New hot Lebanese restaurant Ilili amazes with interior garden design

October 8, 2021, by EDWIN A. HILL

Inside the glass-walled building that serves as the crown jewel of DC’s waterfront dock development, a brand new Lebanese restaurant offers a visual feast before customers even open their menus. Within the 4,500 square feet that make up Ilili, there is a large limestone fountain that first flowed in Provence, France, at the end of the 19th century. The bubbling centerpiece is one of the few pieces in the restaurant that was not made in Lebanon. Citrus fruits are emerging from square planters painted green. Hanging bird cages full of steel doves with bulbs for heads to float above. Daisy tiles covering the floor anchor the space with bright pops of blue and white.

A yellow sofa winds around the perimeter of Ilili, designed with help from Lebanese textile design studio Bokja and Beirut-based rattan craftsman Barbour.