Comptoir Libonais

Comptoir Libanais is a small chain of Lebanese cafe style restaurants, we visited the one in Wigmore Street but there is a branch in Westfield and one opening in Paddington soon. The food is available to eat in or take away and there is red bench style seating at the front and a few tables and chairs towards the back, the decor is chic and lively with black and white floor tiles and old Harissa tins to hold the cutlery. The staff are friendly, and even though the serving system is a little chaotic we were served fairly quickly.

The idea is that you queue at the front to choose the mostly pre-pepared dishes and order drinks and then carry it to your table, unless you order cooked food and then a waiter brings it. The food is mostly mezze with a few main dishes and everything that we ate was beautifully fresh and tasty. The tabouleh was drenched in lemon juice, the hummus smooth and made with good, flavoursome oil and the Pitta was crisp and freshly toasted. Joff had mint tea made with fresh mint and I had an apple, ginger and mint juice which looked murky but tasted delicious and refreshing. salads are 33.30 for a small and £5.50 for a large, mezze are £3.30 and wraps £4.50. All dishes are perfect for sharing, which makes it basically pretty reasonable price ways and there are a range of foodstuffs such as Turkish Delight and Harissa to buy on the way out. All in all it makes a nice change for lunch or a casual dinner and I will definitely be going back. Oh, and Jonathan Meades was there too, which is a good sign, I think.

Dish Dash

Dish Dash is a Persian restaurant in Balham. I don't often go to Balham and forget that it is actually not that far from me, and Dish Dash is definitely a reason to re visit.

It is a good local restaurant with friendly service, including a waiter from Belfast who everyone asks where he is from, assuming he is from Iran via Belfast, but he is actually from Belfast. The decor is pleasant and unremarkable, but with a relaxed feel. The menu contains things you may recognise from Turkish or Lebanese food but it tastes very different. Persian food, in my limited experience is more aromatic that it's Turkish counterparts, Falafel taste fragrant and subtly spiced as does the hummus. We ordered a mixture of meze priced between £3.50 and £4.50, including; Kookoo, a perisan omellette,Mirza, a lentil and aubergine dip, and Esfenaj, a mixture of spinach and chick peas adn the afore metnioned Falafel and Hummus. All were good, not oily as this type of food can sometimes be, all delicately spiced and, as I mentioned before, fragrant (although I couldn't tell you what the spices were). Oh, and we had Jewelled rice, which is a sticky persian rice with a heap of saffron on the top and which is probably my favourite dish in Dish Dash. To finish we shared three scoops of ice cream; Cardamon, Pistachio and Vanilla. Vanilla is Joff's choice I hasten to add. The cardamon and pistachio were absolutely delicious adn I urge you to order them if you visit.

The meal cost £30 for two, with plenty of food and a cocktail each. Don't order the cocktails they are average, go for wine or beer. A very good local restaurant and worth a short tube journey if you fancy something a little different with excellent vegetarian choices.