The best thing about living in London, for people like me is the variety of cuisine that we have here. You have your simple Italians to your more adventurous Cypriot, Greek and Arabic food too. As some of you may know, I love to try all different cuisine, so when Kelly who blogs over at Flat Eleven and I decided to go on one of our regular lunching’s, Ceru stood out to us.
Ceru is a small, cosy and concise restaurant tucked away near Tottenham Court Road. The food is east Mediterranean, where the spices and favours come from the Levantine region. I bet you’re thinking, what countries are within the Levantine region? You have Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel. Quite an interesting mix, am I right?
Welcome to Ceru… I was warmly greeted by Patricia who own the places, runs it and does all the marketing and advertising too. I snuck over to meet Kelly who had already got there before me (typical, i’m always fashionably late!)
The menu just looks delicious. I could imagine all the colours and flavours in my mind as I read the description of each.
We ordered drinks first. I went for the orange juice (I needed the vitamins with this silly cold coming on) and Kelly went for the carrot juice. All freshly made daily, it was so refreshing.
To start we asked for the humous, but Patricia is so hospitable and insisted we try some of each of the dips. How kind!
Boy oh boy, it was so good. Each dip boasted a different flavour and colour. The darkest coloured dip was Pancar which was made of roast beetroot, yoghurt, garlic and pistachio nuts. The darker beige dip was Fadi which was made of fried baby courgette puree with tahini, roast garlic, yoghurt and lemon. The orange coloured dip was spicy roast pepper dip, which was made of chilli, walnuts and pomegranate molasses and finally the houmous topped with chickpeas, green chilli and lemon. All were divine! We jumped in with our greek pitta bread and enjoyed the flavour and texture of each.
Whilst we awaited our mains, I scoped out the place. The colours so bright, it makes you feel like you are eating in a restaurant next to some sort of exotic beach. You forget about the bitter cold winds outside and trick your brain into thinking you are on holiday, with great food and company.
Patricia giving us a little pose there… 😉 Honestly, I have never met such a warm and welcoming person especially at a restaurant. I felt like I was invited into her home rather than her restaurant, so hospitable, caring and generous. She truly is a wonderful, precious lady.
Now for the mains, I ordered the chicken kebabs which were marinated in lemon and saffron. They were absolutely flavoursome and divine. You know the food is good when I barely talk, this was one of these moments for sure!
Kelly went for the baby spinach salad with labne. It had a mix of dried cranberries and toasted flat bread added in too! We swapped dishes to try each others, and I can honestly say it was so delicious. The part I liked the most was the salad was cooked and was warm rather than cold and crunchy, which was a winner for me. The overall dish had so much flavour for what somebody would say is ‘just a salad’. There was evident spices and sauce added in to give it that great kick of heaven.
We were persuaded to have something for dessert, but we both had to decline. We were so full and happy with what we had already eaten, there was literally no space for anything else! However, when I return I will definitely be trying the desserts!
Ceru
29 Rathbone Place
Fitzrovia
London
W1T 1JG
*Disclaimer: Kelly and I were guests at Ceru and our meals were complimentary, but the review is personal and honest without any influence of anyone or anything.
