Comptoir Libanais

Inexpensive, very tasty and quick, staff very friendly and helpful too which is always a bonus.

We came bright and early on a Sunday morning to try the breakfast. I had the vegetarian breakfast which was a really nice change from normal breakfasts. It included halloumi cheese, fool moudamas (a bean and tomato dish), mushroom, egg, Lebanese potatoes and flat bread. It was delicious and filling. My partner had the full breakfast which was the same with Spicy Armenian sausage instead of halloumi which my partner said was yummy.
Lovely service too.

So, after running around Bluewater trying to find ribbon with 10 minutes to go, I needed some food. This place had just opened so we thought ‘Hey, why not give it a go’.
At 9pm, the place was empty. I mean, empty. Like one other couple there. I don’t like eating in a rush so I asked what time they shut and all they said was ‘You’ve got plenty of time.’ Not very reassuring when you’re planning on ordering three courses.
We were seated right next to the counter, which wasn’t especially good considering we had about 50 tables to choose from and no choice, but whatever. I asked again what time they shut before I ordered and they said again that we had ‘plenty of time’. Right.
We ordered a mezze platter for one to share because it was huge. I can’t imagine what the platter for two is like. If you’re sharing between two and planning on eating more than one course, get the platter for one. At £7.95, it was… okay. It had a LOT of pickled salad on it and only half a cherry tomato mixed in, which seemed a bit off. It all tasted good but we had no real indication of what we were eating and had to look it up afterwards. But, you know, fine in the spirit of trying something new.
Moving on to the mains, we both ordered the mixed grill, which had a RIDICULOUS amount of meat on. Six kebabs; lamb kofte, chicken kofte and a chicken shish, all with some wild rice and two types of dip, a slightly spicy yogurt one and a lurid orange one with a bit of kick to it. It was all nice. But that’s about all I can really say for it to be honest. Both of us didn’t finish, despite it being a small plate with much less than we’d normally eat on it. I’m not sure why, maybe tastebud boredom.
By this point, the kitchen staff had removed all the food from the counter and were wiping down the sides. We were the last people in there and I’ve never felt such pressure to leave. To their credit, they said we could stay as long as we wanted but after working in retail, I know that when you’ve got someone loitering at closing time, all you want to do is shout GET OUT I WANT TO GO HOMMMEEE. So we decided to leave.
There are three things that make this place excellent. First, the take-​away option. If you want a dessert or more drink etc but are too full to eat it (or feel under pressure to go), they’ll bag it up and let you take it home at a cheaper rate than if you’d paid to eat in.
Second, the shop. They sell all sorts of middle eastern delights, like boxes of traditional turkish delight, orange blossom syrup and tagine spices. It’s all pretty reasonably priced and tastes amazing.
Third, the service. The waitresses are brilliant. They’re not in your face, but hover around ready to deal with any request you have and one of them offered to give me the recipe for the pomegranate and orange blossom lemonade after I drank four glasses of it. Now that’s service.
I’m going to put down a lot of the bad stuff to it being 9pm at night, though I don’t think this is much of an excuse when you’ve got La Tasca opposite roaring away. But the food was nice so I might go again for lunch. Might.