“Truly delicious and masterfully grilled” North African cuisine has won renown for Layo and Zoe Paskin’s counter-style haunt in Neal’s Yard (on the fringe of Covent Garden) – a “compact and joyous scene” with “an unrivalled atmosphere for such a small space”: “intimate and not exposed, despite everyone being seated around the counter/kitchen leading to a cosy escape from the world”. In late 2024 they opened “a great new addition to Notting Hill”: it’s larger (75 covers) and “not as cute as the original” but “the food is just as good and the overall vibe very trendy and spacious”.
“Superb North African food is served in this dimly lit, bustly counter-style restaurant with bags of ambience” in Neal’s Yard, Soho, opened in 2016 by Leyo and Zoe Paskin as a follow-up to their nearby hit Palomar: “the hype is fully justified” (although “the fixed bar seating can be mightily uncomfortable if you’re tall”). And in September 2024 they are to expand to the Notting Hill/Bayswater border, with a 75-cover restaurant newcomer in a Grade II listed building on the corner of Westbourne Grove and Chepstow Road: it will feature a take on the popular kitchen counter format, in addition to an open-plan dining room and a cocktail bar.
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Tom Parker Bowles was happily seduced by the “sexy as hell” second edition of Zoë and Layo Paskin’s North African/Middle Eastern-inspired Soho grill, which “stretches languorously over a vast space on a corner of Westbourne Grove”.
Cooking over fire may seem like a cliché these days, he said, “but here it’s taken to a high art” – and there’s a “rather thrilling wine list, too”, with a “hell of a selection by the glass”.
Tom Parker Bowles - 2025-01-12
