Stephen Tozer and Ed Brunet, the pair behind Soho’s Le Bab – which we are big fans of – have opened a sister site Maison Bab in Covent Garden. Whilst by no means massive, it’s a significantly bigger restaurant than the original and they’ve nailed the millennial interiors with pink neon, patterned tables, green banquettes and a very jazzy floor.
If you’ve been to Le Bab you’ll be familiar with the menu, though it’s not a carbon copy of the Soho site. There are more rustic and bolder dishes on show here, like the doner beignets, moreish lamb and beef nuggets with both garlic and chilli sauces, which do evoke the taste of a doner kebab, only with added deep-fried goodness. The meat butter naan also does exactly what it says on the tin. A sheet of freshly baked bread comes slathered in a salty garlicky meaty butter that’s so good you’ll want to rub it on everything.
Though they have new sandwiches on the menu, we couldn’t resist the kebabs. The lamb adana with pickled shallots and meat mayo was perfectly spiced whilst the meat in the pork shawarma, slow-cooked for 15 hours, was wonderfully tender with the chermoula mayo giving the whole wrap extra zing. The fondue fries from Le Bab have made it over except here you can get them with iskender sauce on the side too. The iskender crops up across the menu (with good reason, it’s bloody tasty) and you can even get your kebab smothered in it. SAUCY.
They really don’t pull any punches here when it comes to flavour, and considering almost all of the kebabs and sandwiches come in at under a tenner, it’s quite amazing value for money. And in case we didn’t love Maison Bab enough, the team are launching Kebab Queen in the basement, which is essentially a chef’s table offering a six-course kebab-centric tasting menu. Save us a seat please.
4 Mercer Walk, London, WC2H 9FA
maisonbab.com