Tipped

Swish Lebanese, Free Veggies!

May 19, 2008

Noura is a rather swish Lebanese place with absolutely amazing food, so long as you can put up with the bill. Tucked around the corner from an edge of Buckingham Palace's grounds, Noura serves a mostly posh clientele in Belgravia (they have several other locations in central London) and have a mixture of hot and cold mezze's, mains and yummy desserts, plus a pretty extensive wine list.

One of my favourite things about Noura is that once you sit down, and even before they take your drinks order, they plop down a nice fat plate of fresh veggies on the table. This is a great practice, and one that I wish I could make myself emulate more often. Not only are the assorted veggies (peppers, carrots, cucumbers, even a tomato) delicious, they also sort of sneak in a healthy tinge to the meal before you tuck into the various grilled meats and fried cheese that come next.

Whenever I visit Noura we tend to go for a mezze meal, with a variety of hot and cold dishes, those grilled meats as well as tabouleh, hummous and babaganoush (guessing on my spelling there!), plus my absolutely favourite dish, grilled haloumi cheese. They keep refreshing your pita bread when you need more and top off the meal with a little plate of bite-sized Lebanese pastries that tend to be doused in luscious honey. What can I say, it's a great meal from time to time.

Tags: Lebanese, fresh veggies, good wine list