On West London’s Kensington High Street is Pascor – a split-level restaurant, neighbouring Holland Park that rustles up flavours of the Aegean Sea. At the front, large glass windows frame the famous west London high street and allow natural light to highlight the restaurant’s vibrant jade green and mustard yellow seating. Taking our front row window seats one surprisingly quiet Friday lunchtime, my guest and I order an Aperol spritz each and watch London warm-up for the weekend ahead.
When I think of the Aegean Sea, Greece and Turkey spring to mind, however for this speciality of cuisine, Pascor is also influenced by the cooking styles of Bulgaria and Serbia with authentic and bold Mediterranean flavours using high-quality ingredients and mangal cooking (the Arabic for barbecue). With the restaurant’s name Latin for ‘feasting, and to devour and enjoy’, its menu (created predominantly in the open kitchen), follows a family-style sharing theme, infused with the rich cooking styles of the countries throughout the Aegean Sea.
Our waitress recommends we choose between seven to 10 dishes which fill our small, round table that afternoon. Pascor’s menu starts with ‘laffa’, AKA clay oven cooked bazlama style breads which are made fresh to order. These fluffy Turkish flatbreads made with flour, yeast, olive oil, yoghurt and water are ideal for enjoying with a variety of meze dips: choose from a simple buttered option, toasted sesame, roast garlic or the ‘za’atar’ herb mix. Pair these tasty, tear and share breads with an ottoman style hummus with sumac and onion chips, a Cyprian style tzatziki or wood fried aubergine babaganoush.
Choose then on from a variety of cold plates mixed with the ‘fire/mangal’ hot plates. The ever popular burrata is present, which is generous and easily the most beautifully presented one I’ve come across dressed with thinly sliced fig and refreshing white pear. We order this with the grilled halloumi, which comes almost like a brick of feta would be served with Pascor’s ‘special house dressing’ and a soft grilled aubergine too. Among others, cold plates include grilled scallops with a courgette puree base or a levant Fattoush salad – (similar to a Greek salad with eastern influences).
The hot dishes straight from the open kitchen allow Pascor’s chefs to showcase their mangal cooking skills across a variety of meats: and all six available I could easily order. My guest and I decided on the 24 hour slow-cooked short rib beef, which fell off the fork and was everything we’d hoped it would be, alongside some crispy yet juicy butter chicken thighs served with an almond yoghurt sauce. Among two other lamb and rib-eye steak dishes, from the sea, you can also choose from Galician octopus with pomme puree, or a 400g grilled whole seabass with a roast garlic and lemon dressing.
For dessert we shared an impressively sized and vibrant baklava cheesecake, dripping with berries and with a similar consistency to that of a New York cheesecake. My number one recommendation, however (especially for any chocoholics) is the chocolate ganache served with shards of sourdough, caramel and sea salt: an unexpected highlight!
Factbox
Address: 221 Kensington High St, Kensington, London, W8 6SG
Phone: 020 7937 3003
Email: pascor@akigroup.co.uk
Website: pascor.co.uk
