Food Miles

Abu Zaad is certainly a lively place and when I arrived at this Syrian restaurant, still reeling from walking towards the setting sun along Uxbridge Road, it was already filling up with large groups and families, and the odd table at which young couples were talking earnestly over their tabbouleh. There was a bit of shouting between waiters about which table I'd reserved, and it turned out that I could choose to sit at any of the remaining ones. There's a brightly lit long room hung with pictures of Damascus, and another room decorated with intricately painted and carved wooden panels. I sat in there with a good view of the TV, which was catching the eye of many of the waiters and diners. All around me concerned faces watched on as a Middle Eastern news channel played archive footage of a smiling Bin Laden. There was also more recent footage of burning cars and blood stains on the concrete floor of a destroyed compound. It was certainly atmospheric.

My friends Humph and Carrie only live minutes away and so were, of course, late. Humph and I became over-excited about the menu and started to order furiously. Helpfully Carrie intervened and made us retract some orders before we were allowed to choose mains. We had hummus, arayes (stuffed pittas), fatayers (pastries stuffed with spinach) and halloumi, which all arrived astonishingly quickly. We also ordered a jug of ayran (a salty yoghurt drink). Our next dishes came before we finished our starters. I had a splendid lamb tagine, its tender meat on the bone. Carrie pointed at her mixed grill and kept saying, 'Good meat, very good meat.' Humph went at his baby chicken like a man just out of jail. He then steered the conversation to sea shanties. He'd given us his top five and a quick blast of 'When the Boat Comes In' before I was able to return the conversation back to 'actors everybody hates' and we could relax again.

We finished up with a plate of baklava and delicious teas and coffees. My ability to keep a running tally is never great, but I was staggered when the bill came to £50. That was astonishingly good value. It more than made up for my shock when news on the TV was suddenly turned up and the sound of sirens and mortar fire quickly filled the room.