Until recently this Theatreland spot was a commendable Australasian restaurant, Osia. Cynics said it was too good for a prime West End site, and they turned out to be right. The owner then had a flirtation with an American formula (the Broadway Diner) but it didn’t last long either.
Owners Majiv el Ghzal and Yassir Zenagui realised that drinking is what prime West End sites seem to be about, so the bar, rather than the dining room, now occupies the part of the premises you can see from the street. The owners have superimposed some of the style of their Moroccan homeland on the décor, to pretty good effect, and Dune looks as if it would be one of the nicer places for a drink in the heart of Theatreland.
We say ‘looks as’, because custom was thin on the ground the lunchtime we visited, so a bit of imagination was required. In fact, we lunched alone in the new dining room – now occupying the lofty former chapel hidden away at the rear – so we had plenty of time to concentrate on the service and the food. Service in the West End can be pretty anonymous, and the staff here were notable for making an unusual effort to engage, which managed to lighten up what could otherwise have been rather a deadly occasion.
It’s no great surprise that the food turns out to be rather a supporting attraction. It has little to do with North Africa, but is ‘Mediterranean’. It’s increasingly rare these days to get a catch-all description like that, and the food lacked the cutting-edge that
a more focussed menu might perhaps have brought. Let’s just say that – by prominent West End standards – it makes a perfectly fine place to eat.
