Food: Maramia Cafe

Maramia seems to be grabbing a lot of mindshare lately. It's the place to go for authentic Palestinian food, and if not that then for the meat at least. They cater for large parties and are said to be relatively well priced.

Personally I found it to be a bit of a let down. Yes it is cosy: they hosted around 20 of us last night and although we were seated on a long straight table, the layout of the place is such that it's easy to move around and switch crowds. The service is pretty incredible, although something that becomes more of a necessity than favour once the food comes: although the starter of our set meal was buffet the main, a whole lamb roast in rice, pretty much needed someone to carve it for us.

I'm not a big meat eater myself. Well technically I just don't like meat off the bone let along a carcass, so I didn't really see past the initial gimmick of the way the food was presented to us. It was okay but hardly one of the best meals I've had, although the savoury meat pastries were all kinds of awesome. Thinking back I would have been happier just sticking to that.

The biggest disappointment was the price, the whole thing coming to fifteen per head for the starters, main and a soft drink. This is brilliant value for those with big appetites (there was plenty of food left) but for someone who eats a normal amount it's difficult to justify the price.

So I guess I'm one of the few (the only?) who hasn't become an instant fan of the place. That said, as a place to party it's a pretty good place to hang out.