Match of the week

Mezze and a Palestinian white wine

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on August 14 2023 at 11:14

Finding a Palestinian restaurant in London is unusual enough but discovering a Palestinian wine to go with the food is beyond all expectations

However at Akub in Notting Hill which bills itself as a modern Palestinian restaurant they have both.

The wine I particularly liked was called Nadim and comes from the Tabeh winery. It’s made from the local Zeini grape and is deliciously dry, nutty and slightly herby - the perfect counterpoint to the selection of dishes we ordered.

They included some labneh balls rolled in sumac, zaatar, turmeric and Aleppo pepper, a watermelon, black olive and mint salad, a chopped tomato salad with chillies and Mafghoussa, a dish of courgettes with smashed courgettes, garlic yogurt, pine nuts and mint. Oh, and an amazing collection of breads but they didn’t really need matching.

I imagine unless you go there you won't come across a Palestinian white but there are some quite similar Lebanese whites or try a Greek Malagousia.

I ate at Akub as a guest of the restaurant.

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