‘Russell Crowe is our Godfather’: Donations from across the world help Beirut restaurants get back on their feet

A small family-run restaurant in Beirut has been overwhelmed by the generosity of the donations it received after the blast, including from one very special patron. Bel Trew speaks to those tentatively reopening their doors after disaster

Charbel Bassil stands outside his recently renovated restaurant Le Chef (Bel Trew)

Glancing into the unassuming Beirut eatery, few would realise that amid the plastic-clad tables and customers bent over fragrant plates of stuffed mutton lies a connection to Hollywood.

Le Chef, a small Lebanese family restaurant, has been a mainstay on the city’s famed Gourand Street for 53 years despite several wars. Its owner Charbel Bassil regales newcomers with tales of navigating checkpoints and shelling with his father to get to work.

But on 4 August it was blown up in the Beirut port blast, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in modern history.