Let me make a confession at the outset: I’ve never liked Queen’s Park. The northwest London district a step beyond Maida Vale just doesn’t do it for me. I think it’s a combination of the smugness of the people (there are a lot of yummy mummy types there as well as wannabe hipsters who aren’t quite daring enough to move east) plus the down-at-heel train station. Streets of dreary semi-suburban terraced housing come next. And there aren’t any good restaurants. Or at least that’s what your reviewer thought before visiting Carmel.
Backed by the same team as Berber & Q, Carmel injects a but of much-needed genuine cool into the area. Its Lonsdale Road location (less than five minutes’ walk from the grim station) feels like you’ve stepped into a different place. Carmel sits in a semi-pedestrianised mews, one of several eating and drinking venues dotted along it. Presumably in prior days the outlets performed some form of industrial function, since Carmel has used a judicious amount of greenery to cover artfully much of the legacy steel piping in the main dining room. Diners arriving at Carmel, however, are unlikely to notice these design tweaks at first glance and think more about just how buzzing the venue is. On the recent weekday when your reviewer visited, Carmel was only allowing walk-ins for counter-top dining. Similar to many other venues, it can be an experience in itself just watching the chefs at work, especially when flame grilling. There are, of course, multiple tables inside and out too.
Carmel is open all day and places an emphasis on cool informality. As one might expect from Berber & Q, the angle is all about East Mediterranean food. Such a broad culinary bracket allows talented chefs a relatively blank canvas on which to paint. The metaphor is deliberate since much of the approach at Carmel is based around combination and presentation. There is an artistry attached to pairing the main event (be it meat, fish or vegetable) with relevant sauces, spices and accompaniments. Making it look good is another challenge. In this respect, Carmel was more than up to the task. Take the pictured cured sardine starter. The humble fish is elevated with crème fraiche and green chilli, finished artfully with pickled turnip and coriander. By way of a second example, consider how different a summer mixed leaf salad might taste were it to sit in an anchovy paste dressing and finished with manouri (a Levantine sheep’s cheese). There are bigger dishes too, such a punchy spice-grilled merguez sausage – to be recommended – a lamb shank shawarma, lime chicken or whole sea bream. The menu does apparently change with some regularity, but these items give a good impression of what to expect.
What’s not to like? Well, no review would be complete without some quibbles. Pricing, to start, is up there with central London levels. £11 for a bowl of salad, or £13 for burrata? Hardly a value option. Lots of small dishes can easily result in a large bill. Next, there is a strong emphasis on natural wines. Yes, they’re on trend, but not everyone wants a cloudy glass. And, finally, guests have to endure the walk back through Queen’s Park.