Bulbul streetfood

SALWA is young & beautiful Lebanese girl, came to the world in a picturesque village in mount Lebanon 20’s of the past century, born to a Lebanese father and an Italian mother…..whom her father met during his frequent travels to Europe, as he is a famous merchant/trader of Lebanese Olive Oil produced in his village domain…..her mom was a talented pastry chef in Italy and won several awards for her sweet creations…

From her child age, SALWA used to go with her parents for the reaping of Olives….climb the trees, shake them,….fall, laugh, and then climb again………..Then go to the village refinery where they used to press the olive to extract the oil…. where her mom along with other ladies brought freshly baked breads (Mishta7) with cheese and labneh and foul…for all to share……and she drizzled freshly squeezed olive oil over her favorite combination of feta/labneh on a mishta7……it was a heavenly energizing taste!

At night she used to sneak into the kitchen and steal a big piece of her mom’s famous chocolate cake or a bowl of her delicious pistachio pudding… her sweet cravings were difficult to control in th efface of her mom’s desserts!

At the age of 18, it was world war II…..amidst fear of the moment and uncertainty in what is yet to come…her parents wanted to shield her and protect her from this raging war…..her mother and father spent an entire night awake, writing in a small booklet all the recipes of her mom, and all the secrets of her father’s extra virgin authentic olive oil; the next morning they handed the booklet to SALWA, along with her pet bird BULBUL in a wooden cage, and escorted her to a ship in Beirut port, heading for the Americas….

SALWA held tightly to the recipes Booklet as she waved goodbye to her parents from the ship’s deck…she knew this was her parent’s legacy and her survival kit at the same time….
Arrived to New York City….where she took a job in a small diner, as a waitress…one day she was waiting on a handsome gentleman…..a young banker who was making his way at NYC…..he asked her about what she recommends…she said that she could not think of anything worthy on the menu……and then she spent 15 minutes telling him a wonderful story about her mom’s chicken recipe and awesome desserts……..her passion and candid reply, were the start of a romance that ended up a year later with marriage ….

Her banker husband made fortune, and helped SALWA put her passion and her parents’ legacy into a casual diner of her own……she called it BULBUL in memory of her childhood pet bird
Every day that she worked the dough, or slowly cooked the chicken, or baked the sweetest desserts…she remembered her father and mother and her village in the mountains…

BULBUL opening in Doha in 2016 is a tribute to SALWA and to her parents’ legacy….of fresh, authentic food, made from the heart with great passion.