It won't change your life but...

Once upon a time, back in the summer of 1984, someone went to Turkey and brought me back a bottle of raki. As an enthusiastic undergraduate who saw recreational possibilities in all manner of substances, I was very excited about this drink. That the evening spent on the stuff still reaches out to me over the years is a powerful testament to the Ottoman skill with powerful, if slightly unrefined, intoxicants.

This all came back to me with Proustian vigour when I attended Raks, the latest new restaurant on Heddon Street.

If Mourad Mazouz accomplishes nothing else, his footnote in the gastronomic history of London is assured as the man who made Heddon Street the kind of gastro-microclimate into which Raks fits rather well.

Raks is a post-minimalist, taupe take on the Eastern Mediterranean restaurants that are particularly popular along the Edgware Road. I love this sort of food - its staples such as grilled cheese are as comforting to me as shepherd's pie is to others. There are main dishes and some of them, like the chicken kofte, are worth ordering, but for me the real joy lies in ordering a sprawl of meze dishes: b?rek, bakla, dolma and, of course, the delicious, slightly rubbery slices of grilled cheese.

Other highlights on the menu are lahmacun, which is an ancient Middle Eastern version of pizza - and iskender, diced croutons layered with lamb or chicken, tomato sauce and yoghurt, baked in the oven.

The informality of the kind of eating that opens onto the pavement lends itself to Heddon Street. I took an Italian shirtmaker and his entourage for a light lunch and while his limousine purred contentedly outside, he seemed to relax and found himself comparing his surroundings favourably to Rome.

After the remains of our lunch had been removed, we asked for coffee and received an unsolicited but welcome plate of those intensely sticky, cloying pastries that are an inalienable component to any meal from this part of the world.

Raks is not life-changingly good, but then, at around £15 a head, that might be asking a bit too much. However, it is a nice, friendly place.

Raks
Heddon Street, W1