It might seem that we are quite determined to show our hand at all the seven Maroush restaurants here in London (imaginatively titled Maroush I, II, III, IV, V, Gardens, and Deli) as tonight we decided to drop in to Maroush V. (On the other hand it must be noted that there was a bit of toing and froing, mainly by Pepe, as to whether Maroush V and Levant would be the better venue.) Somehow Maroush V won hands down.

Tonight the lads were apparently up for a bit of entertainment as well so Pepe made sure to book us into the Live Entertainment section in the basement of the restaurant where we were promised live music and belly dancing. Unfortunately, it being a Monday, not many other people had their hand up for entertainment. In fact there was only us and another couple downstairs, though apparently it was heaving upstairs. As you can imagine, the restaurant didn’t bother with an entertainer tonight! The best (and only) entertainment we had was some dude in a white beret sitting at the keyboard. To top it off he didn’t even put a hand on the keyboard, as it was all pre-recorded, and he didn’t even trying to pretend to play as he was blatantly reading some mag instead! So, that was a bit of a disappointment.

The other thing with sitting in the Live Entertainment section is that you are forced to have their set menu. At £25 for food only (that is, not including drinks and not including service) it seemed quite steep. We had a hard time imagining what we’d actually get for that price. What we were handed was a whole lot of starters, an average size main course and then two giant platters of fruit.

• Starters. The starters were extremely generous with a selection of Cold Mezzes including Hommos, Moutabal, Tabouleh, and Warak Inab and a selection of Hot Mezzes including Falafel, Soujouk, Batata Harra, and Fatayer. The starters were quite good but we ended up with a lot being left over. Not sure if its because everyone was trying to conserve space for their main course or were just genuinely full.
• Main Course. The main course was slightly disappointing from a serving size perspective. We had basically two mixed grill platters and two mixed shawarma platters. Delicious but I felt they only gave us enough for what would normally feed four people, not seven.
• Dessert. Dessert was this which was good I guess from a healthy eating perspective but it would have been nice if they had thrown in some Lebanese sweets. Maybe.

Overall I would say that £25 was probably more than I’d normally pay for what I ate tonight. It was good quality food but I wouldn’t rate it as value for money. Also, we didn’t even get the entertainment that we paid for so if you want to experience Maroush V properly make sure you go on a busy night.

But all I’ve spoken about is the food. As a night out, tonight was quite a bit of fun and a lot of laughter – mainly at the expense of Chicken and maybe things got out of hand slightly with the teasing but hey, better her than me! Here is what we all looked like after/during dessert: