The Open Guide to London: the free London guide - Differences between Version 8 and Version 7 of Levant, W1U 2SJ

• Nearby Tube stops: Bond Street / Oxford Circus

Food

Levant bills itself as a "mezze restaurant"; the food is mostly Lebanese. They offer starters, main courses, and desserts, but perhaps the best option is to make up a meal from several of the small starter dishes (mezze).

The menu has a wide choice, including dishes I'd not seen in a restaurant before, such as muhammara (red pepper and nut dip), and fried aubergines in pomegranate sauce. There's plenty here for vegetarians and vegans, and the quality is good, although I did find some of the vegetable dishes to be a little over-salted. Kami says that the meat dishes were "tasty but not particularly special - the little sausages were very nice indeed, the liver was nice too but not terribly different to liver from an old fashioned pie-and-peas english restaurant's liver :-) [...] The grilled cheese was very nice indeed too." They do all the standards such as hummous, falafel, tabbouleh, baba ganoush, grilled halloumi, okra in tomato sauce, and so on. A platter of pitta bread and some very nice garlic and herb flatbread is served to accompany your meal.

An ample meal for three with eight mezze dishes, a bottle of wine, a couple of beers and a couple of non-alcoholic cocktails, came to �90 including tip and "cover charge" of �1.50 per person. (�30 of the bill was drinks.) [Prices as of May 2002]

Drinks

Lebanese beer (Laziza) is �3.50 per bottle. The house Lebanese white is a Ksara and costs �13.50 for a bottle or �4 for a large glass. It's worth trying out the nonalcoholic cocktails -- Levant Lemonade (�4.50) is made from fresh lemons, sugar, water and mint leaves, and is tasty and zingy. [Prices as of May 2002]

Service and Ambience

We were kept waiting 20 or 30 minutes "while our table was prepared", even though we'd booked in advance and the place was practically empty. (Maybe I'm cynical, but I suspect that this process can be circumvented by ordering drinks as soon as practical.) This wouldn't have been a problem at all if the waiting area had been somewhere that had more space for the waiters passing through it every few minutes to get past without bumping into my seat, though. The lounging area that we were waiting in has low seats, sofas and tables, and we were provided with some deep-fried fava beans and a dish of nice olives to enjoy with our pre-dinner drinks.

The main dining room has standard chairs and tables, but also little nooks in the walls with wrought-iron things in, and I also remember a general impression of fabrics and hangings. After your meal, you can return to the lounging area for a smoke or a Lebanese coffee.

The service was in general friendly and eager, if at times a little confused and slightly unpractised. The worst part was at the end, when they had quite a bit of trouble finding our belongings in the coat-check room, despite having given us a numbered ticket earlier in the evening.

I can imagine that at busy times this place is quite bustling and lively, but our quiet early-evening dinner on a weeknight still had plenty of atmosphere; the low (but not too low) lighting and the soft background music meant that we didn't feel like we were rattling around in the mostly-empty room.

Other Reviews

• London Eating reviews
• Top Table review
• AA review
• Urban Permit Review