Beirut Express

This was a cute little Unilocal find. I was at Royal Brompton for the morning and bumped into someone I know so we agreed to go for lunch and s catch up as we hadn’t seen each other in ages. We both had time so we had a proper sit down lunch. We both ordered the soup for starters which was wholesome and filling, for mains we ordered a mixed kebab dish that we could share and it was good to know that the portion was so big that we could share it as it is listed as a main dish not a sharer dish. The meat was telly good, it was all grilled so that was healthy, meat was cooked well and not under or over cooked.
After the mains we were given free baklava which is great as its free but I’m not a fan of baklava at all and my friend has diabetes so she couldn’t eat any sweet stuff at all, so they swapped it for a free plate of fruit which we both enjoyed. I’m not normally a fan of Lebanese food but I liked it here that I will come back.

My husband and I stumbled into Beirut Express late on a weekday evening. We were jonesing for some shawarma!
We were glad to see that the sandwiches were much cheaper than the plates. We ordered take away and were out with our shawarma in under 5 minutes.
It was not very flavorful, though, or moist. It did the trick, but I’ve had much better. There was nothing besides some light tahini and the meat itself.
I appreciated the quickness, but I was left feeling unsatisfied.

Very uncomfortable situation
We had been twice at the Beirut Express before, we had liked the food although not so much the service (not very friendly).
However, this time they have gone too far. After being shown to a table and placing our order, we are told there is a non-​written policy of £10 minimum spend per head in the tables area. Our order doesn’t meet the policy, because we are not very hungry and have only ordered a sandwich and a fattet hommos for the two of us.
To give more context, only 3 of the 10 tables have people, the rest are empty and it’s at 9.30pm on a Saturday — if it had been packed and people had been queuing I would have understood their being so strict.
We try to explain to the manager that the policy is not written anywhere and that it doesn’t make sense that the menu offers sandwiches for £4.75 (not even 2 of which meet the criteria). His answer over and over again, in a polite manner: this is a business and that is the policy.
This insistence has made us feel very uncomfortable, as if we did not deserve to eat there, so we had no other option but to leave.
In my opinion, the manager’s (short-​term) business vision has made him turn a potential £15 bill (with tip), a good review and two returning happy clients into £0 (he did not get more business by making us leave), this review and our commitment to not come back to Beirut Express if we can avoid it.

This place introduced me to shawarma 8 years ago and was just as good as I remember this week. Great Lebanese good in one of the nicer London neighborhoods.

Just the greatest food after a drinking session.
I used to live on Old Brompton Road, and after an evening spent at the excellent Anglesea Arms, I’d always pop in here to grab a chicken shawarma to take home with me. Greasy but delicious.

Authentic Lebanese fare on Old Brompton Road! I’m missing it right now ! #THASA #Mashallah

Love the mixed Shawerma and Melon juice, lovely staff
Just didn’t like the Soujok which on menu says sausages but it was minced beef and unliked the taste.

Careful with the spicy! If is hot to get in, is also hot to get out jajajaja
I love a good shawarma and to be honest is not easy find a reliable and clean restaurant to taste a good one.
This restaurant is as clean as a japanese restaurant but with a proper Lebanese food.
Great food and nice service, I suggest to you the chicken wings with garlic sauce (I m a chicken wings expert and those are epic).

I can’t really find anything wrong with this place. My mixed shwarma was very good. Not oily, no bad pieces of meat, it basically couldn’t have been better. Best, it was £4.50. Awesome. The kibbeh was good but didn’t see the price for 3 pieces.
And really, they endured us singing along to the 80’s love songs at 11 pm at night. Made some jokes with us. And gave us free dessert.
So yeah, this place is a notch above a-​ok in my book.

I don’t come back very often to South Ken, but everytime I do, I make sure I grab a shawarma at Beirut Express ;)
Also, the Shawarma prices seem to have gone down a bit (4.50 from 4.80)…

Good shawarma lam, good juice Plenty of smartly dress staff. Very clean envionment (or should i say clinical ??) And very afordable considering the location. A nice kebab place, good aternative to any burger joint.

I live nearby and it is really close to my house so eat there fairly regularly, though have lately been avoiding it.
The food is OK, though its better to focus on sandwiches and starters than the mains. The shwarma is ok, the falafel are fine, if not a bit oily and stodgy, though the hummus and pita are quite nice (esp. if you order hummus w/​shwarma).
My main gripes with restaurant, however, relate to their policies and the service. They have partitioned the room into two sections — one for sandwich orders and the other for entrees/​full meals. During the daytime the entrée area is completely empty but they refuse to allow anyone to sit there and insist you wait for a table in the front if you’re eating light (and at £4.50 a sandwich they are always busy). The schmancy section charges a cover charge (at a mediocre Lebanese place — cheek), and doesn’t allow sandwich orders whatsoever. If you have a table of 6 and 1 person wants a sandwich and the rest are eating full entrees — too bad man.
The male employees are all very nice, but the women are unpleasant in a strange meek way — they all seem to despise their jobs and as a by-​product, the customers. I imagine the rigidity of the dining room system extends into the way the managers treat the staff.
Another reviewer says that it’s authentic because it is patronized by 95% Middle Eastern people. First, that is untrue as most people are definitively not Middle Eastern. Second, even if it were true it is the only Lebanese place in the area so obviously someone wanting Lebanese food would make a beeline to Beirut Express. And finally, simply because it is frequented by people of the nationality it represents doesn’t make it good. The clientele at Weatherspoon pubs in Leeds are overwhelmingly White, but that doesn’t mean the food is good.
So in conclusion — not a bad place for a quick meal but really not worth travelling to.

You know its authentic when 95% of the people in the shop are middle eastern… to be fair I’ve only had the shwarmas, but they where very fresh and tasty… the best Ive had… a great deal at £4 a wrap. bonus they are open until 5am on the weekends… late night snack anyone?

My Lebanese friend approved our lunch wraps, which are good value at about 4 pounds per wrap, hummus dip with pita and baklava for afters. The falafal wrap was great as was the mixed shawarma.

Bleh.
I couldn’t even finish the falafel from Beirut Express. Very dry, bland and unappetizing.
Just a few days earlier I had one of the best Falafels imaginable at Falafel King in the Portabello Market.

Haven’t had the shawarma, but if the falafel is indicative of the quality of the rest of the food.
So disappointing, because this is just a minute or two walk from my study abroad program and the South Kensington Tube station.
BIG TIP: Walk two doors down from Beirut Express and get a lamb Doner kebab from Bosphorus Kebabs instead of anything from Beirut Express. It is a small hole in the wall turkish food stop, but it will amaze you.
Don’t be fooled at the flashing lights and nicer decorations of Beirut Express. Bosphorus kebabs is where it’s at.

Ich war im letzten Jahr für mehrere Wochen beruflich in London und muss sagen, der «Beirut Express» ist wirklich der beste Libanese, in dem ich in London gegessen habe. Oder, um es etwas genauer zu sagen, es ist auf jeden Fall das libanesische Restaurant in dem der Preis zur angebotenen Leistung passt. Das Essen war sehr lecker und wirklich besonders, die Portionen ordentlich, der Service überaufmerksam. Und frische Früchte gab es nach jedem Essen auch noch kostenlos oben drauf. Genauso wie einen libanesischen Kaffee. Und das in London! Und die Auswahl an libanesischen Weinen reicht von bezahlbar und lecker bis besonders und teuer. Auf jeden Fall ein Restaurant mit schickem Imbiss im vorderen Bereich das immer wieder einen Besuch wert ist. Da verschmerzt man auch die fehlenden Fenster im hinteren Bereich. Ist eben London…

On entrance to the Beirut Express you have bar like seating with the chefs in front cooking. We sat in the bar, while the waitress took are orders.
My friend suggest Lamb Sharwama. It was tasty and had a tangy taste due to the sauce in it, I know if their was ketchup I would of put it all over the sauce, because I was not fan, but it still tasted good and was a reasonable price at four pounds. We got FREE exotic sweets, can never go wrong with freeeenneeessss!
The customer service was good.
Beirut is very good for a quick bite to eat as well as being a restaurant.

Excellent restaurant libanais, tentez le mixte shawarma, qui est un vrai regal. Vous pouvez prendre a emporter comme manger sur place dans la partie restaurant tres classe, sans oublier les patisseries en dessert. Une tres bonne adresse !

Good place for Middle Eastern food in South Kensington. The shoarma melts in your mouth. Kind of expensive, though. You pay almost four pounds for a little glass of yucky beer. Maybe you can’t trust Middle Easternes with booze, but certainly go for a quick bite to eat before going to one of the pubs across from here.

Yeah nice little place this. It’s got a funny, European (or is that Middle Eastern?) layout where you go in, and there’s seats at a bar, behind which all the chefs and waiters are there, doing their ting. And it’s all chrome and lit-​up nicely.
And really good food. More a café than a restaurant so I’d recommend getting a bite to eat, rather than a meal. It’s full of rich young (I presume) Lebanese folks, having a ball. So it’s got a really nice, friendly feel, they all know the staff.
Yup, I had a coffee and the baklava, and that was luv-​er-​ly. So, if you’re passing, hungry, and curious, Beirut Express is a good little establishment to eat in.

Personally, I love this place, although my friend who was with me at the time had an unlucky experience as she ordered the lamb with yoghurt expecting grilled lamb with some yoghurt sauce in the side. Instead, it was more like a lamb yoghurt stew, and I had to share some of my mixed grill with her! The menus are not very descriptive in terms of cooking style, and probably that means that non-​Lebanese diners should stick to the basics or make sure they know what they’re ordering.
The portions are quite big for the main dishes (£12.95), and one might be enough to feed two people if you order one or two other side dishes. Service was polite, but not overly good. The interior of the restaurant looks a bit glitsy and swanky, but its good if you’re bringing a date on a budget!
Note: This is a branch of the famous chain of Maroush/​Ranoush Lebanese restaurants from Edgware Road

Whenever I’m looking to add a little Lebanese flair to my diet, I immediately think of visiting Beirut express. Perfect for any budget, this restaurant will dazzle your senses with a variety of dips and sauces to choose from. I usually order a tasty Shawarma lamb or chicken wrap for just under 4pounds.
The staff is exceptionally friendly and there is an area in the front of the restaurant that you can watch and interact with cook. If you’re in the mood for dessert, try the baklawa plate.