Fakhreldine

The modern face of Lebanese, this is a head-turning, good-looker of a restaurant that is part hip bar/lounge, part smart eaterie. It also boasts some of the best views of any London restaurant – whatever the cuisine – thanks to windows overlooking Green Park. However, you take your chances with the food. Our meze ranged from poor to inspired: the former represented by houmous (which at £5.50 is perhaps the most expensive of its kind in London) that had a slurryish, porridge-like quality; the latter by an exquisite twist on kibbeh that replaced the traditional minced lamb with a filling of pumpkin, walnuts and pine nuts. Main courses look terrific, but in a lamb dish the meat had been out of the oven far too long and was consequently dry and had to be wrestled off the bone. Worse, an aubergine mash that accompanied three tiles of deep-fried sea bream was so thoroughly drenched in pomegranate juice that it was inedible. ‘Did you enjoy the meal?’ asked our waitress confronted with two abandoned, near-untouched plates. ‘No,’ we answered. She smiled and left us with our very expensive bill.

Services

Child facilities: Babies and children welcome: high chairs

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