Recently I was recommended to try an Italian-Turkish fusion restaurant la zeza in Harrow by my landlady; I had walked past the place a few times and upon side-glancing in, to me, it was always virtually empty but this was during the daytime. I did not see what it was like at night. It may have been packed to the rafters then for all I knew.
The massive glass window at the front of the restaurant: one wonders how the glass makers floated such a large-scale piece of glass, cooled it and shipped it all in one gigantic, delicate form without scratching, without smashing? How they fitted it in, and the block/brick work must help pack it in and the foundations must be as steady as granite. It really is something. And one can sit and look out upon the full street experience as people go past and some stop, eyeing up the menu, and some glint a nose in and enter.
la zeza’s interior is Mediterranean in style: a cool, clean tiled floor, open plan kitchen which is attached to the bar and has an overall light, airy and refreshing feeling. The tables and chairs are of a beechy-woody variety and are solid and reliable.
I walked in and the young waitress bid me to sit anywhere I wanted so on seeing the big window, ever the wannabe auteur, I choose there. She brought the menu silently; by which I mean, this young lady tread on soft-air and was, is, so well-mannered that an easy smile, seemingly, is always perched on her lips. Nice girl. Dressed in the uniformly waitress trendy black, her hair tied back.
I looked around: the place had two tables sitting, five people in all, dining, it was three pm. The service was exceptional. She brought my fizzing water with a few slices of lemon and lime tucked under the ice which choked the tall glass and was refreshing to drink. Two young chefs talked mildly down the back awaiting the order(s).
I ordered a sirloin steak with accompanying veg, and it came soon thereafter: a large chargrilled chilli, fresh veg and decent chips. I did not desire a sauce. I shook some salt on the steak which was also chargrilled and cut wedges off with the serrated knife and placed them in my mouth and it was delicious, weighty, flavourful and delightful. I am a meat-eater and I like my protein and fibrous red-to-cooked meat. I had my steak well-done. I know, very Palaeolithic Man.
I sat like this for some twenty minutes eating in this continuous manner and cleared the plate. And felt satisfied of a good meal well cooked.
I went up to pay.
The young waitress took the money and then ducked under the bar’s counter to an open cupboard and appeared with a squat cube of icing sugar sprinkled Turkish Delight on a wooden pick. She proffered it to me Willy Wonka-style and if I had an umbrella and a colourful frock coat and a shower of flowers bursting from my lapel, I just may have jumped up in the air and slapped my boots together to illustrate my glee. The Turkish Delight was not overly sickly sweet or cloying, it briefly slept gently on my palate like a pillow of sweet Down before it dissolved and disappeared.
la zeza is a bit like one of those people, who are very attractive to look at but they don’t really comprehend it. It is a good clean restaurant with good quality food, and quick, efficient, friendly service. I am sure I will be back again.
I’d rate it eight out of ten.
Neil. North London. August 2016
mindmuesli 