LE MENAR, FITZROVIA

A few weeks ago I went along to the press launch for the new menu at Le Menar - a restaurant specialising in modern North African cuisine, in Fitzrovia, headed up by chef Vernon Samuels. We gorged on delicious nibbles - burrata with Za Atar, merguez spiced oysters, and falafel bites, and drank lots of bubbly. It was a really fun evening and I couldn't wait to go back to try out their menu for real. The restaurant is gorgeous inside, with sofa seats and colourful cushions, beautiful lights and mirrors and a mezzanine level with even more seats and gold topped tables. The lighting is dark and ambient (great for atmosphere, not so much for food photos) and you can nestle into a corner and forget about the outside world. I went back to try the menu properly last Tuesday with Hugo. Sadly for the restaurant it wasn't at all busy, but then again it was a Tuesday and it didn't matter at all to us as we had some catching up to do! And lots of eating...

We started off with the smoked lamb prosciutto, Za Atar figs and wood sorrel for me, and mini Kibbeh, harissa jam and baby basil for Hugo.

Both were absolutely delicious. The lamb prosciutto was a great alternative to the normal pork prosciutto (they don't serve any pork at Le Menar) and its salty, smokey richness was wonderful with the sweet, spiced figs and sharp sorrel. Hugo's kibbeh were great - they're lamb wrapped in compacted rice and deep fried, a kind of non-veggie falafel, though much more tasty. The portions are really generous and the prices are great value. There were 8 kibbeh and they cost £6.

For mains I couldn't resist a tagine, and having had our fill of lamb in the starters I went for the beef tagine (£17) - braised beef cheek, chantenay carrots, chick peas, prunes and couscous. It was rich and deep flavoured with  the prunes soaking up all of those cooking juices.

Hugo's main course was the mixed grill (£17.50) and it was one of the fanciest mix grills I've ever seen - rack of lamb, merguez sausages, lamb kofta and chicken skewers. It was served with a deliciously pungent garlic sauce and we asked for some of their chilli sauce too, which was punchy and full of flavour.

Despite being pretty full by this stage we couldn't resist puddings - I'd seen photos and heard marvellous things about the pistachio and saffron crème brulee that had been served after I left the press launch so knew that's what I would have. It was so good. Creamy with a crunchy topping, with whole pistachios in the bottom and a delicate scent of saffron running through it.

Hugo had deep fried Madagascan vanilla ice cream with butterscotch dates that was equally scrumptious. I hadn't tried deep fried ice cream before and, despite the decadence of it at that point in the meal, it was so good.

We finished off with an electric apple shisha while we let our food go down before the walk to the tube. A perfect end to a wonderful meal.

Le Menar is slightly off the beaten track, on Cleveland St, north of Goodge Street but is definitely worth making a detour for. The food is innovative yet traditional and so flavoursome. I can't wait to go back and try out their other tagines and some of the lighter starters - Lebanese spiced squid and pomegranate marinated salmon both caught my eye.

Le Menar is at 55 Cleveland St, and the nearest tube is Goodge Street, though it's only 10 minutes walk from both Oxford Circus and Great Portland Street stations too.