18th April 2008
Good value in Kensington
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!