You can’t go wrong with most of the food joints in Borough Market, so it’s good to see classy Levant restaurant Arabica opening a sister site north of the river.
It’s housed within a ground floor corner of the newish Aga Khan Centre building, designed by renowned winning architect Fumihiko Maki.
The 66-cover interior features an open kitchen and bar with counter dining, a large communal table and cosy leather banquettes, while the terrace faces the Persian-inspired Jellicoe Gardens, by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith.
This branch offers a new menu, complemented by a handful of the best-loved dishes from Borough, with plates drawing inspo everywhere from Jordan and the mountainous villages of Lebanon to cities like Istanbul, Beirut, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. So far, so yum.
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Dishes to look out for? A supercharged hummus with diced sweet peppers, red chilli, garlic, parsley and roasted spicy chickpeas; Istanbul-style mussels with walnut tarator; beef cheek borekas (puff pastry parcels) slow-braised in red wine; and raw vegetables with orange blossom vinaigrette, crumbled Cretan barley rusks, barrel-aged feta and roasted pistachios.
In short? This is definitely one to warm the cockles as the year inexorably slides into winter.
