Comptoir Libanais - a pale imitation - Aug 2013

Micro chain Le Comptoir Libanais aims to bring fast, affordable and 'fun' Lebanese casual dining to London. The first branch, in Westfield, obviously worked well as there's been a slew of them opening up elsewhere.

Having never understood why there aren't more casual lunch spots like this, I was initially entranced. Sure it's got a 'stop me and buy one' schtick borrowed from a Jamie's Italian or a Bill's Produce Store, with everything from salad dressing to handbags on sale in the souk inspired space, but it doesn't have quite the corporate roll out feel that you'd expect from one of those. Tightly and brightly jewelled shelves, a packed glass chiller at the back stuffed with healthy greens and cartoony colourful furniture - it's a lovely, fresh and open place to be on a summer's day.

Sadly, it was hard to be anything other than underwhelmed by the food we had over lunch. Simple and authentic it might (just) be, tasty it sadly wasn't.

I ended up with an overly salty halloumi salad, the four cold bits of squeaky cheese nestling apologetically on a bed of long ago prepared salad doused in an acrid dressing. The olives particularly were excruciatingly overpowering, exploding in the mouth like slimy, saline paintball pellets.

Alongside that we shared a plate of mixed mezze. A large enough portion, but nothing like large enough in taste. We left most of it to be collected, uncommented on, at the end. 'Highlights' included large dry falafel cannonballs, setting the cause of that noble dish back by years, their claggy mouthfeel reminding you why your mother always had to force you to eat chickpeas.

Alongside underpowered baba ganouch came glow in the dark purple stained turnip light sabres and kebab shop pickles. A brace of chiller cold pasties of indeterminate sort were also less than the sum of their (long ago prepared) parts - sparse filling sunk to the bottom like sediment in an unloved kettle.

Will it be a success? Sadly, almost certainly. Though the central locations will struggle to bring people back for a second visit, particularly if Yalla Yalla shifts up a gear and starts to roll out branches. Would I go back? Not without some coaxing. London isn't short of decent, authentic fast food in this style, it's just a pity that, with the exception of Yalla Yalla and Momo on Heddon Street, there ain't much of it round the central parts. It's just a pitta that none of the infinitely superior Edgeware Road or Knightsbridge brands haven't capitalised on that yet.

  

 
 

Caravan King's Cross - A stylish success - Mar 2013

Could there be anywhere with a whiter heat than King's Cross at the moment? Particularly for foodies. The rotating (if expensive) genius of a Kerb food market lunch, former 24 hour garage turned hip hangout Shrimpy's and an outpost of Exmouth Market's excellent Caravan. Not to mention the fabulous and fashionable Gilbert Scott, the wonderfully bizarre Karpo, modish gastro grub from recently renovated The Fellow and tapas from Camino? I exaggerate (of course), it still has some way to go before achieving Borough Market status (and is still host to the Faulty Towers of restaurants, Bistro De La Gare, home of the most hiliariously bad meal I ate in 2012). But compared to the flyblown wasteland of five years ago, there's a lot to celebrate.

Recently I've managed a solid trio of visits. A fabulous brunch and a pretty great lunch at Caravan King's Cross and a very, very decent lunch at neighbour Shrimpy's (not all on the same day I hasten to add...)

The quality of the food at Caravan is not at all unexpected given the heritage, but here it comes with added art students and without the queue you'll have at their other place in Exmouth Market.

The menu has a laid back Western Mediterranean vibe with influences and style borrowed from wherever makes tasty. It's effectively much lower priced Ottolenghis with decent coffee and no pretension.

That brunch was a silky aubergine stew with a modicum of smoke and sesame, gently cradling a brace of poached eggs, texture provided by chewy fresh sourdough and a delightfully gamey choritzo style sausage. A little bit of what I needed for the hangover that massively ailed me.

Returning for lunch a few weeks later, I dived into a few of their small plates with my guest. The plates range from £3 to £6 and three would easily do two for a light lunch, five if you're having lunch with me and one or two max if you're studying at St Martins next door. They're not called skinny jeans for nothing.

Tempura tofu was fresh and pillowy light. A crispy air coated marshmallow, flavour added with a hearty sesame and mushroom sauce. Spiced cornbread, fresh from the oven, added a chunk of flavour and a wumph of weight no sane art studentista would go near. Thankfully I was there to take the temptation away. Similarly, lemongrass pork was a significant endeavour for the money, sat on a turnip cake slightly overwhelmed by the tamarind infused juices, it was a pleasant piece of pig. The last two were similarly satisfying; a freshly and lightly fried Malay vegetable samosa and a refreshing broad bean and sweet potato flatbread salad topped with a sharp yoghurt. There's a range of good looking stone baked pizzas too and coffee roasted on the premises (of course…)
 
It's a lovely spot, saved from any arty pretentiousness by great staff and a real mixed crowd courtesy of the nearby station. A deservedly populist hit.

   

Review of Yalla Yalla Oxford Circus - Dec 2010

Where: Yalla Yalla, Winsley Street (literally just off Oxford Street... opposite Poland Street)
With who: Ed Hitter (and then the Queen of Harrogate the following day... sucker that I am for a good local lunch spot)
How much: £22 for a good amount of lunchtime mezze.
Come here if: you want a decent authentic feed just off Oxford Circus


I didn't know whether to be excited or trepidatious when somewhere I love, especially somewhere so small, quirky and seemingly unchainable opens another branch. The original Yalla Yalla only opened a year or so ago on a tiny anonymous (and slightly pissy if we're honest) alley just off Brewer Street. It became a favourite for lunch, if slightly far away and always too crowded to sit down. They some very clever things with a bit of lamb, a few sesame seeds and some very good flatbread. Homely, authentic and very down to earth, it certainly didn't have Global Resto Megachain written all over it.
The closure of our local greasy spoon wasn't a cause for much mourning, cheap and a little scuzzy, it was never more than a last resort lunch spot. The surprise came with the news that Yalla Yalla was going up in the world, and expanding. It's certainly got more space than the original. They've still got the same menu of authentic Beirut street food, though have expanded this to include a few larger dishes. 

On both occasions (twice in two days, but working lunches doesn't count as proper calories) we went for sets of mezze to share. Tart pickled turnip (a proper revelation), olives and peppers came as we sat, the food freshly cooked and shortly afterwards. Hommos (sic) came with moreish juicy lumps of lamb, melting with crisp burnished edges from the hefty elephantine leg of meat rotating round the grill. This is how sheep hope their babies end up and as far from your local 'bab house as you can get. The same lamb features with a lemon parsley salad as a main course and packing their (perfect for takeaway) rolls. Grilled pitta stuffed with spicy minced lamb came topped with tahini and pomegranate, a princely portion for £4.25. The other entrant in the 'can't believe they can do that good for that cheap' category was a huge portion of deep fried prawns, whitebait and calamari, well cooked, well spiced and well cheap (sorry. Really...) for £5.50. There's not much I wouldn't go back for to be honest. And it's round the corner from my office, so I will, soon.  


The slightly claustrophobic feel of the Green Court original has gone, banished by wide spaces, though thankfully many of the more pleasing, rustic touches remain. Bench seating, dotted in places with throws and cushions, goes well with the thickset oak furniture. The staff are keen, possibly too keen, but you can't fault them for that. Genuinely eager to please, four of them checking on how the meal was going may have been a little OTT, no matter how much they meant it. It's a genuinely promising place for lunch, perfect for shoppers and Soho workers unable or unwilling to get to Charlotte Street. 

Review of one of the Tas Restaurants - Nov 2010

Where: Tas, Southwark

With who: The Vole

How much: £42 a head for the set meze menu. Otherwise starters are around £4 and mains hover under the tenner mark. You'll eat well on £20 a head. 

Come here if: these days, the local kebab house just isn't sophisticated enough for you.

You know those days when you wake up craving chickpeas? No, me neither, but the Vole pleaded pulses so I cancelled a planned trip to Hawksmoor (the things we do for love) and we headed to Tas on The Cut. It's one of the first and largest branches of this thriving, good value Turkish chain and our bill came to an end of the month pleasing £42 including a bottle of wine and coffees.

If they've skimped on anything, it's not the decor.. Clean light woods, plants and linen tablecloths take this flagship upmarket enough for that snooty auntie, if not a key client. The wipe-clean laminated menu lets the side down a little, but that's a minor whinge... The food is good, simple and authentic (at least to my untutored palate). We go for one of the set meze menus, the Renk, they're all broadly similar combinations of hot and cold small plates but this one includes Borek,  small filled, fried, filo parcels I'm an absolute sucker for. There's also a two course, more Anglicised menu, ideal for snooty auntie.


Standouts include the aforementioned  Borek, hot but ungreasy, stuffed with soft cheese and spinach, a smoky stewed aubergine number, palate cleansing parsley and mint tabbouleh, fresh and crunchy and some excellent bread. Less of a success were the deep-fried mussels, little chewy sacks of salt in a too thick batter, and a solid falafel, puckish in the wrong way.

Yalla Yalla - Feb 2010

Where: Yalla Yalla, Soho
With whom: Me, myself and I
How much?: Just a snack... couple of bits for lunch, only £6.50...

Tucked away on a side street in Soho, it's very easy to miss Yalla Yalla's cheery yellow facade, however it's been packed with local workers, Lebanese and the odd bewildered tourist ever since I've been going there.

Inside it's a small front room with appropriately home styled paintings of a Lebanese nonna preparing flatbreads and rustic wooden furniture it wasn't my plan to eat in, just to grab and go, but the prospect of a table was so rare I had to take advantage. Bowl of good mixed olives and some pickled pepper came with tart strips of a pinkish vegtable, identified by the cheery server as turnip. Unusual and tasty, though definitely an accompaniment rather than an appetiser, they needed to be offset with a softer flavour to balance the powerful pickle.

I went for one of their lamb shwarma wraps and a hallumi flatbread. The latter had an excellent taste, sprinkled with sesame seads, but had been warmed in the microwave and was a little chewy. The lamb wrap is normally excellent, well cooked, well spiced large portions of lamb with a selection of pickled veg and a yogurt sauce in a toasted flatbread. Today however it felt like it'd been there a bit too long and the yogurt had made the inside of the bread soggy.

Ordinarily better, but still street (foods) ahead of similar lunch options both in terms of price, taste and service.