Tyre & Beirut at your next gathering, Friday to Sunday.

Recipes from south Lebanon, cooked in Coulsdon.

My family is from Tyre, in the south of Lebanon, and food was never just dinner — it was how we showed people they were welcome. A table wasn't set until it was full: too many dishes, too much bread, everyone reaching across each other for the last piece of kibbeh. Years later, cooking alongside friends in Beirut only deepened that love for sharing food properly. That's the feeling I've tried to bring to Coulsdon.

I'm particular about ingredients because I was taught to be — my mother wouldn't let a spice into her kitchen unless she'd smelled it first, and I still won't either. Whole spices are ground fresh, herbs are chopped by hand, and the mains are given the time they actually need, not the time a schedule allows.

That's why Zaytouna-Kitchen only takes on weekends. Cooking this way properly means slowing down, and every booking deserves the same care I'd give my own family's table.

Now I get to bring that same spread to birthdays, engagements, corporate parties and Sunday lunches across Coulsdon and the surrounding villages — sharing the food and the culture I grew up with, one table at a time.

— Zaytouna-Kitchen