I’ve put myself on an enforced detox in that hope that I will see at least some changes in my body – no matter how tiny – when I take up my grueling thirty day pilates challenge next month.

It’s my own version of a detox whereby very dark chocolate is conveniently allowed as long as it contains over 70% cocoa solids, but otherwise means no booze, no dairy and no carbs, making it really very dull.  It also makes going out for a good dinner pretty hard to do.

On the way to Maison Ikkoku in Kampong Glam for cocktails to celebrate a lovely friend turning a year older (and no, not a single drop of any of their delicious looking creations passed my lips; fizzy water all the way *sobs*) we stopped for a quick dinner on Arab Street.

I’ve spent five years trying to find somewhere decent to eat around here. Yes, there are loads of Lebanese-style restaurants on and around Arab Street to choose from, but most aren’t very nice.

Chic and stylish Sufi (above), where I’ve been before, may be good for atmos and decor and has pretty mosaic tables lining the pavement if you can manage to get one, but the food isn’t a patch on my newest discovery, the Beirut Grill.

One road behind Arab Street and running parallel to it, Bussorah Street, was where we found ourselves last week on the very authoritative suggestion of LT, who knows quite alot about quite alot.

The humous with minced lamb was not only good enough to eat at the table but it was worth ordering extra to take home to brush your teeth with. It was that good. (I hate the taste of fatty lamb but this was lean and well seasoned and without so much as a whiff of Tekka Market mutton pong, I promise).

Sadly nearly all my pictures are rubbish as we were outside and it was dark.  Very few things in life are worse than wading through a blog post stuffed with bad shots of food.

See what I mean?

We tried most of the usual mezze suspects: baba ghanoush, tzatziki and tabouleh plus some of their beautiful meat skewers which you can’t really go too far wrong with…and all very much carb-free if you resist the piping hot, fresh flat breads that they seem to serve with everything.

Do not come here thinking you’ll sit at a lovely table where you can watch the world go by; your table will look something like this:

…but it does at least let you sit outside and embrace the hustle and bussle of the whole area from a relatively safe distance (their seating is on a quieter road than Arab Street; ideal. At Sufi I very nearly got hit by a chap loading up a hubbly bubbly pipe with white hot coal).

The house white wine (I weakened and had a sip…I’m not counting it) was perfectly quaffable sauvignon blanc but I am sure you can BYO for a nominal corkage charge (I didn’t ask what).

Be warned: they almost loose all credibility by employing a belly dancer who appears intermittently through out the evening, shaking her stuff usually at just the same time that you’re trying to order.  Most men looked quite thrilled by her presence, so maybe it was just me.

Good for out of towners or a fun place to take the air-con only crowd.

Beirut Grill, 72 Bussorah Street, T: (+65) 6341 7728