Marylebone, Mediterranean Restaurant Guide

“Go mad for further adventures in veg” at Yotam Ottolenghi’s famous deli-cafés, whose Middle Eastern inspired menus are best known for their “creative” salads and meat-free dishes (bread and pastries are also “fabulous”) but there are also some meat and fish options. They are far from cheap, but “the spicing is interesting”, “the flavours are immense” and “the small-plates format allows you to try a number of options”. “A great spot for brunch” or “to drop in for cake and tea”. The Islington branch is most commented-on, and in December 2023 its newest sibling (also in north London) opened on Rosslyn Hill, Hampstead, while a branch in Richmond, in the leafy southwest, is scheduled for late 2024.

This “cosy and welcoming Marylebone” wine-bar/restaurant from sommelier Xavier Rousset is “perfect for an unrushed evening”, combining “charming service” and a menu of “excellent Mediterranean (mostly Italian) dishes done really well” with a “specialist Rhone wine list that’s a real treat”.

“Modern Greek cuisine with a twist” earns consistently strong ratings for this 10-year-old in Marylebone, which is “definitely a cut above the traditional taverna”. Sibling to the more casual INO in Soho, it’s from the accomplished team behind well-known Funky Gourmet in Athens.

2022 Review: “Wonderfully fresh, tasty and simple flavours” stand out at this health-conscious Marylebone two-year-old, which has a decidedly pretty interior in the upstairs restaurant (there’s a bakery below). Dietary requirements are celebrated rather than being grudgingly catered for, so there are no refined sugars in the cooking, along with limited dairy and gluten. The owner, Kelly Landesberg, is the daughter of Gary, chairman of the Arts Club in Mayfair.

With its mix of grown-up comfort food and fashionable styling, Adam White’s Fitzrovia fixture has long been a key destination for “all-day brunch on Saturdays”, and in recent times has added an attractive new sibling at the brutalist Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury (there’s also a related ‘Railhouse’ at Nova in Victoria). Top Menu Tip – “kedgeree to die for”.

“Fun, vibey atmosphere and slick service” are key to the success of this upscale Greek outfit in Fitzrovia (with sister venues in Mykonos and Riyadh), which gets “loud” at busy times – perhaps “too loud”. Owned by Peter Waney, brother of Arjun (Zuma, Roka), it’s “not cheap, but the food is better than you’d think” – “fresh, light and modern”, with “imaginative twists on every dish”.

2021 Review: “Fun” and fashionable yearling – a glamorous, grown-up, all-day restaurant complete with bar, on the ground floor of ‘private workspace and wellbeing destination’, Mortimer House in Fitzrovia. Its open kitchen is headed by Antonio ‘Lello’ Favuzzi (formerly of leading City Italian, L’Anima) who joined as head chef in February 2019. A versatile choice for many occasions, it is particularly tipped for business. Foodwise, one or two reporters consider the Mediterranean-via-the-Middle-East cuisine a little “average”, but overall it’s consistently decently rated.

“The celeriac shawarma is to die for”: all part of the “fabulous” mélange of Middle Eastern tastes – often “with a focus on vegetables” (‘from root to tip, with a fresh focus on fermentation’) – to be found in the “wonderful sharing plates” served at Yotam Ottolenghi’s Fitzrovia flagship; and it provides “terrific, unusual cocktails” too. As is typical of his restaurant DNA, “you do pay a lot for these tastes” – to the extent that a small but notable minority find it “overrated and quite disappointing” – but most diners consider it “fabulous all-round”.

2021 Review: Swish, Greek-owned, late-2018 yearling, which occupies two floors of a five-storey Mayfair townhouse (the remainder being dedicated to a bar, club, roof terrace, etc) which aims to ‘brings the spirit of Mykonos to London’ on a site that once housed the HQ of Cartier’s watch-making empire. Ex-Novikov chef, Sicilian Carmelo Carnevale, oversees a Mediterranean/Asian mash-up of a menu, which earned solid ratings in early feedback, alongside perhaps predictable concerns about the slightly scary pricing.