Last month whilst on a trip to London for Andrews birthday we were invited to review Ceru a pop up restaurant on Rathbone Place.

Here’s a little info about Ceru:

Ceru is a Levantine Restaurant.

Our ingredients are sourced locally in the UK as well as from across the Levantine region encompassing Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel.

Our Executive Chef, Tom Kime, has created a seasonal menu that reflects the provenance and sustainability of the ingredients as well as the flavours.

We are passionate about sustainability and the environment. We recycle and use ethically sourced ingredients and materials.

I am going to share a whole heap of photos of our meal with you now and then tell you what we ate:

This is what we ate:

Dips including:

Pancar ( roast Beetroot, yoghurt, garlic and pistachio nuts )
Fadi ( Fried baby courgette purée with tahini,roast garlic, yoghurt and lemon )
Spicy Roast Red Pepper ( chilli & walnuts & pomegranate molasses )
Houmous ( topped with chickpeas, green chilli & lemon )

Salad:

Crisp apple, pomegranate and mint salad ( with green chilli, lemon & roasted pine nuts )

Veggie:

Herbed Zucchini & Feta Cheese Fritters ( spiced with cumin & cayenne pepper with dill & mint )

Roasted baby aubergines with tomato & chilli with herbed yoghurt.

Sides:

Spiced Roast Potatoes
Bread Basket

Meat:

Slow Roast Lamb Shoulder with Shawarma spices ( juicy & succulent slow cooked lamb, fresh pomegranate and pistachio dressing )

Chicken Kebab marinated with lemon & paprika ( marinated in ancient aromatic blend, garlic and herb dressing )

Karaz Spice Baked Lamb Meatballs ( with sweet & sour cherry and cranberry sauce and cucumber yoghurt)

Is it budget friendly?

The menu has lots of options all at reasonable prices. Dips are between £4-£5, bread baskets are £1.50 ( we had 2 baskets between 4 adults)

Salads are priced between £4.75 – £6.50.

Veggie dishes between £4.75 – £6.00

Sides of potatoes are £3.50

Meat dishes are between £8 – £9.00 and desserts ( which we couldn’t fit in ) are between £4.50 – £5.50 )

I couldn’t pick a single fault with any dish that we tried.. And as you can see we tried a lot. We eat good food quite often both as part of the blog and at home but this is honestly one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Every dish was aromatic and literally packed with flavour.

Personal favourites for me:

The Slow Roast Lamb Shoulder was absolutely incredible. I could eat it every day of the week. The dips were tasty and moreish and not one of them was even remotely bland. My favourite was the Fadi. Ooh and the halloumi.. Well halloumi it makes me happy. LOVE IT and this was halloumi perfectly done.

Then there were the drinks:

The cocktail menu is amazing.. The pineapple mojito was a favourite with the entire table:

So would I recommend a visit to Ceru? Yes and you need to do it quickly as the pop up ends it’s current stay on Rathbone place at the end of April. They are currently looking for new premises and I’m sure they will succeed as this is one to watch.

They will be at LOTS of festivals from May onwards so look out for them and make sure you try them. You won’t regret it.

Only one slight flaw in the actual restaurant is that it’s a little small – I loved it and it created a great atmosphere but perhaps not suitable for large groups.

Oh and did I mention they also do breakfast? The menu looked great so if you do visit then please let me know what you think.

* Our meal was complimentary for the purpose of an honest review.