James Street for Massis
It is 18 months since I ate at Massis in London’s James Street, quite near Marylebone. I’d been with friends to a champagne reception held in the rooms of the Wallace Collection, where I met the playwright Tom Stoppard, among others. Afterwards we sauntered down James Street and I remembered Massis, a Lebanese restaurant close to Seabass. The weather was pleasant enough for us to sit outside, with the heater helping just a little.
I ordered the same wine I’d had before, the Ksara Reserva do Couvent, a 13 percent ‘05 Lebanese with wood and vanilla tones. I began with Makanek, fried Lebanese sausages, medium spicy, stuffed with pine kernels. They were very good, and there were enough for me to trade for some houmus to go with them. Then I had Kafta Massis, the house charcoal-grilled minced lamb kebabs, nicely spiced. They were very good.
No hookahs were in evidence this time, though a couple of us did smoke Villiger export cigars with the excellent coffee we finished with. It came with complimentary baklava, so it’s just as well we didn’t go for desserts.