Restaurants | 23 September 2006

Pasha describes itself as a ‘Moroccan oasis in the heart of Kensington’, which you would do well to remember, as who hasn’t, at some time or other, found themselves in the heart of Kensington thinking, ‘I do so wish there was a Moroccan oasis around here’? It is just round the corner from the Albert Hall, on Gloucester Road, at the end of a small parade of chi-chi boutiques and bakeries so artisan that the price of a loaf of bread is pretty much up there with the cost of the average car. It’s the kind of place where you don’t so much buy a cake as take a mortgage out on one.

Still, I do like Pasha, from the off. It’s just so OTT. It has a grand, ochre-coloured marble entrance and inside it is stunningly opulent in what I guess you would call the casbah-style: enormous glass lanterns absolutely dripping with beads; sumptuous, scarlet-pillowed banquettes; rich handmade fabrics; wonderful carved wood.