Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food is the hottest ticket in town, and restaurants are springing up all over the place.
This summer, in buzzy Soho, Barry and Patricia Hilton opened their second Ceru restaurant, which offers a Levantine menu. Levantine is the popular catch-all to mop up the flavours of the Eastern Med.
Awkward-to-pronounce Ceru, it turns out, is shorthand for cerulean — a colour ranging from blue, azure to a darker sky blue, the blue of a sunny Mediterranean sky. The sort of sky which can only make you feel less blue and rather more cheery.
The restaurant's food also gives that summer holiday high. Arriving on an oddly quiet Friday lunchtime, we had the pick of the tables. A bonus for us, but probably not for the Hiltons, who, I suspect would rather have had a few more bums on seats.
We parked our behinds at a cosy booth — a choice we later regretted opting, as we juggled the excess of plates we'd ordered. The room is calm and neutral, with an open kitchen, and glass window facing a mini courtyard. The back wall of the courtyard is helpfully painted with a Mediterranean mural showing exactly where the Hiltons have taken their inspiration.
A smiley waitress took our drinks order. We were both ready for wine, having walked from Warren Street tube. I’d dragged Mumsy off the Victoria Line there so we could have a nosey around Honey & Spice — the delicious, deli owned by the gorgeous Honey & Co founders, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich. Although it left us faint with hunger, it was totally worth the chance for a foodie mooch, without the whiney soundtrack of our usual companions. House white – her pick — was extremely good, as was my Macedonian Viognier.
The menu is In line with current serving styles, you order a range of dishes that will arrive when they’re ready.
First up was a trio of dips with a basket of warm pita. Pangar (roasted beetroot, yoghurt, garlic and pistachio) was prettily pink, and my mother’s favourite, but I found it slightly acidic; Ceru hammara (roasted red pepper with walnuts and pomegranate molasses) was rich and fruity; and fadi (roasted courgette, garlic, lemon and tahini) was my favourite — packed with tahini with a punchy zesty, garlicky flavour.
Two fruity salads were entirely Instagrammable. Apple, mint and pomegranate was zingy, crunchy and colourful. The peach and feta was similarly pretty but bizarrely, contained tinned peaches. “Takes me back to the 1950’s” mused my mother. It tasted fine, but with fresh peaches still lining supermarket shelves, was an odd choice. Maybe someone had forgotten to go to the shops?
Courgette and feta fritters were hot, crisp with the satisfying savoury punch that feta brings. Star billing has to go to the sea bream — perfectly cooked and coated with a zesty, lemon dressing. Had we not been stuffed with bread, dips, salads, fritter and roasted cauliflower, and had I not been a dutiful daughter, I may have had to fork her for the last piece.
The cauliflower was marginally al dente but packed with spicy flavours and showered with bright red pomegranate seeds and mint. My mother’s only complaint? Too much of it. Enough for me to take leftovers home to Mr F which he polished off appreciatively for his supper..
With so many 'in your face' flavours, we chose cooling ice cream to end the flavourfest. ‘Flavours of Baklava’ was cardamom ice cream topped with stick-in-your-teeth nut brittle and burnt honey caramel. Scrape the plate delicious.
I’ll be returning to try out some more of the menu — grilled haloumi and red peppers with harissa; polenta and feta fries and honey and cardamom panna cotta all look worthy.
Weekday express lunch mezze platters — £9 for either the street (meat and veggie) or market (veggie) version plus the promise of food within 20 minutes of ordering — should draw in the local crowds.
Go — you will not be disappointed.
