Upscale Lebanese Restaurant Replaces Former Morels in Bingham Farms

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Mandaloun Bistro is bringing gourmet, made-from-scratch Lebanese food to Bingham Farms with its grand opening Wednesday in the former home of Shiraz and Morels on Telegraph Road.

“A lot of labor that goes into our food,” says Melissa Bitar, owner of the restaurant. “For example, tabouli is made out of parsley and tomatoes. Some restaurants will throw everything into a food processor and blend it, but I have an employee who sits there for hours, cleaning the parsley and cutting it by hand.”

Bitar’s parents, who previously owned a fine dining Lebanese restaurant in Farmington Hills, will keep things up to snuff in the kitchen of the 4,800-square-foot restaurant. Her mother will prepare small batches of authentic meals — the baked kibee is served with yogurt and cucumber sauce because “that’s how we eat it back home” — and her father will handle all of the butchering, she says.

Among the more popular items to be featured are hummus, tabouli, and shish kafta, and chargrilled and marinated ground beef and lamb. The dinner menu ranges in price from $18 to $30, while lunch offerings are priced at $9 to $10 per meal, including sides and a fountain drink.

The interior of the restaurant, which can seat about 150 people, is decorated in a contemporary American style, featuring white table clothes, a black and silver color theme, and an overall upscale ambiance, Bitar says.

The restaurant employs about 15 to 20 people and is expected to have its liquor license by the New Year, Bitar says. Come this summer, the eatery will open a 50-seat patio at the front of building, she adds.

In regards to expansion, Bitar says she plans to stick to owning one restaurant at a time, but talks about the possibility of opening a 2,500 square-foot banquet facility within her current building in the future.

For more information about the restaurant, at 30100 Telegraph Rd., call 248-723-7960 or visit mandalounbistro.com.