"We were so happy to find this restaurant near our favourite cycling routes along the Thames path. Here, situated on a little village square, where it is easy to feel as if you are on holiday, we found at long last a decent, reasonably priced restaurant that perfectly suits our requirements: family run restaurant, good food, good price, good service. We had a selection of mezze dishes. A mix of quality vegetarian (very well catered for and meat dishes. The portions were good, the flavours intense and balanced, the patties delicate, the kidneys tender. The chef (owner? came to have a chat, and to enquire if we wanted garlic with our lamb kidneys (Kalawi . We had a small glass of a decent Lebanese wine, remembering that Lebanon has one of the most ancient wine making traditions in the world, which persists to this day, and we took the rest of the bottle home. We finished with a superb lebanese coffee and baklava. I found the same pleasure in the decent, wholesome Lebanese food they served that I discovered as a boy when my best friend 's mother would (try to fatten me up with the most wonderful and exotic (to me Mediterranean dishes she used prepare with love and share with pride. We had: Hoummous (v , Tabboulleh (v , Fatayer (v , Rikakat (v , Kibbeh (lamb , Kalawi Ghanam (lamb , bottle of Clos de Cana Lebanese white wine, Lebanese coffee, Baklava. We received the warm and friendly welcome we tend to expect from a family run restaurant. The restaurant was quiet, much to our pleasant surprise, for a weekend lunch, but it was a wet and cold Sunday in February, and it was still very early. In fact we were the first customers, having arrived just before opening time. We expect that they do get very busy at times, as their terrace is massive, and they have extra banqueting tables tucked in the back room and a sound system. So on a decent sunny day, or a summer evening, I would def make a reservation. Or, like us, be the first to arrive and get treated like the guests of honour. Though we expect that is how they treat all their guests. We will definitely be back. We love cycling along the Thames path, yet have struggled until now to find somewhere to eat in this area, which is the usual turnaround point on our long cycle trip. 5 stars from us as it ticked all the boxes."
Shish Taouk
