Tripoli (Trablous) Restaurants

  1. '46

    Named after the year the owner's father opened the restaurant, '46 has a solid Italian/international menu. The friendly waiters, relaxed atmosphere and large windows overlooking the Corniche make it a cut above Tripoli's other dining choices. Try the rich, spicy pasta Arrabiata; the 'Rockford filet' - allegedly involving steak and blue cheese - is excellent. The entrance is at the back of the building; you won't miss the restaurant when cruising the Corniche.

    Read more about '46

  2. Corniche

    Along the Corniche in Al-Mina are ranged a number of ice cream parlours, heaving with locals on weekend evenings, whilst a straggle of floating coffee houses dispense hot drinks and snacks on the water itself. In the small streets behind the '46 restaurant are a number of nice bars that offer probably the most fun evening dining in town, all with the same sorts of mezze menus, along with pizzas, pastas and grills.

    Read more about Corniche

  3. fast-food vendors

    Around the clock tower and branching out into the old city are plenty of fast-food vendors, selling boiled sweet corn from pushcarts and felafel from street stalls. If you're planning on taking a picnic out of town, the souqs are the place to pick up fresh fruit, bread, cheese and olives. Tucked away in tiny alleyways there are also a few small hole-in-the-wall canteens serving up cheap shwarma and other simple dishes.

    Read more about fast-food vendors

  4. international chain restaurants

    On Rue Riad Al-Solh, in the area around the cinema, there are plenty of national and international chain restaurants including Pizza Hut, Pain d'Or and the like, intermingled with local concerns offering up cheap grills and mezze.

    Read more about international chain restaurants

  5. Rafaat Hallab & Sons

    This is the place to sample Tripoli's famous sweets. You're sure to come across a number of other branches all over town, dispensing, amongst other delights, gooey, sticky baklava, pistachio-topped asmaleyye , crunchy filo aash el-bulbul (nightingale's nests), and tea or coffee with which to wash them down.

    Read more about Rafaat Hallab & Sons

  7. Silver Shore

    Easily the best seafood restaurant in town, this place specialises in dishes accompanied by its own secret-recipe hot sauce. Strangely, it closes fairly early in the evening, but makes a great choice for a long lunch.

    Read more about Silver Shore