Randa

Cedric

Lebanese treat 14th June 2009

0 found this helpful

Randa is part of teh Maroush group of Lebanese restaurant around London. I have not the opportunity to try the others, but my first contact with the chain has been not only positive, but enticing.

This is Lebanese food, so expect the usual Mezze, but all in real delicate tastes and flavours: I opted for a so-called lunch box to get rid of the hassle of making a decision between all the appetising suggestions spanning from cold mezze, hot mezze not to mention a great variety of meats and fishes from the grill. For someting like £16, I got a large plate full of Middle East delicacies: houmous, aubergin caviar, chicken kebab, falafel, tabouleh... Enough to stuff a big and solid guy like me.

The plus? the food is delivered with its basket of fresh vegetables... That is finger food that I like personaly: way more healthy than bread dipped in olive oil. The choice of carrots, salad hearts, raddish... that you can indulge as dips with your houmous or taramasalata, or plain was a great option. Not to mention the few patries handed out with the bill.

Really loved that place, and will think about dropping by the next time I plan a picnic in Hyde Park. Better value and same quality as the Food Hall nearby.

Sarah_W

Good value in Kensington 18th April 2008

2 found this helpful

Although it goes by a different name, Randa is part of the Maroush chain. The food is Middle Eastern, the service friendly (though a little too prompt on the evening we visited) and the decor attractive.

We chose a selection of mezze dishes to share to start with - hummus (which was excellent), moutabel (an aubergine puree) and falafel. As well as these we were brought a slightly bizarre bowl of fresh raw vegetables - bizarre because most were left uncut and it rather dominated the table.

For a main course I chose sayadieh - a dish of flaked fish served on a bed of flavoured rice with a spicy sauce and fried onions. It was tasty but the onions were a bit overpowering and there was far too much for one person. Chris enjoyed his kebabs rather more I think. Our main dishes were served too quickly, when we still had some mezze remaining, which meant we either had to abandon these or leave the mains to get cold. We did the former, but it was a shame to leave dishes that were better than those that replaced them!

We were too full for dessert - until our waiter brought a plate of mini pastries and an excellent selection of fresh fruit "on the house" (pineapple, grapes, mango, melon, slices of orange and more!). We ended up sitting picking at these for quite a while and this turned out to be the most enjoyable part of our meal :)

With a bottle of Pinot Grigio between three of us we paid less than £30 a head - not bad for this pricey part of town. I would go back again, but maybe for a larger selection of mezze and no mains!