RFK Cuisine · Middle Eastern · London
Best Middle Eastern Restaurants in London 2026
Middle Eastern · London · 7 tables ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 27, 2026 · Updated June 27, 2026
London eats more Levantine, Persian and North African food than any city outside the Middle East, and at the top end it cooks the region better than most cities inside it. The reasons are old — Lebanese Edgware Road, Persian Kensington, a Palestinian and Israeli diaspora that turned sharing plates into the city's default dinner — and the result is a scene that runs from a counter in Neal's Yard to a Notting Hill dining room cooking Bethlehem's recipes. These are the seven we send people to in 2026, ranked on the cooking, the room and what it costs, with the dish to order and who each one is really for.
1.Akub
London's first serious Palestinian dining room, cooking Bethlehem from memory — book it for a meal with a point of view.
Akub is chef Fadi Kattan's Notting Hill restaurant, and it did something London had not properly had before: put modern Palestinian cooking in a confident, full-service dining room rather than a takeaway. Kattan, from Bethlehem, builds the menu around dishes most Londoners have never seen named — musakhan with sumac and slow onions, shish barak dumplings, arak-cured seabass — cooked with restraint and a clear sense of place. The room on Uxbridge Street is small and warm, the kind of table where the food does the talking. It reads as personal cooking, not a concept. For Palestinian food cooked with authority and a story behind every plate, Akub is the one to book.
Book direct or via the website; the musakhan and the arak-cured seabass, with knafeh to finish.
2.The Palomar
The Soho counter that made Jerusalem cooking a London night out — grab a bar seat for the best show in the West End.
The Palomar opened on Rupert Street in 2014 and effectively launched the modern London-Levantine wave, all zinc counter, open kitchen and cooks who sing along to the playlist while they work. Sit at the bar, not a table, for the full effect: warm kubaneh bread pulled apart over tahini, the "octo-hummus" with octopus and chickpeas, charred aubergine and shakshuka-adjacent small plates that arrive fast and keep coming. It is Jerusalem by way of a London party, loud and generous and tightly run. Tables exist but miss the point. For Levantine small plates with the best front-row energy in Soho, book the counter and let the kitchen lead.
Book the bar counter on Resy; the kubaneh, the octo-hummus and whatever the pass is pushing.
3.Berber & Q
The railway-arch grill that converts vegetable skeptics with charred cauliflower shawarma — go hungry, go with friends.
Berber & Q is chef Josh Katz's grill under a Haggerston railway arch, open since 2015 and still the most fun smoke-and-fire room in this category. The format is Middle Eastern meets the live-fire grill: lamb shawarma carved off the spit, but the dish that made the name is the whole roasted cauliflower shawarma, charred and spiced and substantial enough to anchor a meal. The room is dark, loud and built for a group sharing the full grill spread with arak and pickles. Katz also runs Shawarma Bar and Carmel, but the original arch is the destination. For a noisy, generous grill dinner with the best cauliflower in London, this is the table.
Book ahead, the arch fills; the cauliflower shawarma, the lamb, and a round of arak.
4.Bubala
The all-vegetarian Middle Eastern table no carnivore notices is meatless — book it to prove a point at dinner.
Bubala is the rare vegetarian restaurant that wins over people who came for meat without their realising it. Chef Helen Graham's menu, served first in Spitalfields and now in Soho too, treats vegetables with the swagger usually reserved for a grill: oyster mushroom skewers with smoked paprika, halloumi in a black-seed honey, burnt aubergine, and laffa bread thick enough to eat as a course. Nothing tastes like compromise. The "Bubala Knows Best" feed-me menu is the easiest way in. The rooms are small and busy, so book. For Middle Eastern cooking that happens to be vegetarian and never apologises for it, Bubala is the smartest table in the category.
Book online; the 'Bubala Knows Best' set menu, especially the oyster mushroom skewers and the laffa.
5.Ottolenghi
The deli-counter empire that rewired how Britain cooks vegetables — go to the Islington original for the salads alone.
Yotam Ottolenghi changed the way Britain cooks more than any chef of his generation, and the Islington original on Upper Street is where it started in 2002: a window stacked with platters of grain salads, roasted vegetables and meringues the size of a fist. The cooking is Mediterranean and Middle Eastern with a heavy hand on lemon, herbs, pomegranate and tahini, served deli-style by day and as a fuller menu in the evening. It is polished, reliable and everywhere imitated. The counter does a brisk takeaway trade for those who would rather eat in a park. For the salads and traybakes that launched a thousand cookbooks, the original branch is the place to taste them.
Walk in for the counter, book for dinner; the rotating salad selection and the famous meringues.
6.Honey & Co
The husband-and-wife Bloomsbury table that feels like a meal in a friend's kitchen — book it for a long, warm dinner.
Honey & Co is the restaurant Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich built around hospitality first, now settled on Lamb's Conduit Street after starting in a tiny Warren Street room. The cooking is Levantine and personal — warm mezze, slow-cooked lamb, a feta cheesecake that has become a quiet London classic — served at a handful of close tables where the couple's warmth sets the tone. It is the opposite of a scene: a place to settle in for two hours and over-order. The set feast menu is the right call for a group. For Middle Eastern cooking that prioritises feeling at home over making a statement, Honey & Co is the table to book.
Book ahead, it is small; the mezze spread, the slow-cooked lamb, and the feta cheesecake.
7.The Barbary
The no-reservations Neal's Yard counter for charcoal-grilled mezze — queue for a stool when you want a solo treat.
The Barbary, from the Palomar's Paskin team, is a horseshoe counter wrapped around a charcoal grill in Neal's Yard, seating just a couple of dozen with no tables and, for walk-ins, no reservations. The menu roams the old Barbary Coast — North Africa to the Levant — with naan-e-barbari bread, pata negra-style grilled meats, and a famous spiced chicken msmen. Watching the cooks work the grill an arm's length away is half the meal, which makes it ideal for eating alone or as a two. The wait can run long at peak. For a charcoal-driven counter dinner with no table and total focus on the grill, The Barbary is the move.
Limited bookings, otherwise queue; sit at the counter for the msmen, the bread and the grilled meats.
How London eats Middle Eastern
London's Middle Eastern scene splits into layers. The oldest is the Lebanese and Gulf strip along Edgware Road, open late and built on charcoal grills and mezze. Above it sits a Persian community in Kensington and a thriving Levantine and Israeli wave — Ottolenghi, the Palomar, Bubala — that turned sharing plates into the way a generation of Londoners eats out. The newest layer is national and specific: Akub cooking Palestinian, others cooking Yemeni, Egyptian and Kurdish food that the city had never seen done seriously. The through-line is generosity: bread, dips, grilled things, and a table covered in small plates meant to be reached across.
A few practical notes for 2026. Most of these kitchens are built for sharing, so come with people and over-order rather than picking a main each. Counters — the Palomar, the Barbary — are where the energy is, but they are small, so either book the bar or arrive early for the queue. Many of the best rooms sit outside Michelin entirely, which keeps prices closer to forty pounds a head than a hundred. For the wider city, use the full London dining guide, and compare the region worldwide on our best Middle Eastern pillar.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for a serious London Middle Eastern meal
The late-night Edgware Road chains, if you want the cooking at its best. They have their place for a 2am shawarma and a charcoal grill, and a few are genuinely good, but they are not where the category's ambition lives. If you have one dinner to spend, spend it at a kitchen with a point of view rather than a mixed-grill conveyor belt.
Any of these as a quiet solo main course, except the counters. The sharing format that makes Bubala or Honey & Co so good falls flat for one person ordering a single dish. If you are eating alone, sit at the Barbary's or the Palomar's counter, where the format is built for a solo stool and the kitchen is the entertainment.
Frequently asked
What is the best Middle Eastern restaurant in London?
Akub in Notting Hill is our top pick, the first London dining room to cook modern Palestinian food with real authority, from chef Fadi Kattan of Bethlehem. For Levantine small plates with the best atmosphere, The Palomar's Soho counter is unbeatable, and Berber & Q brings live-fire North African grilling to a Haggerston railway arch. Bubala leads the vegetarian end of the category. All four sit outside the Michelin system but cook at a level that rivals starred rooms.
Where should I go for vegetarian Middle Eastern food in London?
Bubala, with branches in Spitalfields and Soho, is the standout: an all-vegetarian Middle Eastern menu so confident that meat-eaters rarely notice the absence, built on oyster mushroom skewers, halloumi in black-seed honey and thick laffa bread. Berber & Q's whole roasted cauliflower shawarma is substantial enough to anchor a meal, and Ottolenghi's salad counters are a vegetable showcase. For a fuller picture, see our best vegetarian restaurants in London guide, which covers the wider plant-based scene.
Do London's best Middle Eastern restaurants take reservations?
Most do, and you should book. Akub, Bubala, Honey & Co and Berber & Q all take reservations and fill quickly, especially at weekends. The counter rooms are the exception: The Palomar holds some walk-in bar seats alongside bookings, and The Barbary in Neal's Yard runs largely no-reservations, so expect a queue at peak. If you are a group, book ahead everywhere; if you are a solo diner or a pair, the counters reward arriving early and grabbing a stool.
How much does a Middle Eastern meal in London cost?
Less than the cooking suggests. Because most of these kitchens sit outside Michelin, a generous sharing dinner runs roughly £35 to £55 a head before drinks, even at the top names. Bubala's set menu and Honey & Co's feast land near the lower end; Akub and the counters sit a little higher with a few special dishes. The sharing format means a table of four eats very well for the price of two à la carte mains elsewhere. Drinks, particularly arak and natural wine, add the most to the bill.
What dishes should I order at a London Middle Eastern restaurant?
Start with bread and a dip: kubaneh at The Palomar, laffa at Bubala, naan-e-barbari at The Barbary. Then chase the signatures — musakhan and arak-cured seabass at Akub, cauliflower shawarma at Berber & Q, oyster mushroom skewers at Bubala, and Honey & Co's feta cheesecake to finish. The whole category is built for sharing, so order across the table rather than one dish each, and lean on the set 'feed me' menus where they exist, which are designed to show the kitchen at its best.
More Middle Eastern and London dining
More from RFK
Browse the full London dining guide, compare the region on the best Middle Eastern worldwide, read the verdict on Palestinian Akub and Soho's The Palomar, cross over to vegetarian London, plan a table for a first date, or open the full RFK cuisine index.
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