"Lebanese meze overlooking Green Park"

Added Wed 11 Feb 2009 by Leila

Situated on Piccadilly, Fakhreldine boasts a fabulous view over Green Park and is perfect for those who like people-watching. The interior is sleek, and the neutral beiges and creams are relaxing, whilst the colorful bar is a little more attention grabbing. There is even a large lounge area with cushioned seating in the centre of the restaurant.

The menu is not huge, but there is plenty of tasty food to choose from. Popular choices such as baba ganoush, falafels, hummus and tabbouleh are available from the meze menu in small tapas-like portions, or conventional starters and main meals can be ordered too. We opted for meze so that we could get try as much as possible from the menu.

Two plates of deep fried wheat parcels arrived, one stuffed with chicken served with a garlic sauce, the other stuffed with pumpkin, spinach and pine nuts; both were so good we were left wanting more. A small fillet of sea bass was covered in a slightly sweet sauce of tomatoes, peppers, onions and pine nuts, an unusual combination that worked very well.

Minced lamb in a tomato sauce served on flatbreads was flavorsome enough, but the two best dishes were the aubergine salad and the soujouk. For the former, the inside of the aubergine alone had been cooked so as to avoid the slimy texture of the skin, this left almost mushroom-like portions of aubergine in a lemon dressing with tomatoes, pine nuts (once again), onions and herbs. Mouthwatering to the extreme, and a rarity considering how I normally won’t touch aubergines with a bargepole.

The soujouk consisted of very spicy beef sausages, the spiciness of which reminded me a bit of chorizo, however as pork is not favoured in the Middle East beef is used, making a much leaner and less fatty sausage than its European version. The prawns were the only disappointing dish; they were plain and simply deep fried in batter.

With our meal we drank a Lebanese Ksara Chateau 2004, a fruity yet sufficiently light wine to go with all the flavours we experienced. For desert we shared the pistachio ice cream, a popular flavour in Middle Eastern cuisines, and with it we drank a wonderful aniseed tea to prepare us for the bleak winter night outside.

In addition to the restaurant there is an interesting cocktail menu with drinks like ‘Storm’ which carries a warning due to it’s high alcoholic content and is a blend of Baileys, Blue Curaçao, Sambuca and cinnamon which is flambéed in front of you and is named after the agency who’s models are regular customers. There weren’t any celebrities in attendance whilst I was there, however the clientele was a very well dressed mix of French, German and Arab customers.

The meze dishes are not too expensive in the £6 to £8 price range and six or seven of these are sufficient for two people. Service was pleasant, and the atmosphere remained calm due to the spacing of the tables, even when a party of 10 arrived. An enjoyable meal overall; I would recommend grabbing a table by the window whilst there’s daylight for the best experience.