Em Sherif

Em Sherif is a Middle Eastern chain of restaurants, founded in 2011 by Mireille Hayek, who is from Lebanon. The name literally means “mother of Sherif”, so the restaurant name refers to Ms Hayek’s son, Sherif. The group expanded across the Middle East, with outlets in Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. This branch in Harrods is located on the second floor of the iconic department store, and opened in February 2022. It is tucked away amongst the menswear section of the store.

The restaurant felt quite like a cafeteria to me, though with rather smarter decor.  When we arrived, we waited at the greeting desk, and then waited some more, and kept waiting. There were staff in view, but none seem particularly interested in these pesky new arrivals. Eventually someone wandered over and we were duly seated. It is a large place seating up to 120 guests, with a menu offering mostly familiar Lebanese dishes. I went with a Canadian friend and also a foodie friend from a Middle Eastern country, who could provide some expertise on the cuisine.

The wine list had 32 labels and ranged in price from £44 to £995, with a median price of £90 and an average markup to retail price of 3.2 times. Sample references were Musar Jeune White Château Musar 2019 at £52 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £18, Vinnaioli Jermann Pinot Grigio at £78 compared to its retail price of £34, and Château Kefraya 2010 at £95 for a wine that will set you back £23 in the high street. For those with the means there was Château Lynch Bages 2012 at £360 compared to its retail price of £94 and Domaine Francois Mikulsk Meursault Les Genevrières 2015 at £300 for a wine whose current market value is £263.

We ordered a range of starters. Moutabbal (£16) is a smoky aubergine dip topped here with pomegranate seeds, and to me this version tasted quite unpleasant. This dish should ideally contrast rich tahini with charred aubergine and have freshness from lemon and additional garlic flavour. The version here was just a soggy mess, with a burnt flavour dominating and missing any freshness, despite the pomegranate seeds (8/20). 

Hummus (£16) is made from scratch apparently, and was pleasant enough, quite smooth, though I am not sure it compared especially favourably with the supermarket hummus that we are all familiar with (11/20). The flatbreads that came were not particularly well made either, being just about warm but not having very good texture.

Falafel (£21.50) should be a lively deep fried ground chickpea fritter flavoured with tahini and pickled cucumber along with garlic, cumin, coriander and parsley, with a crisp outer coating and fluffy, herb infused interior. The version here was bland and dry, a flavourless uninspiring sphere with a not particularly crisp coating (barely 10/20). A box of eight falafel at Marks and Spencer costs £4.10, by way of comparison.

Tabbouleh salad (£16) should ideally be a zesty, bright salad with lots of parsley and high-quality olive oil, tomato, lemon and bulgur wheat that still has some texture. In this version the wheat was rather soggy, though there was plenty of parsley and there was some spring onion to liven things up (10/20).

Raheb (£16) was a smoked aubergine salad with spring onions and mint, flavoured with olive oil and lemon. Unlike the dish baba ghanouj, the aubergine in raheb should be roughly chopped to retain some texture, rather than being reduced to a purée. This version was grim, with an overly smoky aubergine being the dominant flavour (9/20).

Lentil salad (£16) was made with Lebanese lentils, pomegranate molasses, radish, cucumber and pomegranate. This was a disappointing concoction, a soggy mess where the texture of the lentils was lost (9/20). Kibbeh Sajiyeh (£21.50) is a pattie of ground beef with onions, pine nuts and spices such as sumac that is deep fried with a dough of bulgur wheat, onions and spices. The version here was dried out and disappointing (9/20). Makanek are Lebanese sausages flavoured with cumin, cinnamon and nutmeg. The version here was served in a pan with some of the cooking juices. This was unexciting but edible, badly needing more seasoning (10/20).

Fish shawarma (£32) was marinated sea bass cut into thin slices, with garlic and pickled cucumber, traditionally roasted on a spit. The fish is usually marinated with garlic and spices such as cumin, paprika, coriander and turmeric, cooked until flaky and then packed into pita bread, along with some tahini or hummus. The version here was fairly disappointing, though at least the use of sea bass meant that the fish had some flavour. However, the fish seemed overcooked and the spices were barely detectable (10/20).

At this point we gave up and paid the bill. Our waitress was nice, and as my friend picked up the bill, I am not entirely sure of the cost, but it would have been around £60 each for the food, plus drinks and service, so around £80 or so per person. You could easily spend more, with grill courses such as kebab skewers at £48 and beef skewers at £58, or even wagyu skewers at £99. Your bill would rise further if you indulged in the wine list. 

Having tasted all the dishes, but having barely eaten more than a bite of any of them, we actually decamped to a completely different (and vastly better) restaurant and had a full meal, which was a new experience for me. Perhaps the Middle Eastern branches of the chain are a lot better than this, and I really hope that they are. Based on this meal, there is something badly wrong with the outlet here.