Stepping inside Oula is like being given a warm hug. The pink-hued Tunisian café in Fitzrovia is owned by French-Tunisian chef Boutheina Ben Salem; she created Oula to celebrate matriarchal culinary traditions, hence the womblike interior and extremely amiable service.
I arrive before lunch service (which takes place 12-3pm), but Ben Salem kindly offers to make me a brik – a delicious half-moon parcel of golden filo pastry stuffed with tuna, potatoes, tangy capers and an egg. It’s fried to perfection and finished with a generous squeeze of lemon juice; I think I’ve discovered my new favourite brunch.
The rest of Oula’s menu ranges from kastrout – a beloved Tunisian street food in the form of stuffed baguette sandwiches, with bread from Quince bakery – to drô gourmand – a sorghum porridge topped with pumpkin seeds, coconut chips and pomegranate. The coffee is good, or you can try a traditional mint tea, served with pine nuts.