Zara's Mediterranean Bistro

Small bistro with extensive menu of good quality pan-Mediterranean meze and grilled meat dishes.

The 2017 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

Zara’s has had a refurb in slate, stone and aubergine but continues to produce crowd-pleasing cooking, curating cuisines from around the Med. Start off with a couple of mezze, or opt for a sharing banquet to sample a smörgåsbord of hot and cold dips and dishes such as homemade hummus, cool yoghurty cacik, antep ezme (Turkish salsa), tavuk salata (chicken marinated in lemon and coriander), ispanok borek (feta pastries), sucuk (spicy sausage), baked feta, falafel and so on. Mains range from wraps and chips to grilled meat dishes like ak deniz izgara (lamb or chicken with prawns and creamy garlic butter), from seafood to pasta, to signature Mediterranean treats like hunkar begendi (lamb and aubergine casserole). If you’ve got room, try a sticky, sweet, satisfying dessert like baklava, in traditional hazelnut or chocolate, or the house special of honeyed pistachio filo kadayik. Accompany with a contrastingly bitter, and necessarily fortifying, Turkish coffee, or a soothing mint tea.

• High point: Hearty Mediterranean food
• Low point: Mint tea may be needed for post-dinner digestion