The Lebanese Bakery at Harrods

The Lebanese Bakery is yet another addition to Harrods’ restaurant offering, which in recent years has welcomed star chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Tom Kerridge into its fold.

The Lebanese Bakery is a far more casual proposition than Kerridge’s £35 fish and chips found in the Dining Hall, although prices can still add up here, with mains hovering around the £15 mark. The Bakery is located next door to one of the store’s event suites (luxury fashion house Dior was hosting a party on our visit) and is a casual space featuring a smattering of tables, an open kitchen and a shelf stocked with jars of produce which is suspended above the pass.

The menu at The Lebanese Bakery is a relatively short offering which focuses heavily on one thing - bread. To be more specific, manousheh: a paper thin flat bread that is soft in the middle and crisp around the edges. Before you get to that though, there are a selection of hot and cold appetisers to choose from, (also served alongside bread) - think creamy hummus with hints of lemon juice or earthy baba ghanoush in a vibrant purple hue.

For the manousheh, there are a variety of toppings to choose from: on our visit, we opted for hunks of salty, umami-rich halloumi paired with peppery basil, and a baked egg variety, which was similar to a pizza in look and taste, complete with delicately plaited crusts.

To finish up, the Nutella manousheh is an obvious choice, featuring warm dough concealing an oozing volcano of chocolate spread. Hardly an authentic dish, but a proposition far too indulgent to ignore.

Geared towards the daytime crowd (and Harrod’s largely Middle Eastern clientele), The Lebanese Bakery does not serve alcohol, but the likes of rose tea lattes and homemade lemonades make for worthy substitutes. Staff are very sweet too.

Found on the fourth floor of department store doyenne Harrods is the second London branch of Lebanese Bakery (the first London outpost is in Covent Garden, while the original site can be found in Beirut).

Dreamt up by Beirut-born brothers Beirut Samer and Bassam Chamoun, Lebanese Bakery specialises in manousheh - an extremely thin flat bread which is cooked to be soft in the middle and crisp around the edges, then crowned with a variety of sweet or savoury toppings. Open from 11am, Lebanese Bakery at Harrods can sort out ravenous shoppers at both lunch and dinnertime, with the manousheh being the star of the show, supported only by a chorus of hot and cold appetisers and a succinct pudding selection.

Begin with typical Middle Eastern starting snacks, such as baba ganoush, hummus and labneh, or opt for hot starters such as chicken musakhan (pulled spiced chicken, onion and sumac wrapped in markouk flatbread) or Meat Kebbeh - a croquette filled with spiced minced beef, bulgur and sautéed onions.

The manousheh itself is made with whole wheat dough, while toppings are sourced from Lebanese farmers. You can indulge with the likes of spiced beef and minced lamb topped with cooling tahini yoghurt or you can go down the healthy route via a cauliflower and aubergine topping completed by cherry tomatoes and pumpkin seeds. There are even a few dishes which are exclusively to the Harrods location, including spice rotisserie chicken, beef shawarma and a combination of bottarga and courgette.

Sweet-toothed diners meanwhile can satisfy any cravings by option for sugary toppings instead - think Nutella with chopped up hazelnuts or seasonal berries accompanied by mint and pistachios. To wash it all down, you can enjoy the expected range of teas, coffees and fresh juices, but we are drawn to the Lebanese specials, such as housemade lemonade and rose tea latte.