Maroush — Restaurant in London

If ever a restaurant epitomised the meaning of the phrase "opposite ends of the spectrum", it has to be Maroush Bakehouse.

Yes, it's extremely difficult to maintain standards when the Dish of the Review is served first up, and that too the best we've ever had; but for things to then nosedive so dramatically towards the last dish representing one of the worst shawarmas ever dished up, is quite a fall from grace.

There's then the issue of the service we experienced which, in parellel with our experience of the food, progressively worsened over time, and that too in a place which, aside from a couple and their child, was practically empty! The problem boiled down to an obviously disgruntled waitress, who had served us adequately at the start, but then chose, or, perhaps more accurately, was allowed to indulge in publicly bickering with her manager, and thus failing to pay us any heed. In fact, at one point, we sat at our tables for a full 13 minutes twiddling our thumbs, with not even our increasingly desperate, prolonged glances over towards the pair, succeeding in catching their attention. It was only when we got up and walked on over, did we manage to break the spell and finally get the waitress to ask, "Everything okay?"

"You tell us!" we thought.

Of course, you know when things have come to a sombre end when, upon asking after the quality of their desserts, the manager answers, "I'm not happy with the desserts." Go figure!

Honestly, we'd come back for three things here: their freshly made bread and perfect hummus, and to marvel over their bread-making machine in action.

After exiting the premises, we noticed Star Kebab House across the way and fell into the "if...

BEWARE! My partner and I were looking for somewhere to eat in Kensington the day after celebrating our anniversary and the reviews for this restaurant were particularly good so we said lets eat there. When i arrived i was met with coldness, the atmosphere was like someone had died. I tried not to read to much into it but both the male workers had a really bad attitude and energy about them. I had never tried Lebanese food and i was looking forward to it but the whole experience was nothing like how the other reviews had described. The food was decent but the service was awful. Half way through eating a female waiter turned up for her shift, when i asked for some more water she agreed but then she didn’t bring it? So i asked her again and she acted like this was a chore for her. It seemed like she wanted to hide and not serve anyone. Regardless service charge was automatically added to the bill and hesitantly my partner paid it anyway. There were only two other people eating there at the time so it was not busy at all. Then when i was leaving I said thank you to her because i am polite and she completely ignored me. I was also met with some weird stares from the other two males as i left the restaurant. In conclusion it was a very uncomfortable experience and i will never understand people working in hospitality that are not...

Maroush appears to be a small bakery/Lebanese cafe chain in London. This location happen to be my neighborhood one and I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for a pleasant catch-up spot or a morning coffee with the papers. The morning pastries and Lebanese desserts (and there's a lot of it) are all solid to desirable (with the rare exception of a few one-off less-fresh pastries). Their almond croissants are especially worth returning for if you enjoy a little bit of almond paste filling in your croissant.

It excels on several points: chic without being obnoxious, small without feeling too crowded, and friendly service. I've never had a full meal there but their desserts are beautiful and I've been told my accompanying friends that they are delicious. (I believe they brought in a new pastry chef a few months back.) I've had a few starters (homous and babaganoush) and both were solid. Extra: The bread/pita is made fresh in the store and you can see the production through the glass walls - nice decorative touch and makes me feel like I'm eating bread fresh from the oven every time.

As an update, I now also pick up my weekly breads from Maroush (they have a bread slicer). Both the fig & rosemary and the sourdough are amazing. Their lattes...