A no-frills approach to Mediterranean food in Kentish Town.

The Venue
Phoenicia is both a cafe and a family-run Lebanese supermarket, filled with premium imported goodies. On the way to a table, you’ll pass a butcher and giant buckets of olives; the cafe, a few metal tables and chairs facing a large window, shares space with the deli and bakery, and a fridge loaded with exotic soft drinks. There’s absolutely no decor, but with the lively street scene outside, and tempting cakes peering out of their display case, there’s still plenty of eye candy.

The Atmosphere
Phoenicia attracts a diverse crowd - schoolchildren, twenty-something couples, and grandfatherly types can all be found in the cafe at once. As the cafe’s servers also serve shoppers at the bakery and deli counters, they can be slow to take orders from tables, but once they do, expect your food within minutes.

The Food
The menu is mostly sandwiches and wraps, ranging from £2 to £3. Most are filled with Mediterranean combos like halloumi, cucumber and lettuce, or aubergine dip and salad, but there are also standard options like tuna and spring onion. Fillings can be housed in a choice of panini bread, Moroccan wrap, or Lebanese wrap. Falafel, hummus and spinach salad together in a Lebanese wrap tastes jarringly fresh - the thin, pita-style wrap is soft, and the tangy hummus tastes homemade. The warm falafel pieces are springy on the outside but soft within, and fail to turn to the mush that falafel often turns to. A nice alternative to the falafel is a wrap with hummus, salad, and bright red beef sausage. The unusual density of the sausage, combined with its spicy, salty flavour, adds an unexpected jolt to the wrap.

Other options include plates filled with a choice of mezze, and if you like, rice and lentil, couscous, or chicken, for around £4; the chicken is served disappointingly cold, but the mezze (okra, chickpeas and aubergine in tomato sauce, and chilli potatoes) is excellent. The only soup on the menu, Moroccan vegetable, has a clear, meaty-tasting broth made from lentils, and tiny noodles; it’s piping hot and spicy, and warms you to the bone.

The Lebanese baklava is the star of the cakes and pastries available for dessert. On display at the bakery counter, it comes in more varieties and shapes than should be possible, from thick cylinders to wiry nests, filled with nuts of all kinds. Pieces can cost under £1, depending on size.

The Drink
Orange, carrot, and apple juices are squeezed onsite; for around £1.50, they arrive in a tall glass, thick and pleasingly frothy. There are also plenty of options for coffee lovers, including lattes, espressos, cappuccinos, and strong Turkish and Lebanese coffee.

The Last Word
It’s not the Middle Eastern fare you’ll find on Edgware Road, but for a small cafe attached to a supermarket, Phoenicia offers great quality and value. Combining a meal there with a shop for exotic groceries makes for an unmatchable experience.

venue information venue map view london review write a review