Time to go west

Hoxtonites and Willesden Green residents will be familiar with the modern, fresh cooking at Shish and now David Azouri has expanded his popular restaurant chain west with the opening of a Bayswater venue.

The latest venue is a carbon copy of its two predecessors and features the familiar neutral tones, formica tables, open plan kitchen and vibrant market scene murals. It also continues the theme of offering a modern take on original recipes from countries along the Silk Road, the trade route that stretched for 5,000 miles from Ancient China to Rome and the menu therefore features Mediterranean, Asian and Turkish influences.

Starters are selected from either the cold or hot mezze. We opted for the warm filo pastry batons, filled with spinach, feta and walnuts, which was a light, tasty appetiser despite being a tad stingy with the feta cheese. Our second dish of multi-coloured falafels were both pretty to look at but the red version was given the edge over the green by the addition of spicy paprika and cumin seeds.

The starter portion sizes aren't huge but you'll need to save room for the generous main courses, each of which can be served with either rice, couscous, French fries, salad or in a wrap.

We plumped for the wrap; one stuffed full of large chunks of peppers, red onion, rosemary roast potatoes and three squares of slightly overly-chewy Halloumi cheese and a second with tender chicken, well-marinated in Italian olive oil, garlic, thyme and lemon and served with equally generous portions of salad. Each proved to be a little bit dry, and needed the addition of chilli sauce to liven them up, but it was never-the-less tasty, filling and fast food.

After such a carb-overload, you'll need something light and fresh to finish with and a good choice is the refreshing sorbet selection of coconut, mango and the unusual strawberry and basil flavour, opinion on which hovered between "a taste sensation" and "a soup slush puppy". The serving of honey and pistachio ice cream was a satisfyingly safe bet and came with a modern twist on the traditional Turkish baklava — a cylindrical, chewy version of the sweet pastry dish.

With such a rich source of culinary inspiration, a regular rotating seasonal menu and a tempting Saturday and Sunday brunch menu featuring the likes of chicken and apricot sausages, pancakes, green herb omelettes and date and banana smoothies, this latest link of the chain is sure win the Bayswater residents over.