Levant Mezze Bar

Today for lunch I met a friend at a fantastic Middle Eastern place (http://www.levant.co.uk/levant/levant.swf) that looked like the inside of Jeannie's bottle from "I Dream of Jeannie." I thought we were in Fez or something. There were tables with plump cushions the color of pomegranates glistening beneath the candlelight. Yes, candlelight at noon! We were in a basement off a quiet, posh street in Marylebone. It felt secluded and secret. I had Moroccan mint tea and they brought out a giant tray of Lebanese breads. My favorite was a particularly buttery piece of bread that was a cross between brioche and puff pastry. It melted at the slightest touch, but had the dense heft of bread. Amazing. Another was a Lebanese sourdough that had hints of sesame and sumac. We were served a plate of olives, a bowl of pickled peppers and carrots and a bowl that looked as if it should've served as a centerpiece. It had spring onions, a head of little gem lettuce, a whole tomato, a carrot and a cucumber. A salad in the making.

We ordered three mezzes: pan fried aubergines in a pomegranate and olive oil dressing that were so silken and tender they simply fell off the fork, fattouch, a Lebanese salad with fried pita on top that was way too heavy on the lemon juice, and some lovely kibbee made with ground chicken instead of lamb or beef as is most commonly found in Middle Eastern restaurants.

The whole place was like a succulent piece of Turkish delight, shimmery, full of color and exotically sweet.