Recently opened Lebanese restaurant Feniqia opens in Wachtberg-Villip
Wachtberg · Even though it’s only been open for a short time, Feniqia has already turned out to be a jewel in the industrial park area. Its wide range of Lebanese specialties and stylish ambience make it attractive for customers.
One should not assume that industrial parks are only good enough for snack bars and the like. In this case, it would have been proven wrong. A particularly vivid example of this has recently been found in the Wachtberg-Villip industrial park. There, Lebanese-born Elie El-Hayek has opened his first restaurant, Feniqia. The 54-year-old restaurateur has worked previously as a chef in the Lebanese restaurants Phoenicia Lounge (Poppelsdorf) and MontLiban (Beuel).
Anyone who enters the modern glass cube of Feniqia quickly forgets the surrounding industrial park. There are light-colored wooden floors with underfloor heating, dark wooden furniture (seating for 65 inside), a fresh red rose on every table, an open kitchen and a large panoramic window front.
The view is not of car dealerships or truck depots, but of an exceptionally beautiful terrace, where accomplished landscape gardeners have left their calling card: Behind the 70 seats (on wooden planks and under a canvas roof) are a long quarry stone wall and elaborately filled flower beds, all framed by a high hedge.
The seating area is broken up by pillars with imposing climbing hydrangeas. A special highlight is a in-ground chess board at the edge of the terrace.
A sampling from the menu includes taboulé salad (parsley, tomatoes, onions, bulgar wheat and mint in olive oil and lemon juice) for 5.50 euros, baba ghanoush (eggplant puree with sesame paste and garlic) or kibbeh bil lahme (four bulgar wheat balls filled with meat and pine nuts) for six euros each, Lahem Mischweh (two lamb fillet skewers with fried potatoes or rice) or Samke Harra (fried salmon fillet with spicy sauce and rice) for 15 euros each.
The six different mezze menus deserve a special mention. The mezze variant "Feniqia," for example, is available for two people or more (at a price of 30 euros per person) and contains twelve appetizer components, including hummus and falafel, and three components in the main courses, for example shish taouk (grilled chicken skewers), served with rice and fried potatoes.
Exclusively Lebanese wines are offered, six open wines (0.2l from 5.50 to 6.50 euros), such as Les Gourmets Rouge from Clos St. Thomas for 5.50 euros, and around 20 bottled wines starting at 20 euros, e.g. Altitudes Blanc from Ixsir for 25 euros. Gaffel Kölsch and Bitburger Pils (0.2 l each 1.80 euros) are on tap, Benediktiner wheat beers (0.5 l each 4.50 euros) and Beirut Beer (0.33 l) brewed in Lebanon for three euros. A non-alcoholic tip is Jallab, a syrup made from dates and pine nuts (0.3l for three euros).
- Info: Feniqia, Auf dem Kummgraben 1, 53343 Wachtberg-Villip (in the industrial park), tel. (0176) 82 17 42 36. Open Mon, Wed-Sun 11 am - 11 pm. Closed on Tuesdays.
