It’s rare to find authentic Syrian food in the UK, yet that’s exactly what you get at Ugarit. Named after the ancient port city, this relaxed eatery and takeaway serves up everything from soup and salads to grilled dishes and hot mezze. While its exterior might not be the most glamorous, inside you’ll find a cosy space with extremely accommodating staff to welcome you. Much more interesting and flavourful than your run-of-the-mill greasy kebab spots, this is a great place to go for some top-tier shawarma. There is also shisha for those who partake.
Alcohol isn’t served here, but you will find a good range of soft drinks and alcohol-free beer. For the full experience, try the laban ayran, a yoghurt-based drink and the perfect accompaniment to the food. Start off with a spicy haira soup, or fattoush salad for something cold. There’s also a great selection of cold mezze such as hummus, moutabal, baba ghanoush, warak inab and moussaka.
Moving to the more substantial dishes, you’ll find plenty of hot mezze classics like falafel, foul mudammas, grilled halloumi, kibbeh and arayes (both lamb). The delights that arrive hot off the grill, meanwhile, aren’t to be missed. Try the house farruj, a whole boneless baby chicken, marinated in spices then grilled, or the various shish and kofta options. For those feeling indecisive, the mixed grill is a great option, featuring five skewers (taouk, lahma mashwi, lamb kofta, chicken kofta and jawaneh). You can also have your kofta in burger form if you so wish, along with Syrian spices and cheese. Elsewhere, there are shawarma wraps, pitta, rice and all the sides you might expect. For a true feast, you can even order a whole Jordanian mansaf lamb. This needs to be ordered 24 hours in advance, as one might expect. Children’s options are also available, as well as hot drinks like tea and coffee and desserts such as baklava.