Open Mon–Sat midday–1am; Sun midday–12.30am
Opposite the twinkling lights of Harrods lies an oasis of opulent Eastern promise. You will no doubt smell Mamounia Lounge’s wafts of apple shisha before you see it. Inside, the restaurant and bar area is decadently kitted out with an abundance of gilded gold mirrors and black velvet sofas. It has a party feel with mixed groups in good spirits excitedly slipping notes into belly dancers’ shimmering hip scarves. Somehow amid the music and excitement it also manages to be intimate enough for a romantic (or illicit!) dinner with the tables at the back separated from one another with curtains of gold fringing.
Despite the grandeur, the staff are welcoming and helpful and full of recommendations. To start we were brought an ominously elegant-looking shot. Created using vodka and fresh passion fruit and raspberries I moved towards mine apprehensively, but it was totally delicious and the vodka was undetectable.
The manager then talked me into one of their house cocktails aptly named the ‘Gold Digger’ (£11). The delicious concoction married vanilla vodka with fresh passion fruit and vanilla essence and came accompanied with a shot glass of Champagne and gold leaf flakes. I mixed the two together which gave the sweet, smooth drink a sparkling kick.
One look at the menu and you can tell that Mamounia is not solely a Lebanese restaurant, but in fact pays homage to North Africa as a whole with a strong Moroccan influence.
As recommended we opted for the hummus kawarma (£8); lean pan-fried lamb and pine nuts adorned the cold, smooth hummus and worked fantastically well with the freshly baked pita. The tabouleh (£5.50) was fresh and zingy which was a good choice alongside the rich hummus. And the halloumi pastry (£6) was surprisingly moist and juicy, not at all rubbery or overly salty which this type of cheese often is.
To celebrate the success of the mezze I ordered a glass of the Moet et Chandon (£12) which cleansed the palate nicely… Well it’s only polite to start each course with a blank canvas.
Just as our main was about to arrive the music cranked up a notch and out shimmied a perfectly preened, hour glass, booty shaking goddess. Zahra turned to me, ‘She is gorgeous. Now we can’t possibly eat our main’. Well, she put us off our food for a good five minutes until our couscous royale (£24.50) arrived and I reassured Zahra that to be a great belly dancer you had to have some booty to shake – so we tucked in.
A bed of buttered couscous came fringed with chunky root vegetables framing the main event; a tower of lean slow-cooked lamb, chicken and sausage. The lamb was the winner for us; it was so tender it fell apart on the plate and melted in the mouth. Next time we will try the popular lamb tagine (£19.50) which was unfortunately sold out on our visit. We also shared the mixed grill (£18) but all memories of that are overshadowed by the couscous.
Filled to the brim we were brought yet more cocktails. Zahra’s raspberrita was good value at £9 and again was bursting with fresh fruit. This time the inclusion of Chambord gave it a luxurious silky, creamy coating.
Despite being tempted by the baklava the manager insisted we try the house dessert; dark chocolate fondant. ‘You don’t have to finish it’, he assured us ‘just a taste’. He arrived back five minutes later to a clean plate and two guilty-looking ladies.
We forced down some Moroccan tea to aid our digestion before rolling out the door with satisfied smiles and stretched waist bands. Well, what are bank holidays for?
Meal for two, with cocktails, around £125.
