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Lebanese restaurants in London: Angela Zaher shares her favourite local spots
- Angela Zaher
Published: October 15, 2026 at 3:10 PM
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From traditional meze and mixed grills to stylish baked goods with a modern twist, read this insider guide to the best Lebanese restaurants in London.
I still remember how I felt when on first arriving in London in 1995, I bit into a freshly made mankoushé (za'atar topped flatbread, a staple Lebanese breakfast) at Beirut Express on Edgware Road (long gone now sadly). It felt like home. My tastebuds darted back to my happy childhood in Beirut and that intensely herby and nutty scent of za'atar – a blend of oregano, wild thyme, toasted sesame seeds, sumac – was like a message from my past telling me that I could make this new place home.
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A few decades on, I don’t have to go anywhere near as far or obvious as Edgware Road. If anything, I’m spoilt for choice when I need a dose of mankoushé comfort or anything else that I might crave from my country of birth. The expansion, geographical and qualitative, in the Lebanese food offering in London has had a similar trajectory as the one London has had in my heart. It looms large and spreads deep into the roots of this city.
Want to know about the hottest new spots in the capital? Check out our guide to the best London restaurant openings.
Meet the expert
Angela is a freelance writer, specialising in the emotional connection to food for titles such as The Metro, The Standard and Business Insider. She won the Writer of the Year Award 2025 from Be Inclusive Hospitality and Emerging Writer of the Year 2026 from 26Writers. She runs Lebanese food tours of London and cookery demos at food festivals and has presented events at the British Library Food Season. She is the Vice Chair of the Guild of Food Writers.
Kinz – for fine dining
This is the Lebanese restaurant that everyone is talking about, recently opened in Notting Hill. Kinz (which means treasure in Arabic) is a breath of fresh air on the Lebanese dining scene. The setting is spacious (housed in a former bank), bright and contemporary, showcasing Lebanese craftsmanship and artistry of today alongside a kitchen that proudly shows off the breadth of Lebanese cuisine beyond meze and mixed grills. It’s also the first to offer an exclusively Lebanese lengthy wine list.
Kinz has a strong female lead; one of its three Lebanese co-owners is Rasha Bruzzo Khoury and Elene, the mother of the other two owners, brothers Jad and Karim Lahoud, runs a successful Lebanese catering company. Elene’s influence on the food at Kinz is clear, she comes in every day to make sure that the warak enab (stuffed vine leaves) have been done to her standard and one of the desserts on the menu is “Elene’s Chocolate Cake” – it's sublime. kinzrestaurant.com
Image credit: Helen Cathcart
Ta'mini – for breakfast
Any day of the week as early as 8am, I can pop over to Ta’mini in Parsons Green, a couple of tube stops away from where I live, to pick up a mankoushé or any other mouthwatering Lebanese streetbread I fancy from the counter. When Ta’mini opened in Fulham in 2020 with a young dynamic couple behind it in Ali and Nermin Khamosia, it was a milestone moment for me. A sign that Lebanese food had become mainstream in London.
In the years since, Ta’mini (which means “feed me” in Arabic) has endeared itself to the local community in SW6 and others (a friend recently spotted Emma Raducanu there) and proved so successful that two further branches have opened in Bloomsbury and Kensington. Try and grab a seat when you visit so that you can enjoy their baked goods as they come out of the oven whilst taking in the lively buzz of this place. taminilebanesebakery.com
Goodies – for Lebanese ingredients
For an instant and total immersion into Lebanese food, head to Goodies, a large supermarket in Park Royal. You’ll leave London far behind as you enter this emporium of delights. It’s owned by a Syrian family and has only been around since Autumn 2025 but is already the mecca for every aspect of our cuisine.
There are aisles of spices, grains and beans, a huge selection of beautifully displayed fruit and vegetables. A butcher, a baker, a roasted nuts bar, a dessert and ice cream counter. It’s loud, somewhat chaotic and full of charm. Before you start exploring, grab a bite to eat. The chicken shawarma is one of the best for value (£2.99) and taste, and ensures that you don’t shop hungry. Get involved, ask questions and enjoy the show. goodiessupermarket.co.uk
Commonbreads – for baked goods with a modern twist
Commonbreads in Belgravia is like the Soho House of Lebanese bakeries and blends in perfectly with its elegant neighbours in nearby Eccleston Yards. Sleek and stylish, they offer baked goods with a modern twist and specialise in filled kaak – a round sesame encrusted bread that is sold in Beirut by street hawkers using pushcarts, as well as manakeesh (the plural word for a mankoushé). Their fillings (kaak) and toppings (manakeesh) have an East meets West feel to them. Options include coriander and turmeric egg salad, smoked salmon and capers salsa but also traditional kaak fillings such as za'atar or knafeh (a dessert made from pastry and sweet cheese with orange blossom syrup – a must try). commonbreads.com
Salwa – for brunch
Salwa came on to my radar at the beginning of 2025 when I was organising a Lebanese food fundraiser; she got in touch and wanted to help. Her generosity of spirit translates into her baking and cooking – beautiful pastries and cakes as well as a catering arm for homemade Lebanese dishes to enjoy at home. Her breakfast platter served on a tiered cake stand is the stuff of dreams, filled with delectable savoury bakes and dips and topped off with her gorgeous cakes. She takes familiar bakes – croissants, muffins, cheesecakes and puts a clever Lebanese spin on them. Salwa opened her bakery in Westbourne Grove two years ago shortly after arriving in London from Lebanon and devotes all her energy and time into it; she's almost always on site to welcome customers. salwalondon.com
Sohaila – for small plates and wine
I am so excited about Sohaila. It’s the restaurant arm of a charity called Fat Macy’s which supports people who live in temporary accommodation to build careers in hospitality. So by dining there, you’re helping them with this worthy mission. But the first thing you note about it is its charm. It’s a small wine bar and restaurant in Shoreditch that can easily accommodate groups of friends or co-workers on a night out but is also perfect for date nights. Surrounded by wine bottles – where Lebanese and Greek winemakers dominate – and arak (an anise flavoured spirit, one of the world’s oldest spirits), it’s the sort of place you’ll want to linger in.
However, it’s the food here that I find most compelling. Each dish is a beautiful tribute to Lebanese cuisine in varying degrees of subtlety. The brief menu has falafel and knafeh but also pork belly and octopus. I was told that no one in the kitchen is Lebanese: Chef Ellie is at the helm and that shows that you don’t need to be from a culture to be able to cook with its flavours and techniques to the dizzying heights that she does. The Lebanese inspiration comes from one of its founders, the formidable Nathalie Moukarzel (the other is Meg Doherty). Sohaila is the name of Nathalie’s culinary guiding light, her Lebanese grandmother. A strong female lead again. sohailarestaurant.com
Matbakh – for a weekday lunch
Set up two years ago by Nermin (one half of the married couple behind Ta’mini), this tiny Monday-Friday café in Bloomsbury is doing something special. What’s on offer is one main dish a day (usually meat based with a vegetarian/vegan option) at a good value price. But the dish is something that you won’t find easily elsewhere – it’s one that grandmothers and mothers in Lebanon cook for their families, Nermin herself cooks for her four kids at home. It could be a stew of some sort, such as shish barak (meat filled dumpling cooked in a yogurt sauce), served with Lebanese rice (buttery with vermicelli running through it) and a vibrant side salad.
Tempting traditional semolina cookies filled with dates and nuts are also available for that sweet something after. You do need to arrive early at Matbakh (the word for kitchen in Arabic) to make sure they don’t run out and grab one of the few seats available. There’s likely to be a string of medical staff from Great Ormond Street Hospital queuing for their lunch; quite an endorsement for the healthy credentials of the food served. matbakh.co.uk
Joseph's – for traditional dining
For a traditional Lebanese meal, Joseph’s on High Street Kensington is a safe bet. It caters well for the Arab community in the area and is ideally placed in terms of footfall. Their strength lies in the mixed grills and meze but they do have an extensive menu that covers many other dishes. My favourite item to order is the fatteh, a dish based on garlicky yogurt, chickpeas and crispy arabic bread croutons. The service tends towards the US style of upselling so you need to hold your ground when ordering.
josephsbrasserie.co.uk
Chez Abir – for meze and mixed grills
Tucked away in the backstreets of Olympia, this casual restaurant is a one man band, that man being Rabih who does everything from cheffing to marketing. He has cooked honest, traditional Lebanese food – mainly meze and mixed grills – for a loyal clientèle of largely Lebanese people for 18 years. Then in summer 2025, Nigella visited and loved it so in the weeks and months that followed, business really took off. The last couple of times when I went on a busy evening there were some hiccups in the service – but if in doubt go at lunchtimes when it’s less busy. chezabir-restaurant.com
O Gourmet – for a neighbourhood restaurant
In Battersea Reach, just by Wandsworth Bridge this family owned restaurant will celebrate its 10th year in 2027. I’m a regular customer chiefly on the strength of their basket of arabic bread which arrives at every table before you even order, freshly made from the pizza oven blazing in the corner. When you get through the loaves, it generously fills up again. The menu lists traditional meze and mixed grills items, all done to a very good standard. ogourmetlibanais.co.uk
Maison St. Cassien – for daytime casual dining
This neighbourhood café in Wimbledon Village earns a place on my list as it has stood the test of time. I’ve been visiting it over the past 20 years to get my fix of Lebanese food locally. It’s a daytime place and offers a familiar café menu but it’s their Lebanese food that stands out. Regulars include Sir Andy Murray and other tennis players but it’s the locals who fill their tables day in day out, especially popular are their pavement tables. The marinated chicken and Lebanese rice dish served with tabbouleh or a daily salad is my usual order but I also often pop in to have a chat with owner Ali and take some food home from the deli counter, mainly the baba ghanoush (tahini based dip made with the charred aubergine flesh) and fatayer (triangular pastry filled with spinach). maisonstcassien.co.uk
Green Valley – for deli items
These days the main reason for me to go to Edgware Road is to pick up ready made food from Green Valley, the first Lebanese grocery store in London (opened in 1986) and still the one with the best deli counter (plus fresh juice station and enormous selection of sweets and baklava). If Goodies is our Tesco, Green Valley is our Bayley & Sage. They also have a smaller branch in Kensington. green-valley.co
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Check out more London restaurant guides here:
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Authors
Angela Zaher
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