Joseph’s Brasserie, 221 Kensington High Street, London W8 6SG (020 3337 9356; josephsbrasserie.co.uk). Wraps from £9; mezze £8.50 – £16; main courses £16.25 – £26.50; desserts £8.50. Wines from £26 a bottle
In one corner of the lengthy menu at Joseph’s Brasserie, a lovely new Lebanese restaurant in London’s Kensington, is a description which may give some people pause. It’s listed under Signature Dishes and begins “Tender lamb intestines stuffed with a savoury mixture of rice…” The sweet word “tender”, used for kisses and caresses, has to do an awful lot of heavy lifting there, when it’s shepherding the word “intestines” into view. It’s just too duodenal, isn’t it? Too redolent of lunch on the way out of the body as waste, rather than on the way in as pleasure.
