Beirut · booza
Hanna Mitri
It is the single most consistently cited booza address in Lebanese press across a decade of coverage, the shop most often used domestically as the reference point for what 'real' Levantine ice cream is, and its survival through both the 2020 port explosion and the broader economic collapse is independently documented and dated rather than assumed.
What we know
- Pounded booza technique using salep and mastic, the recipe unchanged — a little Lebanese Berthillon, as it has been described
- One-room shop in the Saint-Nicolas quarter of Achrafieh, described in 2020 as 'inchangée depuis 1949' (unchanged since 1949)
- Original premises destroyed in the 4 August 2020 Beirut port explosion; family relocated and kept making the same recipes, per Made in Liban (2026)
- Seasonal flavour selection driven by available fruit, roughly ten flavours at a time
- Singled out by name in a published, attributed recommendation from Lebanese jewellery designer Selim Mouzannar (see recommendation)
- Status
- open
- Address
- Saint-Nicolas, Achrafieh, Beirut
- Maker
- Mitri (Hanna) Moussa, son of founder Hanna Mitri Moussa, trained by his father from a young age
- Opened
- 1949
- Last checked
- 2026-08-21
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