Bushey Heath, Middle Eastern Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: “Outstanding delicious falafels” – “some of the best in London” – are the star turn at this Jewish-Moroccan veggie spot in Temple Fortune. “Don’t be put off by the strip lighting aesthetic, although there’s possibly better ambience in the street outside”. In the last couple of years the three Sabbo brothers have opened follow-ups in High Barnet (selling meat) and Clerkenwell’s Leather Lane (and also in Lakewood, New Jersey!)

This “trendy Turkish restaurant in Cockfosters” has given the Anatolian grill a smart makeover over the past decade, and now “has the vibe of a West End restaurant, with a DJ at the weekend” and “faultless service”. According to its biggest fans, “Cockfosters is becoming a destination thanks to restaurants like Skewd!”

2022 Review: “A varied menu” of sharing plates and burgers sits alongside more ambitious dishes at this modern Middle Eastern restaurant in Hampstead, whose “great atmosphere, excellent food and rustic decor” create an “enjoyable” experience.

2024 Review: This appealing café/restaurant in Notting Hill is “just a gentle place to be”, with a modern eastern Mediterranean menu inspired by founder Victoria Paltina’s visits to Tel Aviv.

“Interesting and tasty small plates” – “sort of evolved eastern Mediterranean” – is backed up by a “short and eclectic wine list” focused on the same region at Barry & Patricia Hamilton’s Levantine duo in Queensway and South Kensington. With its “fast, efficient service”, the latter is a “good place for pre-Albert Hall dining”. Top Menu Tip – for brunch, “the Turkish breakfast (halloumi, merguez, baked eggs, spicy tomato crush, pitta bread)”.

2023 Review: “A family Egyptian with unique character” – this unchanging venture (est 1970) occupies a room behind a takeaway, near the top of Baker Street. The affordable dishes are highly authentic, as is the no-frills vibe. Unlicensed so BYO.

2021 Review: “Don’t let the shabby interior put you off” – this “wonderful, simple Iranian café” off Edgware Road serves “excellent and authentic Persian dishes” including “superb lamb”. “I love this place” – “small, squashed and full of character”, it all but defines “cheap ’n’ cheerful” (“and BYOB”).

One of the success stories of Borough Market – this Levantine operation with an “interesting mix of Middle Eastern food” started out as a simple stall before trading up to a permanent restaurant that gets “very busy at lunchtime”. It has a similarly well-rated offshoot in King’s Cross.

“Delicious Middle Eastern dishes” emerge from the grill at this venture near Great Portland Street from ‘Honey & Co’ (see also) foodie power-couple, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich. “The combination of flavours is exceptional”, and “the portions always go further than you’d expect”. True to its Levantine origins, it’s not a grand place: “the dining room feels like a parish hall”.

“It’s busy, it’s buzzy, but the focus is on the high standard of cooking” at this brilliant collab between the Tom Dixon studio and famous Israeli chef Assaf Grannit, by hip Granary Square. “The good vibe and great decor are down to the design and accessories” (Dixon’s London studio is in the adjacent building) but it’s Assaf’s “unique combinations of wonderful flavours” in the Tel Aviv-inspired small plates that have built its reputation: “enough to tickle the most jaded palate: lots of herbs, pomegranate, chilli, with brilliant bread and dips”. That said, the food is “rather simple for the prices charged”: “a bit overpriced if very delicious”. Top Tip – the outdoor terrace comes into its own in summer.

“Really enjoyable and imaginative Middle Eastern food” at “reasonable prices” wins very consistent praise for this modern duo in Marylebone and Shoreditch from Tel Aviv-born Limor Chen and her husband Amir. It’s “family- and veggie-friendly” too, with very welcoming service. In late 2024, a new Delamina branch is planned for the periphery of Covent Garden. Top Menu Tips – “Charred Cauliflower; also the moist and tasty date cake”.

“Interesting and tasty small plates” – “sort of evolved eastern Mediterranean” – is backed up by a “short and eclectic wine list” focused on the same region at Barry & Patricia Hamilton’s Levantine duo in Queensway and South Kensington. With its “fast, efficient service”, the latter is a “good place for pre-Albert Hall dining”. Top Menu Tip – for brunch, “the Turkish breakfast (halloumi, merguez, baked eggs, spicy tomato crush, pitta bread)”.

This 10-year-old group with six sites offers a “good-value and tasty” take on the Middle Eastern kebab, served with a “modern twist” alongside “noteworthy cocktails”. “A seat at the counter is fun” at the original Kingly Court branch in Carnaby Street, which has a ‘fine dining’ option downstairs, Kebab Queen (see also).

2021 Review: “Utterly magic shakshuka served with chunks of roasted sourdough…”, “stand-out salt beef bagels…”, “incredible coffee with a selection of babka sweet breads (in different flavours!)…”, “ZFC – ‘za’atar fried chicken’ – to die for!…” – these “bustling” Israeli delis in Stoke Newington and Soho’s Kingly Court create queues (especially at brunch) with their “quite exceptional and startlingly fresh Middle-Eastern-cum-north-American food. They also make a worthwhile destination at dinner, when the pace is more sedate, the natural wines are flowing and you can actually book a table”. “Casual and relaxed”, they look “gorgeous” too.

2021 Review: “Utterly magic shakshuka served with chunks of roasted sourdough…”, “stand-out salt beef bagels…”, “incredible coffee with a selection of babka sweet breads (in different flavours!)…”, “ZFC – ‘za’atar fried chicken’ – to die for!…” – these “bustling” Israeli delis in Stoke Newington and Soho’s Kingly Court create queues (especially at brunch) with their “quite exceptional and startlingly fresh Middle-Eastern-cum-north-American food. They also make a worthwhile destination at dinner, when the pace is more sedate, the natural wines are flowing and you can actually book a table”. “Casual and relaxed”, they look “gorgeous” too.

“Flavours that transport you to the Middle East” inspire adoration for fans of Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich’s “interesting” café, which moved to Bloomsbury (to the former site of Cigala, RIP) in 2022 having been a major media sensation when it first touched down near Warren Street 10 years earlier. The “brilliant range of eastern Med tapas” is “fresh and delightful” and acclaimed by many for their best meal of the year: an impressive achievement for a relatively humble operation. If there’s a criticism, it’s that some reporters feel the raves are overdone, judging the performance “enjoyable but not exceptional”. Top Menu Tips – “The Falafel starter is magic (and I am comparing it with a number of experiences in the Middle East)”. “Slow- cooked lamb is smooth, tender and tasty, and the stuffed aubergines are a flavour and texture sensation”; “finally onto cheesecake… unlike any previously experienced!”

“Simple and yet so exciting” – Zoë & Layo Paskin’s “friendly” Tel Aviv-inspired grill on the edge of Chinatown is celebrating a decade in business, and fans say it’s “still good after all these years”. The “consistently excellent” Middle Eastern plates “look straightforward but are prepared with real care and finesse”; and there’s a “great atmosphere, especially if you sit at the bar (I love everything about this place!)”. However, even fans sometimes note that “prices have risen” over the years; and there are a few reporters who are “worried it might be becoming a victim of its own success: the food is still delicious but it’s so busy it can feel a bit stressful”.

“Superb North African food is served in this dimly lit, bustly counter-style restaurant with bags of ambience” in Neal’s Yard, Soho, opened in 2016 by Leyo and Zoe Paskin as a follow-up to their nearby hit Palomar: “the hype is fully justified” (although “the fixed bar seating can be mightily uncomfortable if you’re tall”). And in September 2024 they are to expand to the Notting Hill/Bayswater border, with a 75-cover restaurant newcomer in a Grade II listed building on the corner of Westbourne Grove and Chepstow Road: it will feature a take on the popular kitchen counter format, in addition to an open-plan dining room and a cocktail bar.

This “buzzy and enjoyable location” for “very well-executed Mediterranean small dishes” is the more casual offspring of Sam & Sam Clark’s Moro next door in Exmouth Market – and now has its own spin-off in Hackney Road. The original Spanish/Moorish fusion has taken on additional influences from further afield, including Crete and the Middle East. Top Menu Tip – “good cheese fritters with Cretan honey and Cretan sausage and yoghurt with first rate flatbread”.

“Sublimely executed feelgood nosh of the highest charcoal-grilled order” has attracted a “devoted fan base” for this Middle East/North Africa-inspired grill in a Haggerston railway arch, and its shawarma bar spinoff in Exmouth Market. Ten years on, its feedback – though consistently excellent – no longer scales the hyper-dizzying peaks it once did, perhaps because founder Josh Katz is increasingly focused on his newer, multi-site project, Carmel (see also).