Feast of the east at Levant

10 April 2012

This review was first published in May 2000

Middle-Eastern dishes are designed to mix and match, soothe and stimulate, stride centre stage or be content to play second fiddle. Breads, olives, pickles and purées provide a supporting cast and when a meal is well-prepared and assembled, it can provide a harmonious tapestry. You can put this theory to the test at the brand new Levant, which I visited unwittingly before its official opening which was yesterday.

At premises which have seen more restaurant ventures come and go than you have probably had helpings of houmus, the team this time promises comparative longevity. It includes Liam Carson who among many and various restaurants projects in the past helped launch Momo, the serious cookery writer Richard Whittington, who is acting as consultant, bread supremo and author of The Bread Book, Dan Lepard, and chef Michael Smith who Carson says arrives "without too much Middle-Eastern baggage".

Smith who was working at the previous incarnation at this address, Oceana, is said to be fascinated by the style of Levantine cuisine and encouraging proof is in the trio of purees, which includes a superb peppery emulsion; home-made chard and cheese-filled ravioli called manti; cinnamon-dusted, char-grilled quails; slow-roasted kid served with a nice mess of onions and potatoes; a teeth-trapping, dark, dense walnut baklava.

The menu is neither apparently themed nor laboriously authentic. Someone who thought he (or she) was not a fan of Middle-Eastern cooking might re-evaluate their position or, after a possible meal of fried purple artichokes with lemon mayonnaise followed by roasted sea bass and then lemon semolina cake with lemon syrup, might not even notice they had tried it.

The decor of the basement room done out in earthy, muted shades is by far its best look yet. Fewer tables would improve the layout of the dining area but I suppose it shows admirable optimism. There is a spacious bar area and quite a sexy semi-private dining room which looked from afar as if lined in red leather. Middle-Eastern music was played to begin with but after a bizarre Arab version of Mozart's Requiem out of Dave Brubeck segued into more familiar Western melodies. Staff are sweet and anxious to please.

Levant Bar & Restaurant
Jason Court, London, W1U 2SJ

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