Reviews Le Bab

Will you refuse to enter a dingy and poorly lit eatery?  Or instead will you insist that it looks like you can eat off the floor?  (I won’t make you prove that.)  Instead, perhaps, do you think that a little bit of dirt adds to the flavour?  Alternatively, are you afraid of catching something, especially when the toilets are somewhere you enter whilst holding your breath?

“Lively Location, Great Buzz, Great Service”

Date of Visit: 19.02.18
Time: 6.10pm

Review: I knew the restaurant will be small being in the upper floors of Kingly court but surprisingly there was enough space and not hitting or fighting for space with the person next to you so the space planning seems to work well. I heard a lot of good things about Le Bab and they are about to open another much larger resturant on a few floors with a fine dining area and different menu so I am looking forward to going when its up and running. It is nice also to see someone try something different and modernise such a classic cuisine. You will not be disappointed. A great drinks selection that you would never usually get at a middle eastern resturant so am sure a welcome addition. Service was excellent with one of the owners really showing his passion and energy and you can tell he cares as I could see him attending to every table even though he had serving staff and giving his recommendations. The food is served in good time and not a huge menu but it is just right, there are vegetarian options although limited. Starter portions are small but just right for a starter and mains i think could be larger to give more value for money. Something that may also help is to have some sauces added to each dish to compliment it and a wider vegetarian selection may also really help. Service is great and very friendly. Great feeling and good design also helps. Going in a group between 2-8 would be best here given the space. I liked the food and the slight twist in the dishes and flavour so I would be looking to visit again. 

Dress Code: Casual

Booking Process: Booking via the web was straight forward and reminders sent via email as you would expect. Worked well. 

Location: Top Floor, Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, London W1B 5PW

Cuisine Type: Middle Eastern & Asian

Parking: This is Soho so best to use London Transport. 

Decor & Lighting: The resturant has a nice feel with country panelling and high ceilings giving a sense of space where the actual space is limited but you never feel trapped. Lighting was good, not too dim and not too bright. It however had no connection with Middle East design or architecture. I don’t think thats necessary a bad thing as the food is also not traditional so decor reflects this is a fusion and modern take on the cuisine. 

Heating and Cooling: Good temperature, it was cold out and inside just the perfect temperature. Maybe i need to take a thermometer in the future so i can be more accurate for you all in my future reviews. Let me know if you would like to know the actual temperature in future reviews?

Ambience & Acoustics: From the reading you will see below the noise levels where good to give some ambience but you could easily talk and hear your groups conversation without the need to raise your voices and the resturant was 3/4 full. 

DB Level: Average reading of 77.9db 

Drinks: HH The AD, I don’t drink so i cannot comment on the drink but there is a wide range of cocktails on offer here and a happy hour. 

Food: 

Le Bab Hummus (With levantine nuts dressing / with pork shawarma) - A nice humous with a peanut topping which made it a little more interesting. Served with a flat bread which was a little salted but i liked the smoky taste of the flat bread personally. 

Grilled Cod Cheeks (Charcoal grilled cod cheeks, lemon hummus, wild garlic, szechuan pepper and dukka) - I did not try these but my guests did not like the dish as they felt it was a little chewy and had peanuts on it which did not seem to work with the cod. 

Grilled Onglet Steak - Cooked Medium Well, where i normally have this well done I compromised with the recommendation and glad I did. This was the special of the day and the meat was cooked perfectly and tasted great, there is a little tanginess from the pickled sliced onions. I would say for the £17.00 i would have expected more in terms of portion size. There was also not enough sauce and this item could be improved by having two sauces served with the dish on the side. But i still really enjoyed the dish and i would order again and hopefully it will have the separate sauces and larger portion to justify the price. 

Paneer Kebab (BBQ paneer, beetroot puree, crispy onion, pickled celery, curry mayo) - I did not eat this but my guests really enjoyed it with 10 out of 10 from one and 7 out of 10 from the other. There was sauce with the paneer but maybe having some complimenting sauce on the side may have lifted this dish a little.

Desert: Sticky Toffee Pudding (With double cream) - A good size portion and should not really say this but you could easily share one between two. Served on a warm skillet and with sauce already within, you should definitely have this dessert as it was warm and fluffy and full of flavour. Sweet but so good. 

Bill / Cost: £70.00 for three

Conclusion: Location and Service is second to none. Resturant maybe small but well laid out and you feel homely and comfortable. Food was good and not too heavy with a great drinks selection on offer. Worth a visit and a nice twist on the usual kebab.

Le Bab brings you Kebabs from around the world in one place. Shawarma, Doner Kebabs and Rolls. All sounds like a dream come true. Located in Kingley Court, off Carnaby Street, Le Bab on the third floor opens its doors to all. A small venue, which requires you to get there early or book in advance, Le Bab classes itself as a gourmet kebab house, where they make all their food from scratch.

A few months ago, I received an email which mentioned that a “posh kebab” joint was opening in Kingly Court. I made a mental note. With the next few weekends being considerably busy, hubster and I decided it would make sense to make some time for us so organised date night. This is something we did religiously when we were dating but since getting married, it’s been put on a back burner.

London is having quite a period of poshification- apparently you can pretty up everything and anything and whack a hefty pricetag on it. That is not to say everything hit by this trend is bad. Because not all things hipster (or plain hip) is bad. Case in point- the kebab at Le Bab, a posh kebab place is WONDERFUL. I am talking about seriously orgasmic, huge-sparkly-eye wonder.  As in ‘a world of endless wonder’- well, a kebab of endless wonder anyways.

I had the great chance of visiting this restaurant on Monday evening. Le Bab hasn’t been open long yet its taken London by storm.. Even in dull January when we are all broke and supposed to be on diets! It was blue Monday when I went.. And this totally cheered me up!. But I can see why resolutions are broken for Le Bab- if you’re going to spoil your diet, do it properly… Do it at Le Bab!

Posh kebab - good to addition to kingly court, many nice options here and worth the ascent to the top floor to pick out his one. Only a few babs on offer but all equally tasty, unfortunately had run out of the famed meatlafel but that just proves its popularity, another one that doesn't take bookings but at least they take your name, letting you grab a drink at one of the less salubrious boozers in the area in preparation for the kebab dinner.

Went for lunch with a friend, just amazing food. The naan, olives, and particularly the kebab was phenomenal. Cooked on what looks like charcoal the chicken and lamb had such a great flavor. On top of that the server (I didn’t catch his name - receipt said Ferris I believe) was amazing. Seriously after living in London 3 years this was the best service I have recieved. Living nearby I will definitely return, great experience.

amazing food with the entire menu being halal, first time coming here and the staff were extremely friendly with big smiles on their faces and made us laugh. They acknowledged our dietary requirements and genuinely cared about this as they asked multiple times about them and reassured us with any concerns. Will highly recommend them and would definitely come back❤️

Vibey place that seems to be a nice spot to go to for the hip kids (very trendy place to be). I enjoyed it, and the staff were great. The food was actually pretty good, but the lamb shish kebab was tasting a little too unmeaty for my liking. It just tasted a little different to me than regular meat; it may have been minced up multiple times to become this smooth. Nonetheless, the sweet potato fries are a love in my books, and so was the lamb bread and sauce. Overall, id say a good find and would come here again!

It was a fine visit. The location and decor is lovely. The garlic naan was probably the best thing we had. The staff was pleasant and helped us get a table despite not having reservations. The cocktails made were disappointing given the cost. Tasted more sweet than anything else. We arrived at 9pm and were seated at 930pm - so maybe our late arrival was the cause of the lower standard of cocktail. We did feel like we were shouting over the music at each other. It was amplified by a table of 6 having a loud after-work discussion (to no fault of the restaurant of course).

Some positives and some negatives. We had initially booked a different location, but they had to move us to the Soho one dur to some event. In Soho, they put the 4 of us at the bar, even though we had booked a regular table. To make up for that, they gave us a round of cocktails on the house, which was nice of them. The food was good but not mind blowing. I have nothing to complain about it, I really enjoyed it. We shared a broccoli, hummus and pita mix for starters, then we got chicken sish kebab and double cooked fries for the mains. However, we were told we have to leave after only 1.5 hours, even though we were 4 people. We had just enough time to finish starters + main, no time for dessert. They brought the bill and the card reader at the same time, so we didn’t have time to look at the bill before paying. On the card reader, there was an option to tip. Only after paying with tip we sae that 12.5% service charge had already been added to the bill. Not nice.