BRITAIN: Dinner for 370,000, Please, James

Hardly had James unlocked the front door when the phone began to ring. "Table for six for lunch? But of course, Madame ... Table for eight tonight? With pleasure ... No sir, the menu today is tabbouleh and mulokhieh, but we'll be serving kafta mechwi* as always ... Yes, sir, of course we can provide a belly dancer..."

James Kassouf is perpetually harassed these days. He is manager of the Beirut Restaurant in London's chic Knightsbridge, and this summer his phone is forever ringing with the news that some Kuwaiti sheik or Saudi...

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