Damascus in W12

Abu Zaad bears the trappings of its success lightly.

Slowly but surely, this restaurant has expanded, the bar has moved to the back room and there are now a few more tables.

It still serves as a pit stop for coffee and pastries and the cooking arrangements are still dominated by a charcoal grill and a full-sized bread oven.

Abu Zaad is a busy place and a friendly one - the food is good and awesomely cheap.

The décor teams rich greens with decorative metal panels - very Damascene.

This may be the cheapest place in London to experiment with meze.

Here, a trifling sum will get you a large portion of makanic, meaty, chipolata-sized sausages; baba ganouj, delicious aubergine mush; foul medames, boiled fava beans with chickpeas, tomato and lemon juice; or hummus.

A stunning haystack of tabbouleh comes with spankingly fresh chopped parsley and mint.

Ordering a dish called falafi brings four crisp and nutty falafel.

You must try the fattoush, a fresh, well-dressed salad with croétons of deep-fried flatbread.

In fact, all meze you order will arrive with a basket of delicious fresh flatbread.

The food is described on the menu as 'Damascene Cuisine', but most of these dishes are claimed by every Middle Eastern chef.

Drink a glass of carrot and apple juice and feel healthy.

The menu goes on to list dozens of main courses, from rich casseroles to charcoal grills, and they are all reasonably priced.

There's a good case for not bothering with a main course here - simply order seven or eight meze between two.

Abu Zaad
Uxbridge Road, London, W12 8LH