Akub

A serene townhouse in Notting Hill isn’t the first place you might look for Palestinian food.

Across its plaster washed levels, tables are tightly packed with staff squeezing plates on at every angle to make the generous offerings fit. Sharing plates are too often three bites for £15, but here dishes are piled high with horizon-expanding food.

In a delightful way nothing really comes as you’re expecting. Perhaps it’s because of relative ignorance when it comes to Palestinian food in this country, or perhaps it’s chef Fadi Kattan’s playful way of manipulating the flavours of his childhood into contemporary interpretations without losing their feeling of authenticity. Even the bread basket is an unexpected Jenga of good things, ready to topple too easily onto your plate. Before you know it you’re three wedges deep scooping up cumin laced beans and a moutabel which surprisingly takes red lentils and makes them really rather wonderful; soft and smooth and comforting. Kattan famously banned hummus on his menu, and his strength of feeling to not reduce the food of Palestine to predictable tropes is woven throughout a menu loaded with unfamiliar but gripping flavour combinations.

The fun but fantastically professional team wield huge trays laden up with more good things - like langoustine that have been unusually heavily spiced, and taste all the sweeter for the sauce of tomatoes, chilli and caraway they are snuggled into.

We're amongst a certifiably gentrified crowd, but there’s an air of jovialness that only upliftng food can bring. The heaving tables contribute to the whole thing feeling like a fiesta, but so do the continued surprises - cocktails to mix yourself, slow cooked lamb stuffed into fried pastry parcels and a baba as big as your head billowing with softly whipped cream and humming of fenugreek and cardamom.
In contrast to the sparky food and its kaleidoscope of colour is the buff background, a soothing antidote, and a combination that leaves you feeling both restored and reinvigorated - this is a proper place of peace.

Modern Palestinian cuisine is the newest addition to Notting Hill's culinary scene. In the space where Malabar used to be, chef and hotelier Fadi Kattan is delivering an exciting new dining experience in the form of Akub. Kattan's originally began his business in Bethlehem; surrounded by history, his passion for food blossomed from his two grandmothers with his first restaurant opening in 2015. Alongside this, he has pioneered Bethlehem's first food tours where visitors could explore the region's food markets, meet local producers and taste local, fresh street food. Now, he is bringing all of this experience to London to showcase his progressive take on the flavours of his youth. 

It is clear that Fadi takes inspiration from Bethlehem with him promising a menu of, 'hot bright salads of the Gaza coastline and deep stews from the rolling hills of Ramallah.' The Notting Hill site will feature the akub plant (a main feature in Palestinian culinary tradition) as well as the very best of fair trade sourced Palestinian producers, supported by produce from UK farmers that are local to London. 

On the menu you can expect dishes like the freekeh risotto - a creamy risotto with charred green wheat and saffron. There will also be a mousakan mille feuille which features chicken, sumac and onion layered on fresh taboun bread - a traditional craft flat bread usually cooked in a clay oven. At previous pop ups, Kattan has also served delights such as a humble chickpea houmous as well as showcasing classic ingredients and flavours such as za'atar, almonds and cardamom. 

For dessert, diners will be treated to a Dead Sea chocolate cake - a chocolate, sea salt and tahini flavoured cake paired with caramel and a pistachio ice cream.