I love Easter Monday.
All the tourists that flooded to the capital are on their way home, the Londoners that were clever enough to escape the egg-hunting crowds aren’t back yet and unlike Christmas week, all every store and restaurant worth their while are open for business.
Which means it’s one of those few magic days (together with tube-strike days) where you can get a table pretty much anywhere you fancy.
The perfect opportunity to -finally- (re)visit the infamous, impossible-to-get-into-unless-you-book-a-table-2-months-ahead Palomar.
Grab a couple of seats at the bar and forget all you thought you knew about Jewish food.
Serving up what they describe as “the food of modern day Jerusalem”, The Palomar is all about twists on the classics and loads of fresh, punchy flavours.
Point made right from the start with the restaurant’s signature Kubaneh, coming to the table in its own tin and served pipping hot with tahini & velvet tomatoes.
Dense, buttery and fluffy, this Eastern Mediterannean brioche is made to be dipped so make sure you order the burnt courgette tzatkiki too!
Add a couple of perfectly mixed cocktails and you’re all set to peruse the rest of the rather unortodox menu…
Beef Tataki Damaskus gate style with crispy Jerusalem bagel, tahini & spicy tomatoes
Must-order Shakshukit (deconstructed kebab with minced beef & lamb, yoghurt, tahini, cured lemon & harissa)
Quite simply life changing – No matter how good/needed they are, you’ll never look at kebabs quite the same way after that!
Siske Pork Belly with Ras el Hanout, dried apricot, glazed carrot & celeriac cream.
Sweet, sticky, indulgent, absolutely not kosher-friendly but well worth every transgression!
And then there’s this cute little pan, filled with the best dish in the house, no less!
Super creamy Josperised Aubergine under a blanket of creay feta emulsion, crispy shallots & pine nuts.
Aubergenius.
All polished off with your pick from the sweetest of desserts menus…
As long as your pick includes the Malabi, that is.
A rose-scented milk pudding, raspberry coulis, coconut meringue pistachio crunch, fresh raspberries & kataifi, it is perfectly balanced and my Mr. simply won’t leave The Palomar without having it.
That said, the Jerusalem Mess (labneh mousse, almond crumble, strawberries, lemon cream…) isn’t too shabby either. And the fondue-style chocolate crémeux is every bit as good as it sounds too, so you can’t really go wrong.
Just make sure you go early (or book a table), go hungry and leave plenty of room for pudding…
Which I know is difficult when the whole menu looks So-ho good!
Cake and Whisky 
I loved The Palomar, but because of the hard-to-get tables I’ve not been back since. This has made me want to go back even more!
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Well, that’s one reason to hope for a Tube strike 😉 (also, might be worth checking if any tables are available for the upcoming bank holiday? Usually easier to get one then…)
xx Sandra
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