Best Middle Eastern restaurants in London to try now: from buzzy new openings like Kismet to neighbourhood favourites like Cafe Palestina

Diwan Dimas

Found towards the end of Edgware Road, Diwan Dimas is a humble deli serving Damascene sweets and other Arab dessert dishes. Here, visitors can order syrup-laden baklava, ashta-filled beinnaren and pistachio-stuffed burma. While I would encourage trying each of these buttery desserts separately, the real star of the show at Diwan Dimas is the knefeh. Known among locals as the best knefeh in London, the dish is made the traditional way – soft goat’s cheese, lightly sweetened, is topped with finely-shredded filo pastry and generous spoonfuls of syrup.

Address: Diwan Dimas, 21 Edgware Road, Tyburnia, W2 2HX
Website: ubereats.com

Imad’s Syrian Kitchen

Owner and head chef Imad Alarnab started a series of supper clubs and takeaway lunch pop-ups when he moved to London after fleeing the war in Syria. These modest events quickly gained notoriety, particularly Imad’s famous “falafel lunch boxes”, and the chef was able to open his own restaurant in the city. Now located in Kingly Court, Imad’s Syrian Kitchen serves a range of traditional dishes. Mezzes include saroja (delicately cooked aubergine layered with feta, halloumi, sour cherries and date molasses) and mtuma bitinjan (crispy fried aubergine served with tahini and tart barberries). More widely known main dishes, such as shishtawook and tahini kofta, are on offer, but I would suggest trying the makmour jaj, which marries yoghurt-marinated chicken with bulgar, pomegranate and fried vermicelli.

Address: Imad’s Syrian Kitchen, Top Floor, Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, W1B 5PW
Website: imadssyriankitchen.co.uk

Mezze selection at Nandine

Nandine

This restaurant has come far from its humble beginnings in Elephant and Castle, where head chef, Pary Baban, began serving Kurdish food to local workers who visited her family-run newsagent in the 1990s. Due to growing demand over the years, Pary relocated her restaurant to a larger space in Camberwell and quickly became a local celebrity chef; during the daytime, families with young children gather around large tables for brunch and sweet Kurdish desserts, before a younger crowd slowly dribbles in for the evening service. Must-tries include the slow-cooked lamb shank, patatau ron (battered aubergine topped with roasted onion, tomato and amba tirshyat) and kubba (Kurdish rice dumplings stuffed with spiced beef).