The sheer diversity of London’s dining scene continues to defy expectations, as smaller, tightly-run ventures serving microcosms of global cuisine continue to come online. In the kitchen are usually chefs with impressive credentials, and anxious to leave the comfort of grand, five-star establishments to strike out on their own in less conventional settings.
Case in point is Le Bab, a small, brash, noisy nook on the top floor of the buzzing Kingly Court complex of small eateries, masseurs and yoga boutiques. Designer Angus Buchanan literally didn’t have much room to work with – an entire wall opens out into the central courtyard, while the kitchen and open grill, flanked by concrete and copper-tipped bar counter, takes up another corner chunk.
The square Middle-Eastern wall tiles, if not the restaurant’s name, though, are a dead giveaway to the menu – a series of interpretive takes on the kebab. Manuel Canales Garces and Angus Bell, respectively the sous chef and chef de partie of Le Gavroche, no less, work with organic vegetables, free-range meat and home-made bread and pickles.
The result is imaginative with rarely a dull moment as one small plate after the other emerges from the kitchen – the familiar, reimagined with bright results. Paneer kebabs are accented with beetroot puree, pickled rainbow chard stem and curry mayo. Lincolnshire endives spiced with sumac share the plate with Iranian pomegranate and a shallot dressing, while a kofte features spiced date brown sauce.
Wash it all down with an unexpectedly inventive round of tipples. If the craft beers don’t tempt, perhaps the house cocktail of spiced rum, or the Laphroaig smoky sour laced with mezcal might.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
2nd Floor
Kingly Court
-
A24 just opened a restaurant in New York and it’s as cinematic as you’d expectIn the West Village, Wild Cherry pairs a moody, arthouse sensibility with a supper-style menu devised by the team behind Frenchette
-
Yinka Ilori’s new foundation is dedicated to play and joy: ‘Play gave me freedom to dream’Today, artist and designer Yinka Ilori announced the launch of a non-profit organisation that debuts with a playscape in Nigeria
-
Benjamin Moore's 2026 colour of the year is here — and it's a perfect balance of 'comfortable and chic'Silhouette AF-655, a soft mocha-charcoal hue, draws inspiration from classical suiting and timeless interiors
-
The ancient and the erotic inspire Sessions Art Club’s Frieze London 2025 pop-up‘I think food should hum beneath the skin, like a good painting,’ founder Jonny Gent tells Wallpaper* on the opening of his temporary restaurant-cum-art-installation
-
Somerset restaurant Osip sets the table for a different kind of art showChef Merlin Labron-Johnson’s Michelin-starred restaurant hosts an artist-in-residence exhibition exploring form, materiality and the poetics of place
-
Community and culture coincide at Mount Street Neighbourhood Arts FestivalWith this year’s theme focused on art and books, expect to see various literary moments around the Mayfair address
-
Refreshed China Tang at The Dorchester remains a love letter to 1930s ShanghaiTwenty years since it first opened, the beloved Cantonese restaurant in London has been subtly reinvigorated, pairing Haipai style with cosmopolitan decadence for milestones yet to come
-
A sculptural reimagining of hospitality takes over the Mandarin Oriental MayfairThe Mayfair Design District has curated a tactile exploration of nature and form across the quietly sumptuous London hotel
-
Labombe by Trivet reinvents an unforgettable Cool Britannia hangoutIs London hospitality about to hit peak 1990s revival? The Como Metropolitan has unveiled a new dining room on the site of the former Met Bar
-
Wallpaper* checks in at the wonderfully unfussy Swan Inn, FittleworthAs the night’s draw in, this cosy English inn deep in the Sussex countryside beckons
-
The world’s largest capsule hotel opens in the heart of LondonWith nearly 1,000 capsules across five floors, Zedwell Capsule Hotel Piccadilly Circus promise cocoon-like calm above the city’s loudest square
