A Family Restaurant Embodies Lebanon’s Fragile Comeback
Through crisis after crisis — from a port explosion to persistent inflation and routine blackouts — the Hage family has kept its restaurant dreams alive.
On the sun-drenched deck of Le Pelican, a seafood restaurant tucked in a bay north of Beirut, diners sample appetizers including a carpaccio of sea bass topped with olive oil drizzle and globules of finger lime. A group gathered around a paella of black rice, squid and prawns cheers and claps as a young boy runs over to the table and gleefully brandishes a bag full of fish he’s caught off the deck. A small boat moored nearby sways to the gentle waves.
For decades, Joseph Hage spoke about how one day he would fulfill the dream of his late father, who was a private chef for some of Lebanon’s most prominent families: Open a restaurant serving food made with fresh local ingredients.