Hands-on food at Miznon

ON a chilly night in Soho, it’s hard to imagine yourself grazing on street foods in Tel Aviv. Yet the staff at Miznon try their best to evoke that atmosphere: cranking up the music and dashing between tables.

“FORKS AND KNIVES ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS,” reads one slogan scrawled on the bare walls. “USE YOUR HANDS NOT YOUR MANNERS.”

This buzzing restaurant in Broadwick Street is from an influential Israeli chef called Eyal Shani. He’s a big deal back home and runs restaurants around the world, including another Miznon in Notting Hill.

His food is fun and messy. Our table, draped with a paper tablecloth, is decorated with a single raw tomato to rip apart with your bare hands.

The counter, overlooking the kitchen, is lined with raw baby cauliflowers, waiting to be baked whole or ripped open to expose their “inner parts”.

For a reserved British audience, some elements of the Miznon schtick might prove surprising. A portion of green beans, for example, is dumped unceremoniously onto your table.

The food menu is split into two categories: In-A-Pita and Out-Of-The-Pita.

Chef Shani is a master of the pita bread and has developed a whole philosophy around its virtues. The inside, for example, acts like a sponge and absorbs humidity – so any ingredients must be stacked in such a way as to trap the steam.

The first bite is also different to the last, as the juices merge and mingle at the bottom of the pita pouch.

Furthermore, the pita offers an opportunity to capture and express a whole food culture.

For his Paris outpost, Shani developed a bœuf bourguignon pita. Here in London, a riff on fish and chips.

We shared a deeply delicious lamb kebab, perked up with fat pickles, red onion, tomato, tahini and a spicy coriander sauce.

People rave about the smashed baked potato – served flat, as if run over by a truck.

There’s a roasted beetroot carpaccio with horseradish, freekeh grains tossed in herbs and a “Bag of Golden Meat”.

We loved a plate of chicken livers, thighs and hearts served with more tahini, spicy green peppers and a secret amber sauce.

Their trademark hummus is served in a bowl with boiled chickpeas nestled on top, surrounded by a slick of olive oil and finished with a fiery green pepper dressing.

I wasn’t quite as smitten by the drinks. You can mix and match various spirits, such as a sage vodka with lemon, lemon thyme and grapefruit – but these long cocktails lacked punch.

There are two choices of red or white wine. We chose an Israeli white, £39 a bottle, which we found slightly cloying.

Prices can add up. The pitas cost £10-13; the bowl of hummus is £12.

Miznon is not expensive, by any means, compared to most. But there is an inescapable tension here between the street food ethos and the brutal financial realities of restaurants in London.

We had a jolly night out, with much licking of fingers. “It’s quite naughty food,” said our waitress, as we slung on coats to leave.

Miznon
8-12 Broadwick Street, W1F
@MiznonLondon
www.miznon.co.uk