Marmar Basha Lebanese Grill opens at new location in Nazareth
Your favorite Mediterranean Cuisine restaurant has just moved to a new and better location at #32 Tomas Saco St., Brgy. Nazareth, Cagayan de Oro City.
Marmar Basha is a Lebanese-owned Halal restaurant that serves Middle Eastern favorites like Hummus, Kebabs, Shawarma, Fatayer, Beryani, and Kabsa.
Basha means “boss” while Marmar means ‘ocean’, so Marmar Basha means “Boss of the Ocean’.
But its flier invites the casual gourmand to experience more than that with Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish and Lebanese cuisines all in one setting.
“We serve healthy and delicious dishes which use olive oil, fresh meat and vegetables with no artificial ingredients or preservatives,” says Soheil Dandan, the Lebanese born owner who has now made Cagayan de Oro City his home.
The place had its humble beginnings in 2017 when Soheil took over the ownership of the former Istanbul Grill along Corrales Avenue across the Xavier Gymnasium.
With the experience he gained from their family-owned restaurant in Beirut, Marmar Basha soon gained a loyal clientele which patronized the unique establishment.
However, Soheil realized his first location was too small to accommodate his flourishing business, and
began looking for a better place. Fortunately, he found a good one at the new location which not only
allowed a bigger sit-down capacity, but had a parking space for patrons as well.
“Our customers like our food because all our ingredients are imported so we maintain our quality. We
cannot replace them with local substitutes because for instance, the chicken curry and turmeric here are quite different from what we have in Lebanon, so will not taste the same.”
“Our best sellers are our Basha Special Grill: Wow Tawook (Juicy chicken breast marinated in Turkish
spices); Wow Tenderloin (Tender beef cubes marinated in Spanish spices); Wow Helly Chix (Spicy
chicken breast cubes marinated in Mexican spices); Basha Mini Grill (Combination of 2 BBQ choices in
one set: shish tawook & beef kebab); Basha Mix Grill (Combination of 3 BBQ choices in one set: shish tawook, beef kebab & beef tenderloin), and King Kebab (Combination of 2 choices of chicken kebab and beef kebab, marinated the Lebanese way).
They also serve four kinds of shawarma: local, Lebanese, French and Mexican.
“They have the same beef and chicken but differ in their toppings and gravy. For instance, the local
shawarma only has cucumber and green tomatoes with watery garlic sauce. But our garlic sauce is creamy and we don’t use mayonnaise, we make our own garlic sauce. So the Lebanese Shawarma has the taheni (sesame paste) sauce which is imported,” Soheil explained.
Like many traditional Middle Eastern restaurants, the new Marmar Basha also has a mini-mart displaying favorite middle eastern products like halal gelatin, chicken and beef luncheon loaf, halawa (pistachio spread) and a lot more!
“And for those who like to relax after their meal, we invite them to experience Arabic tobacco with
Shisha smoking, with hot drinks like Arab Coffee and Middle Eastern Tea,” Soheil said.
Also known as narghile, water pipe, hookah or hubble bubble smoking, Shisha originated in the Middle East and certain parts of Asia. It is a way of smoking tobacco through a bowl with a hose or tube with a mouthpiece that the smoker uses to breath in the smoke.
Shisha usually contains tobacco which is sometimes mixed with fruit or molasses sugar. Popular flavors include apple, strawberry, mint and cola. Wood, coal or charcoal is burned in the shisha pipe to heat the tobacco and create the smoke.
Marmar Basha is open daily from 11AM to 11PM for dine-in, take-out and delivery via foodpanda,
Grabfood, maxim, or streetby at #32 Tomas Saco St., Nazareth beside the Korean Church. You can also visit their social media page on Facebook, or call 0917-717-7747 for more inquiries.
