Saharaween

Saharaween means 'people of the Sahara', and there's a certain romance about this cosy, quasi-opulent Moroccan restaurant and tea rooms in between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. Don't expect stiff wooden seats, rather loads of chunky floor cushions, low tables and colourful rugs, just as you'd find in a typical Morrocan home. If you're taken by anything, you can probably buy it - almost everything you see and touch in here is for sale. The popular North African food is courtesy of an ex-Momo chef who specialises in tagines, particularly the mhamar - an earthy-looking dish of lamb marinated in maghribi spices, served with glazed apple, plums and almond flakes in a pottery bowl with which the meal shares its name. It's impossible not to feel comfortable and relaxed at Saharween's - not something you can always say for a tourist-central restaurant. Enjoy.