Sarona Clerkenwell – Middle Eastern Flavours

When you are wowed by a mere plate of tomatoes, you know that the rest of the menu is going to blow your socks off.

This plate of heritage tomatoes, perfectly ripe, fragrant in the way that tomatoes should, not the bland specimens you get in supermarkets. Cut up into bite size pieces and dressed simply with creme fraiche and oregano. Simple flavours that marry together perfectly.

Sarona in Clerkenwell is a new restaurant with Middle Eastern menu, inspired by the markets and restaurants of Tel Aviv. You will find Yemenite dishes with Ashkenazi and Sephardi influences. The chef has Libyan heritage with Israeli roots which is reflected in his cuisine.

This new venture in Clerkenwell makes use of the space defined by the old coffee shop that stood in the same spot. With just the addition of a few colourful touches, it has become an airy, casual dining and bar space.

Using the best of seasonal ingredients and delivered with minimal fuss, they managed to imbue a lot of flavour into humble vegetables. The dishes are served as mezes, which are perfect for sharing.

From the ever changing menu, we had this burnt aubergine, softly charred, drizzled with date syrup. Confusingly, we had a chicken schnitzel, which I learn is actually quite a common dish on the menu. Rather hearty portion, nicely crisp piece crust, tender chicken. Very comforting and could easily just have this dish by itself for a full meal.

Spiced and nicely charred prawns kebabs, offered a tingly accompaniment to the other vegetable dishes, like the very popular cauliflower steak. If you like a meal with lots of different flavours and textures, this is definitely the place for you. I like that is rich with vegetable dishes, done very well and a few choices for meat and fish for those who can’t survive on just vegetables. We were thoroughly impressed with all the fresh and seasonal vegetable dishes.  Accompanied by Tishbi Israeli wine and Israeli craft beers you are in for a fabulous Middle Eastern taste adventure.

If you are looking for places to eat around Clerkenwell, head down to Sarona.  They have an awesome lunch deal at just £5. An absolute bargain for the kind of food they serve here. This place should be on your culinary map. There has not been any hype so far, no queues out the door but there should be. Great food, reasonably priced, what’s not to love.

Sarona
27 Clerkenwell Road,
London
EC1M 5RN