Israeli and Middle Eastern food is the hottest ticket in town and London is packed with gorgeous eateries serving the za’atar-laced, tahini laden cuisine that packs a flavour punch with every bite. Not only that, but they’ve got the whole service schtick nailed. Here are the ones not to miss:
1. Coal Office:
The newest outlet from Assaf Granit and Uri Nevo — the pair behind Jerusalem’s iconic restaurant, Machneyuda. Co-founded with designer Tom Dixon, it’s sexy, sassy and the food will have you singing for joy. Seriously the best meal I’ve eaten all year, the flavours are HUGE and the service super-friendly.
Must order: A Lot of Mushrooms (when in season); Kubalah bread and their fig leaf and fig’s leaf oil ice cream.
www.coaloffice.com
2. Delamina:
Husband and wife team Limor and Amir Chen now have two Delamina restaurants, Delamina East in Shoreditch (formerly Strut and Cluck) and more recently, Delamina Marylebone on Marylebone Lane. The menu is developed from Limor’s repertoire of home cooked Sephardi (Mediterranean and Middle Eastern) flavours — she has taught the chefs how to recreate the food she ate with her parents and fed to her children.
Must order: Whole fish rubbed with dried lime and charcoal grilled with fennel and a garlic/olive oil dressing; halva parfait with date syrup and tahini drizzle.
www.delaminamarylebone.co.uk
3. Honey and Co/Honey and Smoke:
Another husband and wife team, Sarit Packer and husband Itamar Srulovich Both are trained chefs who have cooked with Ottolenghi and a number of other five star London kitchens. When they opened tiny café Honey & Co on Warren Street Sarit churned out sublime cakes and bakes that served as bait to entice people in, while Itamar looked after the savoury main event and shmoozed their guests. Locals — and London — fell in love with their rustic style of flavour-packed sharing plates. The much larger and glossier Honey & Smoke on Great Portland Street does, (some insist)the best mezze in town and the Honeys get to grill there too — which they cannot in their smaller kitchen. It’s knock out.
Must order: Butternut squash koftas, delica pumpkin & pistachio tabule with pickled chantecler apple; feta and honey cheesecake on a kadaif base (at both Honey & Co and Honey & Smoke – it’s an institution)
www.Honeyandco.co.uk
4. Ottolenghi:
The first Israeli to London’s tables and the man who opened the door for Israeli food in London. Now with a chain of his eponymously-named cafes and restaurants which are the places for head for bright, colourful, zingy salads filled with nuts, seeds and all manner of interesting flavours. This is where vegetables made it from a supporting to lead role on our plates. A real game changer. Pastries and cakes are always showstoppers and well worth saving room for. Dukkah, labneh and pomegranate abound. More formal spin off restaurants NOPI and (most recently) ROVI are also must-visits.
Must order: Shakshuka is a must as are courgette, squash, manouri and za’atar fritters with rose harissa yoghurt. Halva and chocolate Danish is a winner.
www.ottolenghi.co.uk
5. The Good Egg:
Israeli chef Oded Mizrachi and co-founders Joel Braham and Alex Coppard serve up a Middle Eastern/Eastern European mash up of flavours at their two Jewish-influenced deli-style restaurants. The first outlet in Stoke Newington has them queuing out the door for their popular brunch, and historic babke. A fun mixture of influences which include Montreal’s deli scene, Israeli street food and Jewish classics make for a colourful and flavour-packed eating experience.
Must order: Jerusalem Breakfast Plate (an assemble-yourself plate which starts with eggs and pita and allows you to pick anything from a list that includes labneh with pumpkin seeds, preserved lemon and chilli relish and green whipped feta with crispy chickpeas) and do not miss a slice of Oded’s babke — or take an entire one home with you.
www.thegoodegg.co
6. Sarona:
A reasonably recent addition to Clerkenwell Road – a few minutes from Farringdon Station is an Israeli-food gem. Chef, Aviv Lavi stufied classic French cooking at a Tel Aviv cooking school and honed his craft in some of Tel Aviv’s top kitchens. He has been cooking in London for three and a half years (North West Londoners may have tasted his food at Café Hampstead) and is making his own name at this relaxed weekday/night only eatery. His Middle Eastern and North African flavours have classic French finesse.
Must order: Hummus masabacha is an Israeli comfort food classic; Stuffed courgettes are a speciality.
www.saronalondon.com
7. Balabaya:
Eran Tibi made it out of Tel Aviv, through Cordon Bleu cookery school, via Ottolenghi’s kitchens to his own place in the shadow of Blackfriars bridge. The bubbly chef who is as full of personality as he is talent, cooks up his favourite Tel Aviv-inspired dishes. An ingenious pitta-baking production line invented with his baker father — who still lives in Israel — churns out proper pillowy pitta bread.
Must order: Aubergine Mess (smoky blackened aubergine with soft herbs, lychee and tahini) and Cherry Malibi (a set milk pudding flavoured with coconut and Malibu, cherry compote, pistachio praline and rose petals).
www.balabaya.co.uk
8. Hummus Bar:
With branches in the Jewish heartlands of Golders Green and Hendon, this relaxed kosher, café-style eatery serves up the best hummus in North West London alongside Tel Aviv street food staples. Comfort food plus. Portions are generous and service-style, simple. Owner, Avi, grew up in Israel and his chef is also a Sabra. Try various toppings on the smooth, creamy hummus — which is made twice daily — like salt beef and caramelised onions or sloppy Joe-style minced beef. Israeli staples like juicy chicken pargit (thighs) make an appearance with the ever fashionable cauliflower on their Yerushalmit main course, or grilled with honey and soy and slathered with tahini and sesame.
Must order: Hummus with mushrooms or oriental beef; the rib eye sloppy burger.
www.hummus-bar.co.uk
9. The Palomar and The Barbary:
A sneaky way to include both these super popular restaurants from the same stable. They are are co-owned by Assaf Granit and Uri Navon of Machneyuda and brother/sister restaurateurs, Layo and Zoe Paskin, who persuaded the Israeli chefs to branch out into London. Palomar head chef, Jeremy Borrow (an English Israeli) took over the Palomar's kitchen this year, and has continued the restaurant’s high standards that have seen a full house nightly since 2014. Everything is made from scratch, including each grain of couscous. The more relaxed atmosphere at The Barbary seats diners around the horseshoe-shaped kitchen area where a mixture of food with a heavy North African twist on the Israeli staples is cooked on the grill.
Must order: At The Palomar: Machneyuda’s truffled polenta which is now legendary; Malabi (cooked milk pudding) with hibiscus syrup and pistachios. From The Barbary: Black salmon dukkah; Cauliflower Jaffa style and baklawa.
www.thepalomar.co.uk www.thebarbary.co.uk
10. Zest at JW3:
Nestled in the ground floor of the JW3 on London’s Finchley Road, this is a community centre café with a difference. It was one of the first kosher restaurants to offer a fashionable, modern Israeli menu, and continues to fly the flag for Sephardi-style food. Balabaya’s Eran Tibi was one of the founding chefs when it opened. The menu mixes Middle Eastern classics like lamb kofte, babaganoush and tahini with new flavours. Head chef Robin Beparry has fun with the flavour combinations — pairing Eastern European stalwart salt beef with Arab spice Ras el hanout and lamb koftes with peanut salsa.
Must order: chicken with date molasses, almond and laffa bread; challah bread pudding.
www.zestatjw3.co.uk
