Honey & Co

There is a cheering warmth here, from the quinces on the cover to the self-deprecating stories about running a small business. Above all, I commend this book because my kitchen has never smelt as good when cooking from it.

It's the kind of stuff you'd love to dish up to your pals and bask in the resulting praise... It's food you would always be happy to eat.

The ingredient that is in every mouthful, that isn't on the menu, is the huge dollop of home-made love... This food comes from a husband and wife making their own small business from a tiny kitchen and small dining room, and everything in it is infused with a warm hug of hospitality.

This is indeed food made by people who like to eat. It is food that cares less about how it looks than how it tastes ... It feels like an act of love.

I'm off to Honey & Co on Warren Street for what I'm going to describe dreamily as Middle Eastern soul food, largely as I can't think of a better way to explain the restorative value of letting husband-and-wife team Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer beckon you in and feed you ... it feels exactly like wandering into a little family-run room, after a snoozy day sunbathing on holiday, and quickly cottoning on that you've found a winner.

Here, the food is as much about creating an atmosphere as it is about any individual dish, a new way of looking at Middle Eastern cuisine, subtler, more modern.

What began life as a modest neighbourhood restaurant in Bloomsbury has since attracted a staunch following with its heartwarming dishes from the Middle East. Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich, the couple who run Honey & Co. have now written a book that captures - with sympathetic honesty - the love and toil involved.

The lure of this book about an eatery is clear: the owners' stories that reflect on love, immigration and identity are endearing and universal, and the book is heavily seasoned with them... If you love Honey & Co, this book is a must-read.

It's not unusual for a book to grow from the seed of a restaurant. Most will start off telling the reader about the restaurant, the author, the inspiration and philosophy. Few will tell you how the owners fell in love over oven-fresh burek and pigeon stuffed with pine nut rice. How they sneered at each others introductions to "Haifa's best falafel" and "Jerusalem's best falafel", each secretly enjoying both. Few will introduce you to the staff, from the loveable front-of-house Rachael to "sweet, funny" Carlos the kitchen porter... Each section of this book is lightly spiced with just the right amount of anecdote and memory. It's blindingly obvious that hearts and souls and a great deal of love have gone into it. That's not something I come across too often in a cookbook. It also made me laugh out loud more than once.

The recipes are as reliable, imaginative and savoury as you'd hope from Ottolenghi alumni, but the other big draw is the narrative. The couple met in a kitchen, and haven't stopped sharing their favourite foods with each other and the people around them ever since.

The modest subtitle of Honey & Co's debut cookbook, Food from the Middle East, published this month, doesn't begin to capture the richness and variety of the recipes - sardines cured in vine leaves, oxtail sofrito, their celebrated feta and honey cheesecake. But it's not just about the superb dishes: the book also captures a sense of place, bottling the personality of the tiny, 10-table restaurant on London's Warren Street that won last year's Observer Food Monthly award for best newcomer.

Food lovers have been waiting for this book ever since it was first commissioned... it is full of enchanting Middle Eastern dishes... This is Arabian Nights food delivered with passion and verve.

It's the kind of stuff you'd love to dish up to your pals and bask in the resulting praise... It's food you would always be happy to eat.

Falafel fans rejoice! You'll find three recipes for this Middle Eastern favourite in Honey & Co's book, pluse the full complement of mezze dishes, dips, salads, breads and reich slow-cooked dishes, such as the melting lamb shawarma that I made. These recipes suit all abilities, written in an accessible sytle with mouth-watering photographs.

This is indeed food made by people who like to eat. It is food that cares less about how it looks than how it tastes ... It feels like an act of love.

The friendly yet knowledgeable vibe of the restaurant glows from the pages too. It's packed with mouth-watering recipes: pickles, salads, slow-cooked stews and show-stopping puds. This is a book to treasure.

Middle Eastern Cooking at its most inspiring. Brilliantly useful and exquisitely designed.

Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer, chef patrons of Fitzrovia's Honey & Co, also published their - very romantic - volume of recipes rolled up with the story of how they came to be one of London's foodie sensations.

I'm smitten with the sweet spice mix from Honey & Co, a warm, heady mix including cardamom, fennel seed, mahleb and cinnamon. A teaspoon sprinkled on porridge is so satisfying it can almost persuade me to forgo sugar.