviously Middle East, right? Yeah, Middle East sweets. We have this food. We have the Senyura that is famous in Saida. It's filled with pistachio and we have the plain one. Pistachios inside. I mean it's gonna be nice and flaky, right? Lots of pistachios. Pistachio filling. Nice and crispy. Not too sweet. It's great. Basically a cookie, right? Next we have the Mamoul. Mamoul is oriental dough. Let's say it's mainly like oriental cookies filled with walnuts. We have a filled with dates and pistachio. Our special at Al Baba, we have also Mamoul filled with fruits. They have figs, apricot and orange. You have to taste that. So sesame seeds, fig, malmou. Love it. Super airy. This is another incredible sweet, right? And this is the namura. Namura is molalla dough and filled with the syrup. So semolina dough, syrup and honey. It looks like a cake. How sweet. Oh, I love it. So very dense. The top is very crispy. Sugar bomb right here. Oh, incredible. Very different this one though. The top layer is unique. Very different compared to those, right? Yeah, it's totally different. We usually sell it with the mad, the Arabic mad and basbousa and spoof. Okay. And this is with syrup, which is atar. Almost atar and honey. But it tastes like very rosy, right? True. So rose water inside it, right? Yeah. Of course. With the syrup. Wow. I think I'm good with sweets. I think we're good. I think we're good. So we're starting off with the most traditional breakfast in Lebanon, right? Yeah. So it is cheese, right? So it's a nice cheese that has also a semolina dough or filo dough. And then they put it into this bread and the bread is kake, right? Okay. It's like a sandwich. Beautiful. And it's, you know, on top of it, they put kater or atar, right? So that's syrup. It's going to be a nice, delicious sweet. Cheers. Really good. Combination's amazing. It's super sweet. Cheese like oozes out. A little crispy, you know, the dough, right? Because on this, we say heated, right? It's still a little hot. You can also have it in the after parties. In the after parties. Finish the party. Okay. And you have a knefeh on the way back home. Wow. To wake you up. To wake you up. Yeah. I mean, it's super, super decadent, right? This is an extremely sweet breakfast item. Wow. Look at this. It's the cheese, the dough. It's a little crispy in that right here, right? And cheese just like melts. And when you pull it out, as you can see, it like comes out, right? Loving this, So this place is famous for knefeh. Yeah, they have the best knefeh. Amazing, man. Amazing. I love the bread too. The bread is fire. It's nice and toasty, right? And also some seeds. Yeah, sesame seeds. We use it a lot. We use it a lot with the kaak. The kaak. It's also really filling though. Nice glob of cheese. My friend, thank you so much. Thank you so much, David. I appreciate it. Thank you. You're most welcome. So now you guys know, come here to try knefeh. You have to. Right on the way into Seydoun. David, let's go. Bye, bye guys. Bye, bye. Love this place. This country is amazing. Oh, it's clearing up. Look at this. It's not raining anymore. All right, let's go straight to the bazaar, the souk, whatever you want to call it. It's a market. Let's go. I need to eat some more food. Seydoun is one of the old inhabited coastal cities of Lebanon. They have a port. They have, if I'm not mistaken, the third largest port in Lebanon after Beirut and Jounieh. That's why they have a sea citadel. They used to watch all around the area for ships coming in. They also have the souks. The souks are just where they used to live in all the old streets, where the people used to live 3000 years ago. Okay. So we're going to go in them. And now they're filled with apartments and a lot of food places, food vendors. We're going to try many things. It's a nice walk there. So basically this is like a market slash residential area and lots of street food vendors. Beautiful city. You know, it reminds me a little bit of Beirut, but I've only been in Beirut for one morning. I just explored a little bit driving out of it, but beautiful, you know, scenery, lots of palm trees everywhere, people walking around. And obviously January, it's still a little cold and it's wet, which is very different for this time of year. He was saying it's never this wet, right? We're entering the ice age. It's really cold. Yeah. We'll get some sun. Yeah. You can see it's clearing up and we're going to be in the souk in about two or three minutes. That's what it says on your thing. Yeah. Three minutes. After a 10 minute drive, we're here at the port of Seydoun. Beautiful. And right behind us over there, we have the Citadel. Incredible. Hello, my friend. How are you? Oh, wow. Look at the fish. So what do you have here? What type of fish are these? So this one right here is gill head bream. It's chicken of fish. It's full of meat. It's fat. Let's go. Yeah. To be honest with you, I love the weather. Nice and chill. Sun's coming out. You have the coast right here. You smell the fish, right? The port. Beautiful. This here was a famous building. Merchants from around the world, they used to come here to sell and buy stuff. That's where they used to meet. This is like around 300 years ago. Yeah. They used to come and do the commerce here, buy and sell produce and trade stuff with other countries. This is the location for it. Look at this. Beautiful old town. I love the colors. And this is the wall, right? Looks like a fortress, this building. Now we're walking into the city. Nice and chilly in here. You can see a lot of shops here and some apartments just above us. So basically the ground floor is for all the shops and the souks. And the above floors are for people who live here. How's everything? Hello. Hello. Bonjour. Bonjour. Bonjour. Good morning. Good morning. So we're going to find a man that makes some cheese. So it's more of a dessert though, right? It's cake. Nice plaza. Gorgeous. Look at this. I love the architecture here. Nice stone buildings. So the colors are just gorgeous, right? It's like sandstone. And right here we have the shop. Sfouf is like a famous cake in Lebanon. It's a yellow cake. Flour, turmeric. Saffron. Saffron. The most expensive spice in the world. Yes. Let's try it. Okay. So let's do it. So it's like a crumbly cake basically, right? Saffron. Is it almonds? Nice and sweet. With the saffron. Nice airy crumbly. Whoa. There's always sweets for breakfast. So many sweets. Oh wow the sun's out now. We're gonna check a nice coffee shop and a traditional coffee shop here. The best part about Lebanon is that everybody's so friendly. Literally we walk in, they take us in. He didn't even let us pay. We didn't pay at the other place. We didn't pay here. Crazy. It was a Saray and it turned into a coffee and a cafe. You can still see the walls. So this is like an old hotel, right? The rulers, they used to live and rule the town around them. Oh okay. So it's not a hotel. It's like a presidential palace. Almost like a palace. Okay. Yeah. Almost like a palace. So it's not a rainy day. You would see all these shops open and lots and lots of people. Obviously today it's a little muggy. It's cold. But the sun's coming out so we have some luck. You know it's only 10 30 in the morning and this is it. Small lanes, right? It's gonna get busier here. What's happening there? Cutting up a PC pipe? Yeah. Some work's going on. Oh wow. Hello. Hello. Hello. Everything good? You're eating sweets, man. Sweets. Sweets. Yeah. Good. Knefeh all day, man. Hello. Hello. Hello. Let's rock and roll. This is awesome. They're selling a lot of vegetables here. Look at that. Beautiful. Oh wow. Never-ending veggies. Oh this is my favorite right here. I can eat like 100 of these. Look how big this is. Huge pepper. Spicy? So we got potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers. Cucumber is a huge part of the diet here, right? Cucumbers, yeah. We make the salads with cucumbers. These lanes feel like you're stepping back in time, right? Old traditional old town, right? Beautiful. Love all the bricks. Little shops here and there and then obviously some of these doors lead upstairs to the residence, right? You got some cats here. I think here it's the most inhabited. A lot of people live inside the old town. Okay. During four seasons. In Batroun, it's a bit less crowded. In Byblos, it's mainly full of souks and few people live in it. So this is busy alive, right? And look at all the cables. I actually like the way they did it though because everything's at least cornered into one section. It's not all over the place like some countries I've been to where it's like everywhere. This is just gorgeous. I mean, it's super clean, beautiful architecture. So we are right here and we parked the car here. So we just walked through all this and made a big loop, right? And we're at this castle. Now we're going back. We're going to catch some food and then go back to the sea castle. Giving an idea how Saida looked like. Actually, the souks are here and these are the castles and the sea was a bit different. So the castle is basically in ruins. You can see from the outside and it was built in the year 1253 by the order of King St. Louis during the crusades, right? Let's get some sandwiches. So basically here, it's similar to Beirut. When they try to excavate to build new buildings, they always find old buildings. Any of these lands that were ancient, you know, Roman, Hellenistic, Phoenician, they always have ruins underneath. So when they build metro rails like in Rome, they almost can't because they always find something else, right? And that's what you have here. So they can't really build too much, but then they build over and then they make it like a museum, right? So you could actually see what was there before. So right now we're walking through the newer side of the old town, right? So it's right outside of really the small lanes. You know, these are wider streets, lots of car parking, lots of vendors. Obviously a lot of things are still closed though, right? Yeah. I mean, it's cold and it's a rainy day. Yeah. And plus most of them operate here on the weekends. Okay. Got it. So next up, we're going to have the sheep brain and tongue sandwich. I need some savory, man. No more sweets. Savory items, please. And then after that, probably some falafels, right? We have to? You have to try some falafel. So owner himself is going to make the sandwich. No way. Yeah. He doesn't have enough employees, so he's closing down on Fridays, but he decided to make one himself. So this is a small shop. So what is the name of it? Bash Ahmad. Bash Ahmad. Really famous for the sheep brain. So basically all sandwiches. So which is the sheep brain sandwich? Sheep brain, sheep tongues, and sheep leg. It's just a part on the back, like a membrane on the back. Super exotic sandwiches. Very small. He's going to do it right here, right? Yeah. Beautiful. Love it. So they have basically 15 different sandwiches, but we're going exotic. We're going with the brains. And this is sheep brain, sheep tongue. Over here, we have some pickle, tomato, and bread. Sometimes here, they order 100, 150 sandwiches for ceremonies, for special occasions, and they make them. 150 the same way. Yeah. So basically the way the sandwich works is he just opens the bread, shoves in the tongue or the brain, then he flattens it in this like panini press, right? He flattens it, and then after that, he's going to add some of that stuff and some sauce, right? Yes. Exotic sandwich, Lebanese style. This is cooked, huh? You just try it like that. A little pick. Oh my gosh. Cold brains. Salt, pepper, and hot salt. Just like that. So soft and gooey. I love it with the salt and pepper. It's perfect. Nice and cold. Look at that brains. I'm going to eat this all day. Oh, it's done. Garlic sauce. Oh, it's going to get ugly, David. In Lebanon, we eat a lot of garlic. So the way he constructed the sandwich is very easy, right? He just, you know, toasted the bread with the brains and the membrane. So that's not tongue, it's membrane, right? And then he opens it up. When it comes out, he fills it up with salt, pepper, pickles, tomato, and garlic sauce. And this is it, right? Beautiful. So this one that I have is basically the membrane, right? Yeah. And it's separated right here, and you have the brains. We'll try both. Look at this. Nice, toasted. I love this style, right? With the panini press. Let's dig in. Super soft. I love how toasted it is. Mmm, the garlic. The garlic's like everywhere, huh? Mmm, with tomato and pickle. Wow. What a sandwich, huh? Garlic is our most loved sauce. Mm-hmm. Can't go anywhere. Chicken, chicken liver, brain, everything goes with garlic. You would never know that there's organs in here. You would never know. This was all toppings, right? Mmm, I like it. Right here, the brains, huh? How are the brains? Good? I love it. Yeah, I'm sure. I personally love brains. I can eat them every day. Definitely tastier than this one. Very, like, jello-y, right? Yeah. The combination of the brains and the garlic, wow. They say if you eat them, you become smarter. Yeah, right? That's what they say in Lebanon. Mm-hmm. Incredible sandwiches. To be honest, guys, it's not like, it's not like the most garlic thing I've ever had, but it's very unique, right? Whoa, I can keep going with this one. And I love the pickles and tomato because it gives it a nice little burst, you know? The brain's way better. Way better, right? I prefer the amazingly good. For me, it's all brains all day here. Whoa, so crumbly. Love that sauce. $100,000. It's like $4 now and the back membrane around $5. That's a deal, right? So for like $10, we ate two incredibly exotic sandwiches plus some water, my friend. Thank you. Thank you. What a great place. You have to come to the sandwich shop right here. I'm not kissing a girl today, but definitely. Oh yeah, that was great. Wow. You know the best part about that experience? Him. Forget the sandwich, just the owner. Awesome. He's a nice dude. Now we're headed back to the car and we're going to drive to a falafel shop, right? Yeah, we're going to try one of the best falafels. The best falafel in this town, right? Yeah. And what's the place called? It's called Falafel Akkawi. So unfortunately for us, the castle on the sea is closed because of the winds. The waves are so massive, they can literally go over the castle. And you know, driving along here, you see a lot of fish vendors just selling the catch of the day, right? Fishing for fish. Of course, dude. After a 10 minute drive, we made it here to a bakery. So we're going to see how some bread is made, huh? Forn, forn means oven. They make bread, they make manakish. Very similar to Italian, forno, the baking oven, right? This looks amazing. So it's like tiny pizzas. Look at this, incredible, like 10 different varieties. Then we have these, I guess like bigger pizzas. So it's cheese on top and it's nice and crispy, right? Yeah, and this is the Lebanese bread. This is, we eat it with our food. It's like pita. Pita, Lebanese pita bread, we call it. Okay, perfect. It's similar than other pitas. Yeah, I mean, it's similar to like the Greek style, I guess, in the look, right? All right, let's go in the back. Let's see how all this bread is made. Oh, wow. What's up guys, how are you doing? Hello, hello. Look at the dough, they put it into the flour, they flatten it, they put it on these wooden boards, they bring it over here, they throw it to the oven, they cook it for like a few minutes, comes right out. And the small ones look beautiful. And this is the Lebanese pizza. Tasty. That's the salt, right? You can't find this in shops anymore. Oh. Shops, they have them like fabricated. This is traditional. So hot, let me get out of here. Wow. I want to try one of those, man. Those look amazing. Lebanese, right? Little pizzas. So what do they have? I mean, some have tomatoes, some have cheese. They made us a bread with some cheese and thyme. The king of fire is like, you have to try this. Look how amazing this is. Thyme, cheese, it's like an incredible pizza. Dude, I can't stop. How this guy does it, but all day here, just going in and out of fire. That's why they call him the king of fire. Straight up, all he does is put bread into the oven, takes literally one minute for it to pop up. Looks like a big Puri, right? Like a big Indian Puri. But it's basically a pita bread, right? Wheat flour, water. That's it. Oh, it's so amazing. And we also have the pizzas. Look at that. Pizzas. Never ending pizzas. That's cheese. That's like thyme, right? It's a thyme. That's a mix. Look at this right here. We're good. Let's go. Oh yeah. Look at this guy. Muscle man here. Don't drop it. Look at that. The amount of bread. Oh, this guy's the man. Germany. One experience here at the bakery. That's where you got to see the bread. If it tasted straight out of the oven. And what's the name of it? Motul. That was the experience. The brain sandwich and this have blown my mind. All right guys, we are here at Falafel Al Kawi. So this is the falafel shop and right here you can see them being made, right? So falafel, what is that? It's basically like beans in a mash. They throw into oil. They fry it. Then you pair it with like tartar sauce. Here you have some chilies. Wow. Some peppers. What else? You have parsley. You have pita bread. So basically you can make a sandwich or you can eat it just as is, right? Well, the best way to make a sandwich was the tartar sauce. The tartar sauce? Yeah. Oh, just like that. Tartar. Tartar. Tartar. Tartar. Different from tartar. Yeah. Tartar or fish? Tartar is tahini with lemon juice and oil. So this is the falafel. They crush the beans and chickpeas. They make them into a bowl and they fry them. Eat them with this tartar sauce. I love the tartar sauce. Nice and soft in the middle. Crispy on the outside. It's like a vegan dish actually, right? Yeah. I prefer it with veggies in a sandwich. So filling. Nice and dense. You know what? I'm still going to have another one. The best thing to do is just grab all that sauce, right? So not tartar sauce. Not tartar. Tarator. Tarator. Damn good with this. So right now he's making a sandwich. So what do you do? You put parsley. Parsley, mint, onions, tomatoes. Parsley, mint, onions, tomatoes, and then he's going to throw chili, pickles. Wow, look at that. Nice and creamy. And then he rolls it up, right? Yeah. Can we try one of these peppers? I want to try one. So it's time to try this. Hey, you know what? Let me try a pepper first. I'm going to go straight in. Yeah. It's spicy on top of it. It's like pepperoncini. Oh, that bite. Oh yeah. Good, right? And the chili was hot, right? A little hot. Wow. Incredible wrap. Basically a vegan wrap, right? The falafel, nice and crispy, and you have the sauce in there. So good. And you have a little bit of parsley, tomatoes, and I love the pita bread. Nice and soft. Not too toasty. Less than one dollar. Less than one dollar. 1.1 dollar. 1.1. So good. Good and cheap. I'm enjoying this. Basically Lebanese street food, right? What's amazing about this experience is watching them make the falafel and then eating it. So now you guys know this is the best falafel shop in Saidoun. Saidoun? It's hard to say the name. Saidoun. Saidoun. Saidoun. Saidoun. Saidoun. Saidoun. Thanks guys. Appreciate it. So good. Delicious. The sauce is what makes it. Perfect. Perfect. My man. My friends, that is it. Saidoun. 35, 40 minute drive south of Beirut. You have to visit this place to eat everything we just did. So we went to, oh man, how did we start today? Kanafeh. Kanafeh El Baba. Okay. Then we saw the old town. We ate some stuff in the old town, like the spoof from Saifur. We ate the brain sandwich. And we had some, I forgot. We had the bakery. We went to the bakery. And then we came here for the falafel. And like I say, everything was so tasty. No spice unless you have the chili. Everything is super delicious. Obviously, we started with sweets. Then we ended with savory. And right now, it's like 1.30 in the afternoon. We got here at 10. So you can literally do this in half a day. Half a day trip down here from Beirut. Very easy. Guys, I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please give me a thumbs up. Leave me a comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. And I'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Lebanon. Look at that. The sun came out. Yeah, let's go.