Bayte

Julie Touma comes from Lebanon – the land of lamb and honey. Which means you can expect a lot of both on the menu here, along with a healthy thwack of tangy yoghurt and more shanklish than you can poke a sheesha at. Shanklish is a herb-rolled and yoghurt-based cheese, BTW.

Sitting opposite the Tote, Bayte is a regular bazaar of glass and copper trinkets, elegant water vessels, and dark wooden nooks for those who can’t quite contemplate eating a lamb kofta wrap by daylight – and with a bright courtyard for those who can.

We say hit that fresh flatbread anytime/anyplace with its left hook of parsley, lemon, coarse chickpea hummus and skinless sausages of lamb mince with aromatic spices. Almond meal cookies filled with a sticky pistachio mix show up that Lebanese sweet tooth – as do the conical vessels of soda, sweetened with bright rose-water syrup. They’re like little potable lava-lamps.

It's different, to be sure, but a regular latte and eggs are still on the agenda if heading all the way East is a bit far for painful Sundays.