Down Green Ct, one of Soho’s attractive sex streets, there’s a beacon of shining… yellow and orange and red. In this place is Yalla Yalla, which means “fast fast”.

The food is simple Lebanese street food, and done fairly well. There’s a whole array of takeaway as well as a few tables.

The Good
The food is simple and, actually, top quality. The baba ghannoush was silky, buttery, flavourful, and loaded. The hummous, while I prefer it thick, was creamy and delicious. Kibbeh was spiced enough to bring out the lamb, not the spice. Prawns were cooked the right amount– and the shell came away cleanly. Fattoush was not overwhelming, crisp, fresh vegetables and not too acidic.

The bright, clean decor was a pleasure to eat and drink in. The tables were really cool looking, if perhaps the stools were a bit short, and the curious arrangement of logs as legs meant that you had a really awkward leg positioning to get in and out, and you couldn’t shuffle around on those too-short stools. My bum was aching, even the next day.

I would recommend the lebanese wine. The most expensive one, at £23, was eminently drinkable with hints of subtle flavours, though not overpowering the food in the least– pleasurable, fruit-forward flavours without being jammy, with a hint of old-world spice hovering underneath.

The Bad
The aforementioned tables and stools were rather uncomfortable– especially if you were lingering over a last few glasses of wine on a date. The service, while competent, was to be honest, just barely so, considering our meal, no pudding, with wine was about £60– although we did probably overdo it a bit.

The biggest problem, however, was the takeaway counter– it’s not really separate, in fact, it’s just the counter where the local punters used to buy their porn over, and it sits right by about 1/3 of the diner’s heads. Combine this with the fact that it’s creakingly overloaded with Lavash wrapped around succulent food, right at my head height, and it felt like I was being watched during my whole meal by Falafel-in-lavash and filo dough. The counter is, unfortunately, just too narrow for these trays filled with their takeaway, and I was afraid that I was going to rub the side of my head on them.

So?
I’d go back, though. The food was really rather special. I’d be more likely to stumble in after a few pints than to take a date, however– unless it was my new date from the few pints.

Ultimately, I think Yalla Yalla can’t decide if it’s upscale or downscale– Yes, YY, there is profit in downscale, but you could raise the prices by 50p and have a proper lovely hole in the wall special place for those “in the know”…

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