Junkyard tapas

What do you do with your plot of land waiting for a delayed permit from the Ministry of Tourism to build a new restaurant on it? Options vary from converting it into a parking lot to watching the weeds grow as the space goes unused. Mario Junior Haddad and Chef Tomas Reger, respectively owner and executive chef of Le Sushi Bar, however, had other ideas, and decided to have fun with their space by turning it into the ‘Junkyard Pop Up’ — a temporary outdoor restaurant located in the alleyway next to the United petrol station in Mar Mkhayel. They plan to build an Italian restaurant there when the permit comes through — hopefully, they say, early next year — but in the meantime, the Junkyard is great publicity for their restaurant consultancy company Food for Thought, and a trendsetter in Beirut’s restaurant scene — being the first pop-up restaurant