Restaurants

By Guy Dimond

This delightful shop and café chain looks set to do for Lebanese food what Carluccio’s Caffès did for Italian – give it ‘affordable chic’ cachet. And it’s certainly chic, with its exquisite food packaging, stylish interior and international clientele. And affordable, at less than a tenner per head.

Then, it hits you. Isn’t this exactly like a dozen Lebanese cafés on Edgware Road, just a short stroll away? Ah, but the difference is in the presentation, the neighbourhood, the clientele. This Comptoir Libanais is set near the north end of St Christopher’s Place (its pilot branch opened in Westfield). Their target group is the design-savvy, the wealthy, quite possibly the health-conscious; there are no sheesha pipes or old men scrutinising you from this entrance. It feels like a sanitised, tame version of the Middle East – a version without refugee camps, Iran or Israel. It’s Arabesque. A painting of an (unveiled) woman with come-hither eyes is part of the shop’s branding.

In other ways, Comptoir Libanais is conventionally Levantine. A long glass counter displays the dishes of the day: colourful salads, filled and deep-fried pastries, baklava, flavoured breads. There are even Beirut-style confections such as croissants or lemon cheesecake, as befits the Paris of the East. No alcohol is sold; a selection of fresh juices, coffees and smoothies take its place. A high counter runs between this display and the facing shelves which are stacked with carefully arranged harissa tins and hand-appliquéd baskets; you can sit at the counter’s high stools and snack.

Further back is a more den-like café area, with metal stools and huge pop art renderings of Arabic chewing gum wrappers and the like. In the boldness of its design, it’s Momo-like, or even reminiscent of the Double Club; inspired by a different continent.

The small meze plate allows you to try several of the warm and cold dips and salads. Glistening arils of pomegranate top a smoky aubergine dip (babaganoush), chickpeas nestle atop a whirl of houmous. Shards of preserved turnip, dyed with beetroot juice, give the platter a hyperreal effect. But the flavours are real enough. The tabbouleh sang with lemon juice and fresh parsley flavours, and stuffed vine leaves – too often the culprits in sub-standard Mediterranean food – had a freshly prepared texture, with good bite.
So far so Leb, but there are also some more innovative dishes to tickle your tastebuds.

We were smitten by the pumpkin kibbeh, which look like Scotch eggs but are filled with another layer of kibbled wheat mixed with pumpkin, and an inner layer of ground walnut and pomegranate molasses.This was served with a romesco-style dip.


If you’re looking for something more substantial there are main courses of (Maghrebi) tagine, lamb kofta, moussaka. But it would take us a lot of visits to tire of the meze dishes and the pastries, and that’s before starting on the rosewater and strawberry tart, or the coffee and cardamom macaroons. With such an appealing look and dishes, this growing chain should do well in London’s affluent shopping districts, with Lebanese and others alike.

Time Out London Issue 2020: May 7-13 2009