Hummus Shawarma Hummus Shawarma
White House Express

White House Express

102 Golders Green Road, London, NW118HB, United Kingdom

Food • Kosher • Sandwiches • Mediterranean


"I am a regular visitor to the White House in Golders Green, London to pick up a take away, usually pre-ordered. On this occasion, I stopped by and noticed that the restaurant was being managed by a someone I did not recognise, who appeared to be the son of the owner. I was first ignored, then interrupted what appeared to be an hilarious conversation between the staff, who then referred me to the chef behind the counter, who had not prepared anything for me. After waiting some 12-15 minutes, I finally received a box of shredded chicken, without the usual salads and accompaniments. On querying this, the chef snatched the box out of my hand, threw it in a corner and pointed me to the Manager. On speaking to him, he burst out laughing and found the whole thing amusing. When I reapproached the chef, to try and explain what I wanted, he turned his back on me, spoke to one of the waitresses, who looked across at me, and disappeared into a back room. It's a shame really, because I like the White House, and respect the owner, who has spent many years building up a popular business. I shall choose my moment and return but only to tell the proprietor of my recent experience. What is clear, is that since a major competitor shut up shop further down the road, the attitude of the White House has changed towards its regular clientele. I now buy my twice weekly take-aways from Sami's, which I shall review under separate cover."

Pomegranate

Pomegranate

1 Antigua Street, Edinburgh, EH13NH, EH1 3NH, United Kingdom

Salad • Vegan • Chicken • Middle Eastern


"After a day out at the zoo, we came here to celebrate my friend's birthday with some lovely middle eastern cuisine! Pomegranate doesn't specialise in the cuisine of a particular country, and instead boasts delicacies from Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran to name but a few. It is also a shisha bar. We arrived at prime meal time on a Saturday night and we hadn't reserved a table, like dafties. However, we were offered one of the outdoor alcoves used for shishas, which we gladly accepted. So we were led down the stairs outside of the restaurant to a series of brightly painted and plush alcoves. Each one has a heater, and is so comfy that you barely notice that you are outdoors. I ordered the lamb shawarma platter, where my friends went for the kebab options a merishke kebab (chicken) and a gosht kebab (minced lamb). Each one was amazing! The lamb was cooked to perfection, and the chicken was really tender. Sharing is caring! . For dessert, we each had lokum, which is a platter of three differently flavoured turkish delights served with rose ice cream. It was delicate and fragrant. My one niggle was that the service was very slow where we were sitting, as the people staffing that part are more focussed on the preparation of shisha. I imagine things would go along faster if we were upstairs, so next time I try it out I will make sure I book in advance."