Restaurants

In an area around Mile End station swamped with uninspiring kebab and chicken shops, the Orange Room Café is a treat: a charming, ramshackle Lebanese restaurant furnished with weary furniture and old movie posters. For diners hopeful of a more traditional Lebanese vibe there are a couple of low-to-the-floor sofas; perhaps the best place to enjoy a mango lassi or a shisha pipe. Kafta halabieh (minced lamb with parsley and onions on a skewer) was aromatic and delicious; the meze options all arrived in large, tasty portions. If you're waiting for the food to arrive and conversation runs a little dry, pluck a book from the shelf of oldies. A 1987 Berlitz guide to Milan anyone?

Time Out Cheap Eats in London Guide 2007