Yada’s Kitchen — Restaurant in London

Stopped off here the other day with my girlfriend, just looking for a fairly standard bit of falafel and hummus etc.

The place doesn't look like much from the outside; if anything, it looks like a shabby pop up venture, so we weren't expecting much. Inside, it's equally stripped back and pretty relaxed feeling. The service is just... well, like you'd expect in your average kebab shop or something. This is not a ponsy, high class restaurant. It is more like a cheap and cheerful pop up or something similar. If you're expecting world class service, this isn't necessarily the place for you.

The menu has a quite limited arrangement of options amounting to various arrangements of similar food. Not that this is a bad thing and not that there's not a lot there. There is loads on there, but the menu is actually thankfully simplistic. Word to the wise: don't second guess it too much, just choose something that roughly aligns with your tastes and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Now to the meat of this review ;) What my GF and I were looking for was a cheap bit of tucker to take the edge off until we got home. What we got was by far the best and most satisfying meal we've had out in months. She and I fraternise with ideas of being Vegetarian but we are both meat eaters at heart, she being half Polish and myself half Cypriot. We tried at first to be good and ordered 1 of the mixed Meze, then I caved in to my cravings and also ordered a Chicken Shawarma with rice. This was enough to feed both of us happily and cost about £14.

The food here is AMAZING! It by far exceeded our expectations. In trying to describe exactly what the food was like; it reminded me of the food that the Lebanese mother of my Lebanese cousin used to make. Really satisfying, home cooked food, but with very intense, exotic flavours that we perfectly balanced but comfortingly indulgent. It was also similar to the kind of food that was served at the wedding of one of their family friends. Lots of sauces, lots of herbs and spices; things lint minted lamb kibbeh, sweet star anise flavoured stew.. etc.

It's the kind of food that explodes in your mouth with flavour. It is warm and comforting and satisfying. But every mouthful, you'll taste something different. The food takes you on a journey, puts a big smile on your face and then gives you a big cuddle, before dropping you back into a comfy armchair in front of an open fireplace. Like the best kind of home cooking you can imagine, done to perfection.

There are one or two people on here who have described the food as bland, which I can't for the life of me understand. What planet are they on?! As I say, I am half Cypriot and I love heavily flavoured, very spicy food. I specifically seek out food that has a lot going on. This food had a LOT going on. I can only imagine that their reviews are a result of a lack of culinary bravery; they ordered the blandest thing on the menu, such as meat and rice or bread and were then unhappy that it was too bland...

For my part, I thought that the food here was incredible. It was so comforting, tasty and moreish that I finished my plate and literally got up to order more; not cos I was still hungry, but because I just wanted to keep tasting it. My girlfriend literally had to physically stop me from ordering more. I was going to just, straight out, order a whole bunch to take home with us. I could eat this food all day, every day. Like I say, my GF and I eat out quite a bit and I'm being honest when I say this was the best food I have tasted in months. Literally months. It was SO good. It was such a surprise.

If you eat here, do yourself a favour and don't go for what you ALWAYS go for and instead try a little bit of everything. Get a Meze, get a bit of meat, a bit of veg, some dips, some stew... Even if you're usually a no nonsense meat n tatties / meat n two veg sort, trust me; get a mixture of different things. It's really inexpensive and affordable so be brave and try a bunch of stuff. I promise you; this food is incredible. You won't be...

Just over 2 weeks ago I called Yada’s to make a large group booking for January 5th (my birthday), I was assured by the lady I spoke to that my booking was made and if I wanted to add to my booking in the future that was also okay as long as there reasonable notice (totally understandable) but all in all a hassle free experience. Fast forward a week and I call again to amend my booking and change to 15 people, again, the member of staff I spoke with assured me that the adjustment had been made and roll on the 5th.

When inviting friends to the dinner a few remarked on how surprised they were that I was even able to make a booking due to their own negative experiences in the past but me the newfound optimist wanted to give them a chance because they’d not giving me any reason to doubt them…lol.

Flash forward the 4th of January, the anxious in me decided to just reconfirm for the following day…just incase, they confirmed again all is well roll on the 5th.

So tell me why on the 5th when we went to Yada’s for my 7pm booking (that was reconfirmed multiple times) the shutters were down, lights off, no note on shutters to explain said unexpected close and nobody answering the phone.

I feel like I don’t need to go into any more detail as to why I’m leaving the 1 (wished it was 0 star) because on what planet is this the way to deal with things - nobody even attempted to contact me prior to cancel my booking and nobody got back to me when I tried to get some sort of answer or even an apology.

Luckily we were able to get a very last minute large group booking at another local restaurant but still in disbelief that it happened lol shutters down, lights off and nobody home.

Yada’s as far as bad reputation goes for service you have truly outdone yourselves this time and teaches me for being optimistic 🙃

Can’t comment on the food as didn’t even make it that far just beware if you want to book in advance, especially for...

My husband and I visited Friday night. We didn’t have a rez as no one picks up the bloody phone and there’s no email I saw on the website. It was quite busy around 8:15pm when we arrived but thankfully we didn’t wait too long to be seated inside. We also ordered food fairly promptly as well. I got the pistachio hummus to start and the kifta birwesh (warning that photos look terrible). The food arrived very quickly so bonus there. Meanwhile the soundtrack was banging: Ra Ra Rasputin, 80s pop and reggae all played whilst we were there.

Anyway the food: the hummus was fantastic- nutty and savory at the same time. The white pita bread that accompanied it though was edible but boring and tasteless.

My kifta was also fine but nothing to write home over. Two large patties in a sauce. But my husband got the chicken shawarma and I LOVED the ghormeh sabzi that accompanied his meal (sweet from the pomegranate but also savory). Just YUM. My husband liked his chicken and I admit it was a generous portion for the cheap price.

Would we return? Sure it’s close and the...