Retour Bistro

Retour is French for return, and the word does real work over the door of this downtown Guelph dining room. The menu is a homecoming menu — the grape leaves, the sumac, the family recipes Layla Saleh cooked her way back to after leaving Lebanon, set down on Wellington Street as if the distance between Guelph and the south of Lebanon were a thing a kitchen could close. The cooking is Lebanese without apology or fusion hedging, and the clearest way to read it is to order the way the kitchen orders for itself: something fresh and green to start, a grill plate to anchor, and a sweet to finish.

Start with the Hand Rolled Grape Leaves — five leaves filled with rice, tomato, parsley, and fresh mint — and a bowl of hummus, and the table has its Lebanese footing before anything heavier lands. From there the menu opens into wraps and plates. Chicken Shawarma is the easy main: chicken breast, tomato, pickles, turnips, and garlic sauce folded into a wrap. Shish Kabob and the Tawook Plate carry the grilled-skewer and saffron-rice lane for a fuller dinner, and Mjadarah holds down the quieter, lentil-and-rice end of the table. Manakeesh come off the oven in zaatar and cheese versions, hummus shares the mezza spread with moutabbal and tabbouleh, and Baklawa is the small sweet finish — one of the dishes Retour singles out as its own.