Kenza, Devonshire Square

Last Friday some friends and I went for dinner at Kenza. The restaurant is in Devonshire Square, a short walk away from Liverpool Street Station. There is a large average looking door, which opens up into an Aladdin's cave. Inside there is a water feature and fresh flowers cascading down the winding staircase. At the bottom there is a huge lounge area and bar for pre or post dinner drinks. After having our coats whisked away we settled into the comfy sofa's and ordered a bottle of wine. The whole restaurant / bar feels and smells as if you are in Dubai, it definitely gave me a holiday feeling.

After our drinks we were shown to our booth like table in the main restaurant. I would definitely say visit in groups as the place is vast and it can get quite loud. As we were a party of six we had, had to pre order our food in advance (we also had to give a credit card against the booking, which would have been charged per person for any last minute cancellations). This is not an a la carte restaurant, the group had to order from a variety of set menu's.

All menu's begin with mezze of dips and delicious warm pitta bread. You can ask for more pitta bread too if you need it. Then there are few little appetisers such as deep fried lamb parcels and pastry filled with chicken and caramelized onions. The dips were pretty tasty and the bread was perfect, however, the appetisers were a little average, nothing wrong with them but nothing you would run home and shout about.

After the starters the lights dimmed and the music blared and we were treated to belly dancing from six ladies that danced around the restaurant for around fifteen minutes. They did their best to grab any female diners to dance too but most (myself included) were way too shy and sober to give it a go! It was good entertainment though and was definitely something different during dinner.

Unfortunately the pause between the starters and mains made us realise quite how full we were from the dips and pitta's so we didn't manage to finish any of the main courses. The mains ranged depending on what menu you had chosen. Four of us had menu three, which came with a variety of lamb dishes, rice and salad. The other two had menu four, which consisted of salmon, sea bass and tiger prawns again with rice and salad. The mains were OK, there was nothing to dislike but nothing to rave about, again a little average.

Desserts came in an impressive tower and were a variety of Arabic sweets, baklawa and Turkish delight as well as a fruit platter. Everything was quite tasty and was accompanied with a sweet mint tea.

The total bill for the evening was £57 per head including service. We had, had two bottles of house white wine and eight beers. The meal wasn't bad value for money bearing in mind how gorgeous the restaurant was and how good the service was and being London, however, the food was a little lack lustre and could really be improved.

I am really pleased I have visited Kenza, I have wanted to go for a while. I would recommend the experience and it will certainly impress a group of friends but I don't think I would rush back for the food.