Notting Hill, Middle Eastern Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: This appealing café/restaurant in Notting Hill is “just a gentle place to be”, with a modern eastern Mediterranean menu inspired by founder Victoria Paltina’s visits to Tel Aviv.

“You will want to lick the plate” if you brunch (the highpoint) at one of Yotam Ottolenghi’s inspired deli-cafés, whose creation in 2002 helped created the TV fame of the owner, and started to popularise the Middle Eastern-influenced cuisine that’s swept London and even now is seen as fashionable. The formula is little changed: “tasty, healthy and yummy dishes” that are “beautifully flavoured” but “a bit on the pricey side”. “Ottolenghi is the master of flavoursome veg (with more veg choices than at most non-veg restaurants)” and, in particular “the cakes are wonderful!”. (Also, “they’re great on allergens.”). On the downside, “space is tight” and the “ambience could be more relaxed”. There’s also a feeling in some quarters that “Yotam has become a brand and it shows”, with food that is “good but after a while same-y”.

“Great falafel burger and brilliant as a quick pit stop” – Eyal Shani’s vision for his Tel Aviv-based international chain is ‘to take the flavour, the energy, the groove, the unique beauty of each city and translate it into a ridiculously fluffy pita’. Judging by reports, his Soho and Notting Hill operations fulfill the mission, but you don’t have to have your flatbread stuffed with native fish ’n’ chips (although you can) – maybe minute steak with tahini and tomato salsa?

Fadi Kattan showcases the “authentic Palestinian cuisine” he learned from his grandmother at this inviting two-year-old venture in cute Hillgate Village, tucked away behind Notting Hill Gate. You’ll find a “true taste of Bethlehem”, combining “innovative dishes”, “executed with quality produce and clever twists”.