In central Oslo, Raffiné presents Lebanese cuisine through the places and histories behind it. The restaurant and wine bar builds its menus around connections between geography, agriculture and culinary tradition, while its extensive wine collection extends that perspective from Lebanon to wine regions around the world.
At the centre of the concept is what Raffiné calls Originist Cuisine — an approach that looks beyond familiar dishes and established recipes to examine where ingredients come from, the practices that developed around them, and how culinary traditions have travelled between people and cultures over time. Food, wine and art are considered within this wider cultural context, as expressions of the places and civilisations from which they emerged.
A Culinary Story Shaped Over Thousands of Years
Lebanon lies within the Fertile Crescent, a region with one of the world’s longest histories of agriculture and settled farming communities. Its position on the eastern Mediterranean also connected it to routes of migration and exchange, while within the country itself, the landscape changes rapidly from coastline to fertile valleys and high mountains.
Over thousands of years, these different environments have shaped what could be grown, how food was prepared and preserved, and the culinary traditions that developed around them.
Inspired by these connections between landscape, agriculture and food, Raffiné explores how climate, altitude and preservation have contributed to Lebanese cuisine, and how those connections can be expressed in a contemporary dining experience.
The restaurant conducts this research with Dr. Dominique Dano in Food Science and Dr. Semona Issa Slorbak in Ecological Sciences, alongside conversations with local communities and others connected to Lebanese food, agriculture and culture.
This research is not intended to recreate Lebanese cuisine as something fixed in the past. As Raffiné’s founders, Jhonny Maroun and Dan Elkarouni, explain:
“Raffiné is not trying to make Lebanese food less traditional or more European. We are trying to go deeper into where the traditions came from and present that history in a new way.”
From Heritage to Table: What Form Would the Tasting Experience Take?
The result of this combination of geography, agriculture, history and continuing research is a series of landscape-based tasting experiences.
The Earth is rooted in the Bekaa Valley, at approximately 900–1,200 metres above sea level. Its fertile agricultural environment is expressed through a vegetarian menu built around grains, herbs, dairy and fermentation.
The Land moves higher, towards Mount Lebanon, from around 1,200 metres to more than 3,000 metres. Colder conditions and mountain traditions provide the inspiration for a more meat-focused experience, with preservation, depth and warmth playing a greater role.
The Sea descends to the Mediterranean coast, between sea level and around 300 metres. Seafood, citrus and brighter, fresher flavours reflect Lebanon’s relationship with the Mediterranean.
The distinction is important. Raffiné did not simply create vegetarian, meat and seafood menus and then assign landscapes to them. The landscape comes first, and the character of each tasting experience develops from the environment it represents.
One example from The Sea shows how this idea works in practice. Raffiné serves fish tartare with Choumar Bahri, or rock samphire, a wild edible plant that grows along Lebanon’s rocky Mediterranean coast.
Traditionally eaten fresh or preserved in salt and vinegar, Choumar Bahri is pickled at Raffiné for the dish. For the team, however, its significance goes beyond flavour. Knowledge surrounding Lebanon’s wild edible plants is becoming less commonly passed on, placing some of these traditions at risk of being lost.
Rock samphire itself has a much longer Mediterranean history, having been eaten since antiquity and historically valued by sailors for its vitamin C.
Choumar Bahri captures the idea behind Originist Cuisine particularly clearly: understanding an ingredient means looking not only at its flavour, but at where it grows, how it was used and preserved, and why those practices developed.
Wine Beyond the Pairing: A Curated Collection from Around the World
Wine occupies a distinctive place at Raffiné, with more than 100 wines, many available by the glass. Lebanon remains an important point of reference, but the selection extends across a much broader range of wine-producing regions.
Alongside the conventional divisions by wine style, region and country, Raffiné frames its collection through what it calls “The Arc of History” — 8,000 years of winemaking presented in three chapters: Ancient World, Old World and New World.
The Ancient World begins with the earliest documented wine cultures of the Caucasus and the Levant, including Georgia, Lebanon and neighbouring lands. The Old World follows the expansion and development of viticulture through classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, particularly across Southern and Central Europe and North Africa. The New World moves to regions where winemaking traditions were later adapted to different climates and territories, including the Americas, Australia and South Africa.
This framework gives the wine list a role beyond conventional pairing. It traces how a tradition rooted in some of the world’s earliest wine-producing regions travelled, evolved and found new expressions across continents.
Guests can explore the cellar independently or through three wine pairings — Essential, Signature and Vintage — offered with the tasting menus. A non-alcoholic Botanique pairing uses house-made ferments, infusions and extracts inspired by Lebanon’s botanical ecology.
Visiting Raffiné
Raffiné is located at Universitetsgata 7, 0164 Oslo, in central Oslo and within easy reach of the city’s main attractions and public transport.
Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are available, although the restaurant cannot guarantee an allergen-free environment. Halal meat is not served.
Due to its intimate setting, Raffiné does not accommodate children or provide child seating.
For current menu, opening hours, reservations and further information, visit the official Raffiné website.
