Wood fire, Charcoal And Why Lebanese Cooking Understands Both

Ask a Lebanese cook how to make kafta and they will talk about the fire first. Not the spice, not the meat, but the fire they use to unlock everything else.

In Lebanon, fire is not a cooking method. It is the foundation of the whole cuisine. Generations of cooks have understood intuitively what the rest of the world is still catching up to that charcoal and wood fire do things to food that no other heat source can replicate. And that the difference is not subtle. It is the whole meal.

Charcoal is direct and aromatic. The heat is intense, the smokiness immediate, and the crust it builds on the outside of a kafta skewer or a lamb rump is specific to this method and nothing else. Gas produces heat. Charcoal produces flavour.

Wood fire is different again. Slower, more enveloping, the kind of heat that transforms rather than simply cooks. It takes longer and demands more attention.

At Sahtein, both are used the way they always have been, without shortcuts and without substitutes.

Come try our grilled dishes. It’s what centuries of knowledge actually tastes like.

Sahtein practices the responsible service of alcohol. Drink responsibly.