Tucked away in a Mayfair side-street amongst the super-car showrooms and caviar halls is this surprisingly good restaurant-come-bar-come club that serves beautifully presented Mediterranean dishes at lunch and dinner. Content Director Helena Lang met a chum for lunch to find out more.

Where is it?

On Berkeley Street in Mayfair, a few minutes walk from Green Park or Piccadilly station and around the corner from the Royal Academy of Art.

What’s all the fuss about?

There’s not fuss, but perhaps there should be. This place opened pre-Covid, then had to close during the pandemic. On reopening it’s drifted under the radar of many, however great food at affordable prices is hard to find in this part of the capital so it’s definitely one for the address book.

What’s the place like?

It’s a three-floor labyrinth. On the ground floor there’s a bakery and lunchtime takeaway at the front, then there’s a bar where you can perch for a drink and light meal or venture further back to the long narrow restaurant with it’s dramatic open kitchen and ‘fish market’ counter. Downstairs there’s a more clubby venue called Layla, open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings for cocktails and sharing platters accompanied by a DJ spinning the latest tunes. Upstairs on the first floor there are two private dining options – the first an Instagram friendly floral ‘indoor garden’ room, the second a more corporate, traditional dining room.

What did you eat and drink?

We kicked off with a puffy disc of Wood-Fired Potato Bread which came with Truffle Honey and Chickpea Miso Butter, a very special combination of textures and sweet and salty flavours. The plate of Black Chickpea Hummus was smothered with a pile of British foraged mushrooms and, a herby olive oil, and the dinky Halloumi Doughnuts that came with goat’s curd, lemon and more truffle honey were the ultimate in moreish treats. Plates of crudo were the prettiest of dishes, garnished with edible flowers and with flavourful dressings made of ginger and herbs. My favourite morsels were the Crispy Hasselback Artichokes, all crunch on the outside and soft and tender within served on celeriac tahini with white anchovies and a spring onion salsa. The grill saw some action with our sea bream arriving crispy-skinned and perfectly cooked and with a bowl of their delicious Heritage Tomato, Smoked Sumac and Chilli sauce and a large beautifully dressed salad on the side. For dessert we indulged in a two-fork sharing treat; the Deconstructed Baklava, a pile of pistachio encrusted sweet filo pastry, dollops of creamy vanilla ice cream and shards of sesame brittle. Divine.

Your verdict?

This is a great spot for lunch with friends (they do an excellent meze style menu for £29 pp that guarantees you are in and out within the hour).

Lasting memory

Biting into those hasselback artichokes, and scooping up the sweet sticky baklava and creamy ice cream.