Review: Comptoir Libanais: A Taste of Lebanon

I am something of a Lebanese cuisine rooky, having never tasted it until I visited London a year ago. However the flavours are now something even I, as the laziest cook, now incorporate into my food. Therefore attending Comptoir Libanais seemed like a sensible thing to do in order to expand my palette (or that’s what I told myself anyway!)

The Soho restaurant itself is light and airy, with glass walls surrounding 1/2 of the building. The interior walls are lined with produce that grace the menu, and copies of their new cookery book.

We sat down and the waiter was over in a jiffy to explain and suggest menu options. To start we were recommended to try the mixed mezzo platter (£13.95 for 2 people), as not to overwhelm our tummies for the main course.

The aubergine tabbouleh was divine; smokey but not overpowering. The hummus also was rather yummy, and went down a little to easy when smothered on our pitta bread. We also tried the baba ghanuj, cheese sambousek and falafel which gave us a good varied insight into the menu.

We both opted for lamb tagine variations for our main, and they were quite starkly different in look and taste. The lamb kofta (£8.75) was a meatball and tomato base, and had a herby savoury flavour. The lamb and prune tagine (£9.25) was a sweeter taste, with dried fruit and lamb chunks. They actually complimented each other rather well.

Finally the course I am ALWAYS waiting for……pudding! And before us lay an awesome array of baklava (£3.95)! They even had coconut, chocolate and almond versions as Christmas menu additions! We actually had to take some home, as we were all baklava-ed out! Our fave was the cashew filled flakey pastry Assabee, I think both the staff and my guest were surprised at how many I put away.

A reasonably priced, filling and tasty dinner; Comptoir Libanais is a lovely addition to the Soho food scene. With a bright and airy interior, the restaurant brightens up the darkest day, or let’s you bask in the Suns Rays in summer.

Founder Tony Kitous has also recently launched a second cookbook full of fresh and healthy recipies from Lebanon and the surrounding area. Check out tonykitous.com for more details!

Reviewers: Abi and Aspen @gollumcrackcorn

Website: http://lecomptoir.co.uk

Twitter: @comptoirLibanai