The Catalans take a step forward

İmam bayıldı. Also fantastic.

If you ever find yourself in the Borough area of South London, looking
for something to eat, try the Lebanese meze at Hiba, on Borough High
St. Great food, and brilliant value. And fantastically welcoming
staff, and a totally relaxed atmosphere.

I also love the Greek meze at Lemonia in Kentish Town, though it's
full of semi-famous poseurs.

what a horrible thought!

 

They do almost make some of the worst veggies nearly edible, I agree.
And the whole mezze idea, especially when it's just served, not
ordered or seperately itemised, is great. I don't think we ordered
starters once during our recent two weeks in Turkey.

 

hell yes - for me one of the most enjoyable aspects of meze is the
"just bring us some food" thing, and it arrives. And then more. And
then more, for hours. Washed down with fairly horrific Lebanese red
wine and arak or raki, but that's all part of the experience. I love
all the bread / hummus / fresh tomato salsa stuff as well. Oh, and
olives, and kebabs and tahini and freshly chopped red onion. And sour
yoghurt stuff. And couscous. And more kebabs. And felafels. And goat's
cheese.

****, I'm hungry now.

 

We do quite frequently.

Normally Borough Market before or after the Tate Modern.

try the Lebanese meze at Hiba, on Borough High

Wonderful, ta.

Yeah. SWMBO used to work next to the Roundhouse. She loved it. I
promised I'd take her when I get another job.

You're not wrong.


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He's a fucking barbarian. It's not as if the fire wasn't ready for him
to cook the steak but oh no, he had to eat it raw.

 

wrote in :

the blue steak I ordered in Bouillon was obviously a bit too blue as I had
a dodgy stomach the day after. Fortunately for Ace, it had cleared up by
the time I got to his place.

 

I've never had that from steak.

I often get a dodgy stomach in china but I guess eating anything they
offer me probably is a mistake...

"Frog brains? No, never tried them. Yes please"
etc. etc. etc.

Once I got really sick and lost about 2 stone on my return because I
couldn't eat for about a week.

This time I was just afraid to fall asleep on the plane...

 

wrote in

just as likely to be the salad that came with it, I suppose. Cross
contaminated from something like chicken or shellfish

 

From what Pip was posting a while back, it's more likely to have been
something you ate the week before.

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Turkey is perhaps a little more civilised, in that their wins,
although not cheap, are actually very good. Although Raki is Raki is
Raki, IYSWIM.

All good, but again, fortunately for me, Turkey does it better in that
the white (i.e. fresh) cheese is usually cow, sometimes sheep, but
not, IME, goat. And I would know if it were. Disgusting stuff that it
is. One of the nicest dips, and one we tend to ask for, is Acili Esme,
which is a fresh salsa with finely chopped tomato and hot red peppers.
Not wildly hot, so you can just pile it on, but verr nice.

Heh.

 

weirdo. Do you not even like combined sheep/goats cheeses like
Haloumi? Totally gorgeous grilled on a kebab skewer alternated with
spiced pork.

I know the stuff, and agree.

 

try doing a wine tasting at Vinopolis whilst you're around there too.

don't bother with the a-la-carte menu - just go for the set menu for
two (IIRC it's like 20 quid a head including wine, and more food than
you can actually eat).

Lemonia used to do pretty poorly on the "Scores on the Doors"[1]
hygeine site, but I still love the taste of the food, and have never
been ill after eating there, so **** it. And I see they're up to 3/5
stars now which is fine by me.

I liked the fact that one time we were there, ordering meze from the
main menu, the waiter told me to stop, and not order any more, as he
reckoned we'd not eat what we'd already asked for. He was right, but
it's nice to see an attitude not totally based on fleecing the
customer for all they could get.

There's a nice pub just down the hill too, with decent outside
seating, The Pembroke - quite often we'll pop there for a few before
heading up to Lemonia.


[1] http://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/

 

Sounds like you need to DFV something taking in Vinopolis and Hiba.

I popped there a few weeks ago to grab some food while waiting for some
tyres to be sorted. Just had a beer and a few semi-random picks from the
meze menu. All good.

Anything over 3 is just icing on the cake anyway.

Had that in an Indian place near Reading once. We ordered a bunch of
dishes, the waiter said "you haven't been here before, have you."
Generous wouldn't even begin to describe the portions.

DON'T LOOK AT IT!

 

Sure - could do - I organised that combination for a night out for
some mates about 18 months ago - a good night out (helped by the fact
one of our party found a booklet of about 20 extra Vinopolis vouchers
lying on the floor): wine + gin cocktails + Lebanese wine + Lebanese
beer = silly.

It's my birthday in a couple of weeks, maybe suggest something near
then. Any dates that don't suit?

This comment applies to Catman/anyone else interested in wine and
meze, of course - I don't want to end up just on another "date" with
you alone.

that was you who texted me for the name of the place, then (this was
during my missing phone phase, and I'd no-one in my address book)?

well, yeah. Though I'm still gutted that one of the local chinkies I
used to love recently-ish dropped from a 4 to a 1. I wonder who they
pissed off.

 

Moving next weekend, will be falling off bikes in Wales on the 2nd and
3rd. Other than that, mostly clear.

Beggars can't be choosers, studmuffin.

Yeah, I was already in there, just double-checking whether it was the
same place. From the sign outside it looked more like a branch of an
Iranian bank or something than a restaurant, took a moment for me to put
2 and 2 together and make anything less than 97.

My local has an ongoing dispute with the council about an unreasoanbly
low rating they received a few months back. The inspector was an
oriental woman and one of the old-school regulars made an ill-advised
TOG-esque comment about a chink or slitty eyes or something. It went
downhill from there.

 

No, 'cos it still tastes of goat. Various people over the years have
tried to convert me, sometimes telling me, sometimes not, but I can
always spot it. I guess it's one of those "supertaster" things - for
me there's always a taste of the smell of sweaty armpits, IYSWIM, no
matter how fresh and young it is.

 

yeah - that's what's good about it!

 

We did the same not long ago at the Sahara, St John's Wood High
Street. Also Lebanese, and recommended.

 

Isn't he?

I think I've tried it at Haz, but ICBW.


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I would, but can't keep up with my tame wine merchant.

Noted, ta.

Indeed, very pleasant.

Yep. SWMBO had her leaving drinks there some years back.


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