Samira

While Le Cedre over the river in Praga has firmly established itself as Warsaw’s premier Lebanese restaurant, Samira has come a long long way since it first started out. Back in the early days it was just a Porta-Cabin hidden at the end of a track along what looked like the local mafia’s favourite dumping ground for bodies. That rickety shack of old has been replaced by a solid stone structure, although you can still wonder how many runners-up in underworld boardroom battles are buried next to the muddy potholed road which leads you there. The best thing that can be said about the décor is that it’s mainly attached to the wall; you really wouldn’t want that stuff to follow you home. Fortunately the precarious uncomfortable old chairs have been replaced: now you can sink into rather nice armchairs as you dine.

One thing which hasn’t changed is the ‘part restaurant, part shop’ nature of the place. Although Warsaw has far more places selling ethnic ingredients than it did a decade ago, the shop here is still an Aladdin’s cave of things which you very simply can not find anywhere else. If you’re craving any foodstuffs from the near or middle east, this is the first and quite possibly only to look. As well as the dried, tinned and package stuff, they’ve got an excellent selection of deli items, enough sweets for biggest sugar addict, and even Lebanese Sprite and Pepsi (yes it does taste different to the Polish stuff).

To open the meal Partner went for grilled Halloumi (18 PLN). That was good quality cheese and nicely grilled but a touch too salty for my tastes. Which just goes to show how little I know about food, Partner enlightened me: good Halloumi is supposed to taste like that because it’s been aged in brine. As further proof of my culinary sophistication, I’d eschewed the classic Lebanese (and Cypriot) starters and chosen the “Samira 3” (16 PLN) because “slightly spicy baked vegetables with tomato, onion, garlic and green beans in cream sauce with cheese” sounded appealing. It wasn’t just appealing, it was absolutely excellent. The creamy sauce was bursting with flavour from the cheese and the fresh vegetables. It wasn’t even slightly spicy, but it was served at a mouth-blisteringly hot temperature. After burning my lips once, I used some of the superb fresh Lebanese-style bread to soak up bits of the sauce while waiting for the dish to cool.

The main courses weren’t quite as good as the starters, but what they slightly lacked in quality they more than made up for with extravagant quantity: both portions were absolutely huge. Partner went for the Falafel with rice and salad (31 PLN) and got such a big helping that about two thirds of it went home with her and was lunch the next day (and half of supper too). The Falafel were excellent, with particularly good chickpeas and just the right amount of cumin. I’d chosen another Middle Eastern classic: Kafta (28 PLN). However, this was the Lebanese style Kafta with chicken and so not exactly what I was expecting. Instead of the traditional meatballs, this was more like a hotpot with slices of fried potato layered between the meat and sauce. Although it was quite tasty, it was also a bit watery and the potato slices was almost saturated

The bill came to a total of 98 PLN, which is a very reasonable amount considering that nothing we had was less than fairly good and that there was enough food left over for one and a half more meals. If you’re after decent quality middle-eastern food at pocket friendly price, Samira is simply impossible to beat. 

 

Samira
Niepodległości 213
022 82 50961
www.samira.pl
Mon to Sat 10  to 21 Sun noon to 18
Cuisine: Middle eastern

Food: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Value: 9/10
Overall: 7.5/10

 

 

 

 

London Steak House

As the contribution made by England to the world of gastronomy is limited at best, the wisdom of opening a restaurant themed round little England is questionable at best. Given that England is not known for good steak, opening an ‘English’ restaurant which specialises in steak is getting on for foolhardy. The best English food is the Great British breakfast: unfortunately the fried breakfast I had at the London Steak House was indescribably appalling. You might well get a better meal by rooting round the rubbish bins outside Macdonalds. But some of the concierges at the better hotels (i.e. people whose job it is to know where in town does good food) have been heard to say that this place serves some of the finest steaks in town.

 As soon as we arrived it was apparent that nothing had changed since our first visit back in the late 1990s. Still the same tired looking décor (to use the word in its loosest possible sense). Still the same London taxi gently rusting outside. Still the same shop window dummy dressed as a British policeman. Still the same airhead staff who make the dummy copper look like a member of MENSA.

 As a starter Partner chose a dish which sums up most of what is wrong with English cuisine: fried camembert with cranberry sauce. Who exactly had the idea of deep frying cheese in the first place and what was going through their head at the time? Anyway, this was one of the less impressive versions you’ll find in Warsaw. Half of the point of fried camembert is getting the thing hot enough to go runny; apparently the chef here was trying to reduce energy consumption because this stuff was barely warm. Pity, because it was quite a nice bit of cheese, properly cooked it would have been worth eating. I went for the onion soup. How such a quintessentially French dish is in any way connected to England was a bit of a mystery but fortunately the chef had made this version English style; in other words it was thin, watery, lacking in flavour and a complete disappointment. Not recommended.

 By now expectations had fallen to such an extent that we were seriously considering doing a runner before the mains arrived. Lucky for me that we didn’t: the London fillet steak (unsurprisingly the specialty of the house) was amazing. An excellent cut of meat which had been cooked exactly the way I ordered it, stuffed with tasty cheese and then shoved in the oven until it reached the perfect temperature and the cheese had melted. This was certain not the best steak I have ever had but it certainly was the most surprising. In fact, that such an ugly venue which serves food as bad as our starters can cook such a good steak goes way past ‘surprise’ and very much into the realm of ‘shock’. Unfortunately Partner’s main was almost as bad as mine was good. After a protracted whine about the lack of piscetarian choices (who would have thought that a steakhouse doesn’t cater well to people that don’t eat meat!), a portion of fish and chips had been ordered and the vast majority of it went back to the kitchen untouched. This fish was dry and almost entirely without flavour, instead emitting mainly an unpleasant aroma. The fries it came with were scarcely better and certain wouldn’t have passed muster at any English fish and chip shop, no matter how down-market it was.

 My grandfather used to say that when the name of a restaurant features the name of a particular food, one should order only that food. If you follow his advice at the London Steak House, you’ll have a good meal. If you don’t, you’ll waste your money.

 

London Steak House
Krucza 51
022 827 0020
www.londonsteakhouse.pl
Daily 11.00 – midnight
Cuisine: steak

Food: 6.5/10
Service: 5/10
Atmosphere: 4/10
Value: 5/10
Overall: 5.5/10

About

I’ve been living in and writing about Warsaw for the best part of 15 years. Hopefully this site will be a source of impartial reviews of restaurants in this city. No adverts, no free meals, nothing like that; just honest opinions about where to eat and/or drink in this cracking city of ours.