Middle Eastern
Shakeshuka is an authentic Halal & Palestinian kitchen right by Baker Street station. It serves up a selection of fresh juices and comforting Palestinian dishes including falafel, shawarma, and, of course, its signature shakshouka. The spot is proud of its Palestinian heritage, becoming a meeting spot for the community to come together. And it counts Bella Hadid among its fans.
Since opening in March 2026, Logma has become a firm favourite in Hackney. The Iranian-Iraqi cafe serves up warming stews, crisp morning pastries and proper Middle Eastern coffee and tea, but the sandwiches are where it’s at. The soft pittas filled with lamb kofte or aubergine went viral for a reason. You’ll have to try yourself to believe the hype. Once you’ve had the sandwich, stick around for Logma Lates – a Wednesday night supper club where 18 guests enjoy dishes that celebrate regional Iraqi and Iranian cooking. Guests can bring their own wines, with no corkage, adding to the feeling that you’re dining in Ziad and Farsin’s home.
Kinz has been opened by Jad Lahoud, Karim Lahoud, and Rasha Khouri Bruzzo in the former Lloyds Bank building on Notting Hill Gate. Designed by architect Sir Edward Maufe, it’s an impressive venue and it’s being put to good use. The main space has room for 130, with a triple-height ground floor, a mezzanine level and a canopied bar underneath. There’s a private dining room holding 16 on the third floor, a dedicated wine room in the bank’s old vault, and a deli space up front. The all-day menu mixes recipes passed down through generations with modern creations. In the mornings you can get egg dishes, sandwiches and a full Lebanese breakfast, with mezze and sharing plates on offer for lunch and dinner. Expect the likes of baba ganoush; tabbouleh; lamb kafta; warak enab with koussa and lamb cutlet – spiced lamb and rice in vine leaves and baby courgettes; and fattet aubergine – baked aubergine layered with pine nuts, tomato, yoghurt and pita.
Family-run Hiba Express is a true celebration of Lebanese and Palestinian cuisine. Combining staples like shawarma, shish, taouk and a full array of hot and cold mezze, the flagship Holborn spot is perfect for a lunchtime takeaway or a casual evening meal. Additional takeaway sites can be found in Walthamstow and Fitzrovia. Hiba is a proud advocate for Palestinian causes, regularly catering for fundraisers and community events.
Logma
After running Logma as a supper club series, Farsin Rabiee and Ziad Halub have taken their Iranian-Iraqi concept permanent with a space in Hackney. Swing by in the daytime for kofte and aubergine sandwiches, stews with saffron rice, morning pastries, and proper Middle Eastern coffee and tea. On Wednesday nights, the pair run Logma Lates, where 18 guests gather around a communal table for dinner. After beginning with sharbat, a non-alcoholic drink made from fruit and herbs, the meal includes dishes that celebrate regional Iraqi and Iranian cooking, like sabzi khordan, oysters with herb oil, gondhoraj lebu, Aleppo pepper and sumac; arak-cured trout with pickled mango; cardoon with pea braise; duck fesenjoon and sholezard, an Iranian saffron rice pudding. Guests can bring their own wines, with no corkage, adding to the feeling that you’re dining in Ziad and Farsin’s home.
French-Palestinian chef and hotelier Fadi Kattan, who runs Fawda in Bethlehem’s Old City, is also behind Akub in Notting Hill. Named after the Arabic word for Fadi’s favourite vegetable (it’s cardoon in English), Akub celebrates the flavours, culinary traditions and hospitality of Palestine through dishes like maftoul salad; arak cured sea bream; freekeh risotto; short rib fatteh; and Dead Sea chocolate cake. The bulk of the wine list comes from Palestine and Jordan, and the cocktails also make use of Palestinian ingredients, like arak and apricot paste. Fadi is vocal in his support of Palestine and regularly hosts charity supper clubs at the restaurant.
Edami specialises in mankoushe, traditional flatbreads baked fresh and topped to order. It has taken over the site that was previously home to Papos Bagels and All Kaps Pizza. The menu focuses on classics such as za’atar, a herb blend usually mixed with olive oil, akkawi jibneh, a mild white cheese, and lahm b ajeen, minced spiced meat, alongside fresh dips, salads and pastries. There’s also a sweet mankoushe section, with toppings including carob and tahini, halawa and chocolate. To drink, there’s homemade ayran, a salted yoghurt drink, and Lebanese coffee. The owner previously worked at Wave Gelato, and the ice creams here are inspired by his Senegalese roots, adding another distinctive strand to the offering. As well as food to eat in, Edami sells Lebanese products to take away, and unlike some of the previous spots in the space, this one also has room for dine-in customers.
Imad Alarnab had three successful restaurants and several juice bars in Damascus, before the onset of war tore Syria apart, and his businesses with it. Fleeing the country, he eventually arrived in London via a long journey across Europe cooking for fellow refugees along the way. After trying several jobs in London, including as a car salesman, Imad returned to his true passion of cooking and started running supper clubs which sold out within hours. And now at the end of this incredible story, Imad finally has his own permanent restaurant, Imad’s Syrian Kitchen, which opened in Kingly Court in 2021. Happily, as well as good vibes, you can also find excellent food and wine here, with dishes like hummus with rose harissa, fattoush, batata harra, falafel, slow-roasted lamb shoulder, and pistachio baklawa.
Archway-based Cafe Metro is flying the flag for Palestinian cuisine. Since opening in the 1980s, the cafe has maintained a loyal customer base, drawn back time and time again by classic dishes like hummus topped with chickpeas and olive oil, fresh tabbouleh, falafels, lentil soups, and stuffed aubergine. And recently, the cafe’s regular Faten’s Family Dinner supper clubs have brought a new sense of community, with all proceeds donated to families in Gaza. Places go quickly so be sure to book early to avoid disappointment!
After they moved to Leytonstone and couldn’t find the quality coffee, pastries and breads they wanted in their new neighbourhood, Umar and Nargis decided to take matters into their own hands by opening Farha. The pair have transformed a disused garage space in Leyton into a Middle Eastern bakery and coffee house. Farha is currently serving speciality coffee and freshly baked viennoiserie, both with a modern take on Middle Eastern flavours. Pastries include saffron pear danish with vanilla rice pudding and crushed pistachio; roasted aubergine danish with muhammara, pomegranate molasses, walnuts and parsley oil; and za’atar torsade with whipped feta and sumac pickled onion. As well as house espresso and pour over coffees, you can get special drinks like matcha, cardamom brown sugar lattes and orange blossom mochas.
Run by Honey & Co founders Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich, Honey & Co Daily is a deli, bakery and cafe split into two sections – a deli and takeaway space in the front, where you can get coffees, pastries, cakes and to-go lunches, and a 40-seater dining room at the back. Baking is at the heart of the Honey & Co Daily operation, with a range of Middle Eastern pastries, cakes, lachma, breads and sandwiches available alongside salads, shakshukas and dips. Once the bakers have gone home, a dinner menu kicks in, featuring the likes of courgette & herb fritters, poached prawns with watermelon & feta salad, and seabass en papillotte with artichokes and olives.
Open in St. Christopher’s Place, Noreen brings a taste of the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant to Marylebone. As well as mezze plates to share, the menu includes flatbreads from the Tannour oven, meats from the Minqala grill, slow-cooked dishes, and Middle Eastern desserts like kunafa. There are wines from across Lebanon, Turkey and the Eastern Med alongside cocktails, featuring ingredients like arak, hibiscus, za’atar, black lime and tahini, created in collaboration with Mr Lyan Studio.
Social enterprise Fat Macy’s offers training schemes that help those in temporary accommodation get the skills they need to go into the hospitality biz and transition into their own homes. One of the ways the organisation does that is through its Lebanese-inspired restaurant, natural wine bar and bottle shop Sohaila in Shoreditch, where you can feast on dishes like labneh with chilli butter, aubergine maghmour with green pilaf, confit cumin garlic on toast, beef shish barak with chilli butter, falafel & hummus on homemade pitta, and salted tahini & chocolate tart.
The Hyde hotel group has opened its first UK outpost, taking over the historic Spiers & Pond building in Farringdon opposite the Old Bailey, and it’s tapped Selin Kiazim to create the menu for one of its restaurants inside. The 90-cover Leydi is a celebration of Istanbul and the city’s eating culture, starting with Turkish breakfast dishes like böreks, caramelised tahini spirals, stuffed lavash rolls and menemen. The lunch menu takes inspo from lokantas, neighbourhood restaurants that cater to everyone, and includes lahmacuns, pides, house-made döner and Islak burgers (the famous wet burgers where buns are soaked in tomato garlic sauce). In the evenings, the mangal gets fired up for adana kebap, lamb kebap with dripping pide, chicken thigh shish and more – make sure to save room for the XL künefe though. Kevin Patnode, twice named the best bartender in Turkey, has created the drinks list for Leydi and he’s done some killer spiced and smoked cocktails.
Falafel & Shawarma
It’s pretty obvious what this Camberwell spot specialises in. Whether you get falafel or chicken shawarma in your wrap, you can bet it’s going to be big, filled to bursting with hummus, salad, garlic sauce and homemade chilli sauce, and cheap. If you can bear to deviate away from the wraps, there’s the mezze plate, which comes with potatoes, vine leaves, rice, aubergine, hummus and falafel. And don’t forget the carrot juice!
You won’t struggle to find Turkish food on Green Lanes but the dishes they’re turning out at Gökyüzü take some beating. Open since 1999, the family run joint (which has since expanded into Kentish Town, Finchley, Walthamstow and Chingford) is known for its fresh baked breads and its grills, including lamb and chicken shish, lamb chops, adana kebab, and saslik kebap. They also serve ten different types of pide, lahmacun and a load of hot and cold mezze – basically all the classics are covered and they come in Mediterranean portion sizes (aka massive), so make sure you come hungry, and don’t go to hard on the bread and dips!
As well as boasting Nessa on the ground floor, 1 Warwick also has a hot rooftop restaurant from Tom Cenci in the shape of Yasmin. You can head up to the sixth floor spot for Middle Eastern sharing plates, inspired by Tom’s time living in Istanbul, like spinach & feta borek, sumac smoked duck with grilled corn salad, za’atar spiced mushroom skewer with black garlic mayo, islak bun with beef patty & spiced tomato sauce, and baklava ice cream sandwich with honey & date molasses. With cocktails like the Shapash (tequila, chilli, watermelon & green strawberry) or the At the River (vodka, aperol & rose liquor), Yasmin is also a great spot for sundowners in Soho – and there’s indoor seating for when the temperatures dip along with the sun.
