The London Traveler

I first became aware of Ottolenghi because of Yotam Ottolenghi’s vegetarian recipes on the Guardian website. With a traditional Mediterranean feel, but a modern twist, they attracted my attention - and I did manage to make a couple quite successfully.

Then  I found out there was an Ottolenghi restaurant in Islington. A chance to try the recipes as they are meant to be cooked - and also to try the non-vegetarian stuff.

The menu is very interesting. From Asian style dishes like seared tuna wrapped in nori seaweed, though to marinated lamb in a Mediterranean style, there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t gladly have tried. Ottolenghi is not afraid of spices, either - when a dish is meant to be garlicky, it really does taste of garlic - that typically English retience with any spice or herb you might actually notice was not at all in evidence here, thank goodness. Caramelised onion (something I just can’t ever get right at home) makes some of the dishes really special.

However, I wouldn’t make this restaurant a regular hangout. If you look at where Ottolenghi has opened shops and restaurants, it’s uniformly in very well heeled areas. I don’t mean aspirational - I mean places where the average house costs a number of millions, not just a million! Notting Hill, Belgravia, Kensington are not frugality central.

And Ottolenghi’s prices are rather steep. Besides, the portions are really rather small.

But you don’t have to splash out on a meal. Because you can buy some superb cakes and pastries from the extremely appetising window display. And I certainly will consider doing that again - though it may play havoc with my diet.