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Yalla Yalla Beirut Street Food

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Cuisine: Other

1 Green's Court, W1


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Description: A meal for two with wine, water and service costs £50

Phone: 02072877663

 

 

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Yalla Yalla serves comfort food in the red-light district

 

Convivial: Yalla Yalla provides authentic Lebanese food at reasonable prices

Where do you take the man who has been to every posh restaurant in London? Who dines out, as part of his day job, at The Wolseley and Le Caprice? Obvious really: a kitchen table in Soho.

To his credit, my friend Paddy, one of London’s premier “fixers” (who can arrange a meeting with the Pope or a painting lesson for Baroness Thatcher), doesn’t blanche as I lead him to Green’s Court, a seedy corridor off Brewer Street. He remains sanguine as I explain that I haven’t been able to book, so we might have to queue in the street, next to the clip joints and signs for “busty models first floor”.

But then Paddy, like so many cool hunters in London, understands bling is over. What everyone is searching for is an authentic dining experience. And Yalla Yalla — serving Lebanese and Middle Eastern cuisine — is the new underground tip.

It may only seat 24 people but owners Jad Youssef, 32 (the chef), and Agnieska Ilska, 25 (the Polish head waitress), are now so busy they don’t even bother taking reservations. Beirut-born Youssef used to work in Piccadilly’s Fakhreldine restaurant before moving onto Kenza in the City.

The couple invested £80,000 of their own savings when they found the run-down Soho site for sale on the internet. The low-fi decor is yellow and white with black accents (Fifties photos of old Beirut, calligraphy on the walls). You sit at rough wooden tables and stools (although benches at either end of the room have cushions made from vintage scarves). A central bar/counter is piled high with bread, wraps and pastries.

This is comfort food. When you’re hungover or bereft in love, there’s something incredibly convivial about mezze eating. Ever since I met Paddy at a party last year (I had dissolved into tears over some unsuitable man; Paddy mopped me up and invited me to lunch), we have been tracking down Lebanese restaurants. Not only do they stay open conveniently late for party animals, we also share a dangerous weakness for Lebanese wine.

All the classics of eastern Mediterranean cuisine are on the Yalla Yalla menu — many prepared at the last minute for genuine freshness. The tabboule salad (£3.50) is sharp and deliciously gritty with chopped parsley; the houmus, £3.75, is sharp with fresh lemon juice rather than citric acid used in many kitchens; while the grilled halloum meshoue (£3.75), garnished with tomato, black olives and fresh mint, is nutty rather than greasy.

For carnivores, the star dish of the entire lunch is the soujoc (bijou spicy lamb sausages in a sharp, lemony tomato relish, £4). “They’re a bit like the Algerian merguez sausage you eat in Arabic restaurants in Paris,” raves my companion.

For mains, Paddy opts for the lahem casserole (£8), slow-cooked lamb shoulder with carrots, red pepper, swede and bay leaves: “You could carve it with a wooden spoon and the carrots seem sweeter and more flavoursome than any since my childhood.” We split plates of kredis meshoe (£9.75), charcoal-grilled king prawns with fluffy citrus-scented rice, and lokoz meshoue, £9.75, charcoal-grilled sea bass fillet (crispy skin; moist flaky flesh) with a spicy salsa of tomato and coriander. All washed down with a bottle of petit noir dry red wine, £18.

If you’re on the wagon, the lemonade “cocktail” with apple, ginger and mint, £1.50, is the most exciting soft drink I’ve ever tasted (memo to self: if I ever have to give up alcohol, it might be bearable).

You can’t help thinking the unusual Beirut-Polish mix gives Yalla Yalla the edge. My Polish friend Yvonna arrives for dessert and goes into ecstasies about the rosewater ice cream. “It reminds me of my Polish grandmother’s wild rose-petal jam.” We share a dish of mohalabiya, £3.75, Damascus fragrant milk pudding with fresh fruit sauce, which is far more subtle and mysterious than English nursery puddings. The coffee is excellent, and the fresh mint tea comes in those eccentric jugs with wasp-catcher “hats”.

There are minor irritants. Yalla means “hurry up!” or “let’s go!” in Arabic — but the service is haphazard; more like a sandwich bar than a restaurant. The seats are narrow (you find yourself wrestling the cushions to the floor). And while the restrooms are sparklingly clean, the low-ceilinged staircase decapitates tall girls.

But with its remarkably cheap menu, Yalla Yalla is great for a casual lunch or pre-theatre supper (rumour has it all the “tight” men in London take romantic dates here).

Even Paddy Renouf, London guide to the stars, is impressed. “The setting is fun and authentic — down an alleyway in the red light district — just what you might find in a souk,” he pronounces. I think he’s forgiven me for taking him to a sex corridor.

Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.

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