The Levant – is this the best food in Worthing?
The Levant is a find. Open for just a month or so, we discovered it in passing about three weeks ago, and we’ve been three times since.
Situated in a bit of a no-man’s-land on The Strand, just up from Durrington-on-Sea Station, don’t think this is just another coffee shop servicing the local businesses – although it looks as if it does that very well, too.
I discovered last night that the Levant is what the French call the Near East – Turkey, the Lebanon, Syria and so on. And that’s where much of the food on the menu comes from – although there are plenty of Italian influences around for lunchtime, and what looks like a pizza oven towards the rear of the restaurant. The owners are from Beirut, originally and the chef from Damascus.
The food is great value. If you’re a meat eater, go for the £9.75 mezze – more subtle, well-cooked, just simply enjoyable food than you really should find room for. There are the familiar favourites like hummous (but more refined than you get in most places) and tabouleh (packed with fresh herbs). But there are some unfamiliar dishes as well, like the fried meatballs consisting of smooth-textured seasoned mincemeat surrounding differently-flavoured coarser mincemeat – and the cured beef that’s like a cross between bresaola and biltong. The Levant serves proper flat bread, rather than production-line pitta, as well.
There’s plenty for vegetarians, too, including a £7.75 mezze.
Think of this place as serving tapas, but from the Levant, rather than Iberia, and you’ll be getting somewhere near the experience.
The Levant isn’t licenced, and won’t be, because the owners don’t drink alcohol. There are non-alcoholic cocktails and wines – we had a fizz, from a producer called Carl Jung (yes, really), which was really very nice. Possibly the only time I’ve ever enjoyed a non-alcoholic wine
The chef makes some fantastic pastries. Again, they’re far more delicate and refined than you usually get in a Greek or Turkish restaurant. You can buy them to take home, too, but my diet says an emphatic no! Sam and our friend Ian both had a wonderful chocolate cake with ice cream.
So is this the best food in Worthing? I really can’t think of anywhere I’d rather eat at the moment, at any price.
Restaurant details:
The Levant
6 Strand Parade
Goring