Maroush V, Maroush V, 4 Vere Street, London W1G 0DH (Bond St. tube station)

Want some bread? Here.

When a friend said ‘Let’s have Lebanese food’, we said ‘OK, where.’ Maroush V (the V is Roman for five) is on Vere Street, which is off Oxford Street. Maroush is a chain of restaurants, but not like McDonald’s.

The decor outside makes it look like one of those places that might probably have red velvety type cushions for seats, but once you’re in the restaurant, it looks slightly more like a wooden-chairs and tables kinda place.

As we were dining with friends who clearly have had Lebanese food more than twice, we let them do the ordering. Plus, I was more interested in the pack of paracetamol next to me at the time (had a cold).

All I know was that we sat down, I fiddled with the paracetamol pack for a bit, and then plate after plate of food starting arriving.

The first thing to arrive was of course, the bread. With that, came the hummous which was nicely-patterned and paprika-sprinkled. Taste-wise, it tasted kinda like Strepsil as I had about 15 of those during the meal, but I’m told this hummous was very nice by those people who didn’t share my Strepsil.

Next, the aubergine which had been roasted and mashed. That tasted pretty much like Strepsils too, but again, the gusto with which my dining companions feasted on this undoubtedly proved its worth.

The tabbouleh, which is a salad with tomatoes. It tasted kinda sour to me, but then again, who was I to comment on taste at that point.

The grilled halloumi, which I could taste. It was salty to me which probably meant it was too salty to the others, but the texture of grilled halloumi is just fabulous.

Then, the superstar of the meal decided to turn up. This plate of shawarma (chicken and lamb) made its entrance complete with drumroll, maracas and tambourines. They came out singing, shimmering in their sequined dancing dresses, singing ‘Yummy yummy yummy’.

They were that good.

Even with 2 Strepsils, sniffles and a temperature, I could taste the soft yet chewy, spiced, grilled meat mixture in its (half) glory. It was tasty.

The lamb and cheese puffs, not in one puff, but there were 2 varieties on this plate. The pastry was quite soggy, perhaps it was meant to be like this, but if that was puff pastry, it definitely wasn’t flaky.

Mini-sausages with ALOT of lemon juice on them, cooked with them, served with them. I tasted the lemon with the sausages, and for about the next 5 meals after.

Some roasted vegetable mixture. I had some to try and when they went onto my plate, they kinda just stayed there without being nibbled on.

For dessert, the restaurant served us a plate of mixed exotic fruit. There were big juicy grapes, pineapples, apples, plums, kiwi fruit and even a banana on the plate, and the restaurant really were generous on this one. Since I didn’t take a picture of this, here is a fruit stall instead.

This is what the restaurant looks like if you’re on Oxford St and fancy some Lebanese food.