Arabica Bar and Kitchen, 31st July

Honey & Co – done. Palomar – done. Arabica also had to be done. So I made a reservation for one Friday night to cross it off the list.

It wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Knowing it was borne out of a food truck I expected a more intimate setting but this is definitely a fully fledged restaurant. Though our slightly clumsy waitress gave it the less polished feel I had anticipated!

Choosing what to eat was a task as pretty much everything made my mouth water. But they had a few interesting-sounding dishes that particularly stood out. To start we had a couple of dips and bread. We ordered the whipped feta with Turkish chillies, toasted pumpkin seens and mit, and the hummus with lamb which also came with pine nuts, hook and son ghee.

The whipped feta was as light as a cloud. I now believe all feta should be flaggelated in such a way to be scooped up and spread on bread. There was far too much of both dips for the bread we were given but we kept them on the table and used them to accompany our mains so that we made sure to eat up every last drop.

For mains, we had chicken and pistachio shish, which we were warned literally came as is, so also had some Turkish style tomato bulgar wheat pilaf to go with it, and we also got some crispy lamb belly, some chicken wings and a fattoush salad. 

The pilaf was the best rice style dish I have eaten and that is not something I would normally get excited about. The salad was as unhealthy as a salad can get, with great slabs of fried crouton in it. I don't normally feel overwhelmed by salad but this was a lot to handle.

The lamb belly is a dish you shouldn't bother trying to share - deliciously crispy and well spiced with the fat all flavoursome and moreish. 

Chicken wings, while I remember enjoying them, were rather in the shadow of the lamb and I'd probably go for something else instead another time. 

Likewise, the chicken shish was a tasty version - coming with cardamom, honey and green chilli, but could have been a bit spicier, and well, another shish for your dollar (they were £10) wouldn't have gone amiss!

I blame the salad for filling me up too much to try dessert, although there was nothing which shouted out to me to try it despite my fullness. I certainly enjoyed my meal here and would happily return though out of the three places mentioned at the start, it was probably the one I least fell in love with.