Maroush V

Maroush is a chain of Lebanese restaurants, and we went to number five, on Vere Street just off Oxford street. It looks very grand from the outside but is rather more cafe like inside. There are two elements to the Maroush V experience; the food and the atmosphere.

The food is fresh and tasty, salads liberallly seasoned with lemon juice, falafel just cooked and perfectly crispy on the outside and the hummus has just the right amount of tahini in it. Obvioulsy we only ate vegetarian food but the meats certainly smelled good and from what I could gather by staring at other people's food, looked good too. It is all reasonably priced, apart from the wine, which is available but not the main feature, this being a Lebanese restaurant. We had to ask twice for the wine menu, the cheapest bottle was £18 and there were only a couple of those before it leapt up to £28 a bottle.

Which brings me to the atmosphere; when we arrived there were two couples there both eating studiously and saying not a word to each other. I am sure they were enjoying their food but they certainly didn't contribute to an atmosphere of jollity and frivolity, and I like a bit of that when I go out to eat. The waiters were helpful but grim faced and I was feeling a little uneasy until the rest of our party arrived and we made enough noise to drown out the misery.

I suppose people go there to eat, adn the food is absolutely worth going for, good, fresh, well seasoned food at about £15 per head. However, if you want something a little less functional than simply going, eating and leaving, I would take a couple of lively dining companions to break the silence.