I am used to go to specific ATM of specific bank because in Dominican republic almost everybody wants to screw you for your money if you "gringo" enough. Anyway me and my wife feeling hungry and seeing new place always ends the same - we try it. First of all its hard to find decent non dominican and non "US fastfood" style fastfood in the city we live in. Puerto Plata is small coast town, excluding 4 cruise ships a day bringing up to 22.000 tourists a day here nothing big going on here (lol). Jokes around. There are some decent places, most of the owned by expats or dominicans with experience from states. Other places are more or less same when it comes to invention, spices etc. If you consider yourself a foodie at least a little bit, you pretty soon run out of good places.
So back to reality. There we are. Money in hand straigh from ATM and at hand for some good foodie experience. New place just few meters from us and the owner siting outside watching street. We approached the guy. Chatted a bit. His name is Samir. Same as us, he left his home trying to find something else, somewhere else. It's that feeling that sometimes connects expats livin really far from home, so ordering a lunch and supporting Samir was no brainer.
Spent some time middle-east and north Africa and I love hummus. Ate enough hummus in my life to know that you can have good hummus and hummus-like paste from chickpeas. The hummus Samir put in front of me was one of the best, if not the best, hummuses I ever had.
Later he told me he follows his mother recipe and really cares about the detail. He prepares it fresh for every guest and he prepares it with love. Lebanese bread he prepared as a side was crazy delicious and I end up sitting there all confused...
Did I really had to move to Dominican republic to eat best Lebanese cuisine in my life? I guess so!
If anyone of you ever gets here, you can find Samir next to Scotia bank in Puerto Plata and probably you'll find me sitting there, eating another hummus or baba ganoush!
Samir's hummus comes with minced meat, almonds, both of them stir-fried and topped with olive oil. Kudos for the guy for using tahini into the hummus, because it's really hard to get here on the island.
We tried his beef shawarma and it was delicious, especialy compared to the price. Meat used inside wasn't minced and was prepared really well, wasn't chewy as that's a big issue with local beef (dominican malpractise of cattle raising). Bread was his own.
Samir is cool guy, proud of his small place. Although he struggles with money he is reinvesting majority to the place to improve the place and supporting his family in Lebanon same time. What a story, what a cooking skills and what a positive vibe he is having!
PROS:
- Quality ingredients
- Fresh made
- Good price
- Moma's recipy
- Authentic
CONS:
- Samir takes a time with doing every order fresh. You will wait, but it's worth it.