Db eats: Laya’lina

Lebanese restaurants in the UK tend to be much of a muchness. Hummus, aubergine and lamb emerge from the kitchen in various guises, invariably washed down with a bottle of Château Musar and digested over a shisha; all very enjoyable, but not usually worth writing home about.

New kid on the block Laya’lina is one of the few Lebanese joints looking to push this king of Middle Eastern cuisines that step further.

With its moody lighting, sleek black interior and silver furnishings, you could be forgiven for thinking you’d walked into a trendy Knightsbridge cocktail bar. You wouldn’t be far wrong either; I’m sure the mojitos here are delicious, but you’re missing the point if you don’t stay on to explore the food and wine list.

The chef here brings 20 years’ experience of cooking back in Lebanon, followed by a 12-year stint in the UK with Gulf Air. Much of the food is brought in from Lebanon in a bid to make sure the flavours are as authentic as it gets this side of the Bosphorus.

As it would have been pushing lunchtime even by Spanish standards, we stuck to a mezze selection. However owner Fadi Saliba takes particular pride in the restaurant’s main courses as the real showcase for Laya’lina’s stylish, modern take on Lebanese cuisine. Despite its smart location, the average spend per head here is £30-40: a snip when you compare that with a couple of hours spent melting a credit card in nearby Harrods.

Each mezze platter (so much for the light snack then) stood out not only for its presentation, but also for the clarity of the flavours used. The muhamara was a worthwhile addition to the familiar mezze line up; a tasty mix of peppers, tomatoes, pistachio and pine nuts, all crushed to the texture of crunchy peanut butter. The kibbeh were also particularly delicious, with an unmistakeable but balanced cinnamon flavour mingled in with the minced lamb.

“The idea is to introduce people to the modern Lebanon”, explains Saliba. This doesn’t only mean a fresh twist to the preparation of the dishes here, but a wide selection of some of the newer wine estates to have emerged from the shadow of Musar.

“To us, Musar was one of the best in the ‘80s, but from the ‘90s and 2000 there have been a lot of new wines”, Saliba explains. Certainly while Musar’s idiosyncratic wines are justifiably popular, it’s a treat to see a list offering so many other Lebanese alternatives for a picture of what this country is capable of today.

Among the Lebanese producers currently on the Laya’lina lists are Nakad, Château Ksara, Château Kefraya and Domaine Wardy. To be honest though, it’s difficult to move beyond the house wines from Clos St Thomas. Both red and white offer plenty of expressive character, unencumbered by forests of oak or clumsy fruit. In short, these are the sort of refreshing, interesting wines which make you wonder why the bottle’s suddenly empty. At just £15 though, that’s one problem you can probably afford to solve.

The man behind the wine list is Kamal Chebli, who acts as wine consultant for Laya’lina as well as running Bekaa Wines, a specialist Lebanese wine agency. For the moment, his client base is primarily with the on-trade, a situation he largely attributes to the additional financial hurdles faced by Lebanese producers, which make it often impossible to meet the UK’s notoriously keen retail price points.

“There’s no help whatsoever from the [Lebanese] government”, he complains. Apart from a domestic tax system which rivals the problems posed by the UK Treasury, Chebli points out, “The main glass factory was bombed by the Israelis and so many wineries are still struggling to get glass. They have to import bottles empty from France or Italy.”

With no sign of any real generic activity, Lebanese wineries have to fund their own stands at wine fairs, where the costs are often prohibitive. For the same reason you can also forget talking with these younger wineries about their marketing strategy.

For the moment then, with the odd exception among the independent retailers, restaurants remain the best way for wine lovers to get to grips with the modern face of Lebanese winemaking. Now there’s an excuse for a night out.

Laya’lina
2-3 Beauchamp Place, Knightsbridge, London SW3 1NG

+44 (0) 207 581 4296
info@layalina.co.uk
www.layalina.co.uk

Gabriel Savage, 01.12.09