Tue –Sun midday–2.30pm and 6pm–10.30pm
A newcomer to the London restaurant scene but a familiar face in his native Alexandria, Aladino’s owner Aladin Barakat is no stranger to food and entertaining. With over 20 years of experience in Egypt, it’s Kensington’s turn to sample his unique take on Alexandrian and Egyptian cuisine.
Keen to try all that Aladino’s had to offer, we went with the tasting menu, which started with a simple yet excellent selection of baba ghanoush, houmous and flatbreads together with pickled aubergine. Next up was a tasty lentil soup followed by king prawns. Without wanting to detract from the other dishes, the prawns were the standout for me, covered in a light tempura batter with notes of fennel and radish. Superb.
The main dish, slow roasted lamb shank, was wonderfully tender and slipped away from the bone with an almost melt-in-the-mouth texture. Dessert came in the form of a sweet mango parfait and a dish called ‘Om Ali’. The parfait (tangerine coulis, mango sorbet and meringue) was pretty good, though the Om Ali was a bit too heavy on the almonds for me (bearing in mind it is meant to be made this way—so if almonds aren’t your thing you should probably stay away).
Despite an early start the next morning, we were still tempted into visiting the downstairs bar for a nightcap and a few stories of Egypt from our host. As a relative newcomer to Egyptian cuisine, it was an excellent introduction for me and would be very easy to recommend among Kensington’s quite formal restaurant scene.
Great service and a wine list to rival many more well known establishments serve only to complement something quite unusual here; a brand new restaurant with a lot of history.
