Scalini Opens in Downtown Beirut in a $2 Million Bet on High-End Dining
The London-founded Italian restaurant’s first Lebanese branch comes from 7 Management and Assaad Group, which says a coffee chain and Dubai concepts are next for Beirut.
Scalini, the Italian restaurant founded in Chelsea, London, in 1988, has opened its first Lebanese branch in downtown Beirut, Hospitality News Magazine reported on 21 July 2026. L’Orient Today put the investment at more than US$2 million. 7 Management, the hospitality group led by Rabih Fakhreddine, operates the restaurant in partnership with Assaad Group.
The restaurant occupies nearly 500 square metres, with 60 seats indoors, 85 on the terrace and a staff of about 50, according to L’Orient Today. It is run by a company set up for the project, Dolce DT SAL. Hospitality News Magazine places it in the Fawaz Building and describes elegant interiors, the brand’s signature lemon tree and a terrace overlooking downtown. It serves lunch, dinner and weekend brunch, with dishes including tagliolini al tartufo, pappardelle al ragù bianco, piccata al limone and veal Milanese. L’Orient adds handmade pasta, seafood, antipasti and pizzas, and puts the average bill at about US$80 a head.
The same recipes as London and Dubai
Fakhreddine says the aim was not to adapt Scalini to Beirut but to reproduce the international experience: the recipes, quality standards and service philosophy are the same, and teams from the Scalini network worked with the Beirut staff from the first day. The project took nearly two years to prepare. Scalini already operates in Dubai, Doha, Cannes, Istanbul and Egypt, Hospitality News Magazine noted.
A long-term bet
The group is targeting a return on its investment in about three years, with the money coming only from the project’s shareholders and partners, L’Orient Today reported. “We invest with a long-term vision, without reacting to short-term economic cycles,” Fakhreddine said. Assaad Group, his partner, is known for operating Joe & The Juice in Lebanon and Cyprus.
Scalini is described as a first step. In the coming months, 7 Management plans to announce the arrival of a new international coffee chain in Lebanon and the launch of several concepts developed in Dubai, including YUBI and Lady Bird, according to L’Orient. Hospitality News Magazine quoted Fakhreddine as saying major announcements on its Beirut expansion were coming soon.
The sector as a whole is described as resilient. A Hodema market report on Beirut’s food and beverage industry, covering March 2025 to February 2026 and summarised by the magazine on 22 July, uses that word, although the summary carries no figures and the full report is a separate download. Beirut’s restaurants are also drawing recognition abroad: see our report on Beihouse and the three Beirut entries at MENA’s 50 Best, and our preview of the HORECA Lebanon trade show, due in November.
Sources & fact-check4
- Scalini Beirut: a $2M gamble on the return of high-end diningL’Orient Today, 27 July 2026
- Scalini Beirut opens as 7 Management backs Lebanon’s hospitality sectorHospitality News Magazine, 21 July 2026
- Scalini opens in Downtown BeirutRLI, 27 July 2026
- Hodema Beirut F&B Report 2026: market insightHospitality News Magazine, 22 July 2026
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