comptoir libanais, london

decent lebanese down at south kensington. this place just opened recently and I’ve wanted to come here for the longest time, mainly because the place is always packed out – but then again what restaurant even slightly above average isn’t in the area?

anyway, this is only my second time having lebanese food, but I have to say I far preferred the food at yalla yalla, not that that should vouch for its authenticity or anything like that. the place was packed out, but we got a table for 2 within 10 minutes on a friday night at 8pm, so that’s not too bad.

we had pita with hummus – it was strangely tannic and sour, not really the rich spread that I was hoping for. the pita was good though. the chicken sambousek – those fried puffs you see up there – were way too dry. I have to say honestly that this has been one of the first few times I’ve disliked a dish at a restaurant so much I just left it alone.

the fried halloumi steak was good, though a bit oily, but that was easily rectified by padding with a serviette. I do enjoy halloumi though, so this was a good dish to come after the sambousek. after this, we shared a mixed grill plate which came with pieces of chicken, as well as a chicken and lamb kebab and this was nice, with a flavourful pilau.

I’m not quite sure to make of this experience, but if I were to have lebanese, I’d definitely head to yalla yalla.

p.s. about the lighting in the photos: I never process my photos before posting them here, and was playing around with the white balance to see what made for a more attractive photo. I have to say I’ll stick with the less-accurate and less-clinical looking flourescent setting instead of using true white balance.