Australian restaurants, cafés and bars in Beirut

Beirut has thousands of people who grew up in Sydney and Melbourne, but we couldn't confirm a single Australian-run café, restaurant or footy pub open in the city in 2026.

The short version

We looked hard for Aussie-run venues in Beirut and found none we could confirm as trading in 2026. We're not going to make one up.
The nearest thing was Piccolo Me, the Sydney café brand, which opened at the Dbayeh Waterfront north of Beirut in 2025 [2][3]. We couldn't confirm it's still open, so check before you drive out.
Beirut's café scene is excellent in its own right. You'll find a good flat white in Mar Mikhael, Gemmayzeh and Achrafieh, even without an Aussie owner.
There's no AFL Grand Final watch party in Lebanon on the AFL's 2026 list. The closest were in Dubai and Abu Dhabi [5]. Most Aussies here stream at home.
Rugby league is the code with a real Lebanese-Australian link: the Lebanon Cedars played at the 2026 World Cup in Australia [6].

Why there's no Aussie strip in Beirut

Australia and Lebanon are tightly connected. Ask around a café in Achrafieh and someone will have a cousin in Punchbowl or Coburg. But most of that connection runs the other way: Lebanese food is everywhere in Sydney, not Australian food in Beirut. Australians here are mostly Lebanese-Australians back with family, and they don't come for meat pies.

There's also the bigger picture. Smartraveller's advice for Lebanon is Do not travel, citing a volatile security situation and military strikes [1]. That makes it a hard place to open, or keep open, a foreign-themed hospitality business. If you're living here anyway, keep up with that advice, and treat any opening hours, including ours, as subject to change.

What we checked, and what didn't make the cut

We searched English, Australian and Lebanese sources for Australian-owned or Australian-style cafés, restaurants, bakeries and bars in Beirut, and checked any leads against their own websites and recent coverage.

Piccolo Me, Dbayeh

Area: Dbayeh Waterfront, north of central Beirut

Piccolo Me started in Sydney and is known for its over-the-top Nutella drinks. In May 2025, Business Franchise Australia reported the brand was expanding into Lebanon with a local partner [3]. Beirut.com reported in July 2025 that the Dbayeh café had officially opened, describing it as Sydney-born and Lebanese-run, open 7am to 9pm daily [2]. It posts on Instagram as @piccolome.lb.

We couldn't find anything from 2026 confirming it's still trading, so we haven't put it in our list. If you've been recently, tell us in the group and we'll add it back.

Flat White, Mar Mikhael

A specialty coffee shop called Flat White opened on Pharoun Street in Mar Mikhael in 2025 [4]. Great name. But we couldn't find any Australian link, so it's a good coffee, not an Aussie venue.

Getting your fix anyway

You can't walk into a Beirut pub and find the Swans on every screen. You can still sort most of what you miss.

Coffee

Lebanon runs on coffee, and the specialty scene in Mar Mikhael, Gemmayzeh, Hamra and Achrafieh is strong. Most third-wave cafés will make you a flat white or a piccolo without blinking. If yours doesn't, order a cortado and add a splash more milk.

Aussie products

There's no Australian grocer we could confirm in Beirut. Imported goods cost more here than you'd expect, so most people bring Vegemite, Tim Tams and Shapes back after trips home, and ask visiting family to fill a corner of the suitcase. Bigger supermarkets carry a range of imported brands, and stock changes week to week, so look rather than assume.

Barbecues are easy. Lebanese butchers do excellent lamb, and a backyard or rooftop barbecue is as normal here as it is in Parramatta.

The footy

AFL. The AFL's 2026 list of overseas grand final watch parties had no Lebanon entry. The nearest were in Abu Dhabi and Dubai [5]. Beirut is seven hours behind Melbourne in September, so a 2.30pm bounce at the MCG is 7.30am here. Stream it at home with a coffee and a man'oushe.
NRL. Watch NRL, the league's official streaming service, is available worldwide outside Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands [7]. Check it works on your connection before finals week, and keep a backup in case the power drops.
Rugby league in Lebanon. This is the code with real roots here. The Lebanese federation runs senior, college, schools and women's competitions [8]. The national team, the Cedars, played at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup in Australia, with a squad built mostly on ancestry-qualified Lebanese-Australians [6].
Host it yourself. With no venue, the best grand final in Beirut is the one you organise. Post in the group a week before and you'll soon have a lounge room full of people.

Your options at a glance

What you want	Best option in 2026	Notes
Aussie-run café	None confirmed in Beirut	Piccolo Me opened in Dbayeh in 2025; check it's still open [2]
A flat white	Specialty cafés in Mar Mikhael, Gemmayzeh, Achrafieh	No Aussie owner needed
AFL Grand Final	Stream at home, around 7.30am	Nearest official watch parties were in the UAE [5]
NRL	Watch NRL	Available worldwide outside Australia, NZ and the Pacific [7]
Local rugby league	Lebanese Rugby League Federation	Domestic leagues plus the Cedars national team [6][8]
Vegemite and Tim Tams	Your suitcase	No Australian grocer confirmed

Want more tips like this? Join Cooee Lebanon, our Facebook group for Australians in Lebanon, where members swap which café does a decent flat white, whose place is hosting the grand final and who's flying back from Sydney with room for Tim Tams.

Australian restaurants, cafés and bars in Beirut: the honest version