Restaurant review: Al-Shami

Despite being an absolute shoo-in for the Bitten Top 10, somehow I haven't written a proper review of Al-Shami. I've been here on romantic dates for two, and with groups of 20 carnivores, but on this visit I was there with threeother vegetarians. So I need to take the opportunity of this introduction to mention a few of the dishes I've tried on previous occasions but not this time: the jawaneh dajaj mashwiya, chicken wings marinated in garlic and lemon juice then slowly roasted until crispy outside but soft and tender within; kibbeh nayah, delicate raw minced lamb, gentle in texture but with a bite of raw onion and parsley; and sujuk, spicy mini lamb sausages with paprika, something like chorizo but more intense, and with the type of animal fat that coats your lips. But enough about those things. This time we were here for VEGETABLES. Oh yes.

You are always brought a dish of salads and pickles for the table to share at Al-Shami, as soon as you've sat down. I was confused the first few times when the salad ingredients arrived whole (entire pepper, two entire tomatoes, a whole head of lettuce...), until a Lebanese friend explained to me that the aim of serving the vegetables whole was to get people serving others around the table, making the experience infinitely more communal than just sharing from the same bowl. We were disappointed this time that there was no red pepper, but it was replaced with masses of the home-pickled red cabbage. Do beware of the chillis: they're not especially hot, but because they're pickled, they are filled with vinegar, which can stylishly dribble all over you when you bite in, if you're not careful.

We order a selection of dishes to share between the table. Hummus, and bread, were the first to arrive. The hummus here is always incredibly light and smooth, with plenty of tahini. The flatbreads cooled a little too quickly, toughening up, but  were fine with the dip. Two salads came next: a tabbouleh, which was slightly lacking compared to previous visits, with a large proportion of the bowl occupied by little gem lettuce, rather than a chopped parsley salad, and an excellent fattoush, sharp with sumak and laden with uber-crisp pitta croutons.

My partner's favourite dish is the batata harra, so that had to be ordered. This fried potato dish never excites me terribly, but others adored it. The zahra maqlia was my absolute stand-out dish of this visit: caramelised roast cauliflower, served at room temperature, with a nutty and rich-but-sharp tahini sauce. I am, admittedly, something of a cauliflower fiend, but I could happily have eaten a couple of plates of this on my own.

We had to order a double portion of the falafel, as I knew that a single croquette apiece wouldn't suffice. They're normally great here, crumbly on the inside and crunchy outside, but they were even more sublime than usual, the exteriors shattering when bitten. They came with a drizzle of tahini sauce. Al-Shami don't do a grilled halloumi dish, a source of perpetual sadness for me, but they do serve a kellage halloum, cheese grilled inside flatbreads. It lacks the lovely charred bits of cheese, but the flatbread is flaky and slightly darkened, so the flavours are still good. Finally, we had a plate of fetayer sebanikh. These are billed as spinach pastries, but the rich and flaky pastry is actually balanced by a very tart, lemony filling, making these a refreshing little nibble.

We could have ordered (and eaten) more, but space needed to be left for the baklawa. The waiter kindly steered us away from the whipped-cream-filled versions, and advised us to focus on the tiny squares of pastry, butter, and syrup instead. He didn't tell us that we hadn't ordered enough, though: despite their richness, we couldn't help requesting a second helping.We accompanied them with a round of muddied, thick, and aromatic Lebanese coffees (as dark as the night, as strong as a man, and as bitter as a women, as my favourite Bedouin saying goes).

Al-Shami have a fantastic range of Lebanese wines which is well worth exploring, including two house wines served by the glass. We went for a bottle of one of those house wines, the Chateau Musar "Musar Jeune White", which was strongly aromatic and stood up well to the range of flavours and acidity in the food. Service was friendly, and although it was sometimes slightly scatty, the food arrived quickly. I'll be back - lots.