Leydi - Review - City - London - The Infatuation

"Somewhere between a glossy Elle Decor campaign and a beauty pageant for stylish, dressed-up hummus is Leydi. This all-day modern Turkish restaurant, in the City’s Hyde London hotel, makes an excellent first impression. But once you’ve declared your allegiance to painting your flat the same shade of dusty pink, you’re left with a classic hotel restaurant roller coaster—huge aesthetic highs, flavourless £20 chicken shish lows, and in the midst of some yo-yoing service, wondering whether you can catch jet lag through osmosis over breakfast. There is, after all, only so much an extremely chic floating lampshade can bring to a meal. video credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley video credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley video credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley photo credit: Leydi Pause Unmute There are some solid peaks though. Eating a hummus so rich and smooth it could feasibly be from the Amal Clooney bloodline while eavesdropping on the suits lamenting their 4am Eurostar to Brussels. Or sitting in the buzzing side dining room during cocktail hour while eyeing up a parade of Rixo dresses and scooping a medley of dips with chewy, warm pide. For a decent meal here, it’s a game of menu top and tails—stick to the meze and desserts, and ignore all of the overpriced sharers in between. Start with anything within the sesame bread genre and end on the iconically sweet and sticky künefe. The gorgeous, blush dining room is dressed up in its special occasion party clothes, but between the service mishaps and our approved nice nibbles game plan, it’s best treated as somewhere to stop off after work, rather than your evening’s final destination. Pose, pick at the meze, and make your exit. Food Rundown Sucuk Lavash Roll This is the only breakfast option we tried at Leydi that would get us up and dressed before our imaginary check-out time. It hits the comforting, cheesy sweet spot between a meat butty and an omelette. The sucuk has a lovely wake-up call kick to it too. photo credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley Hummus We’re very into the texture of this hummus. Super smooth, a little bit salty, and ideal for bread-mopping. photo credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley Atom The first time we had this, it was a glorious split personality of a dish with cooling yoghurt and a left hook of sizzling urfa chilli oil. The second time, the yoghurt had fought back and although the spice factor was more muted, it was still a solid garlic show-off. Another easy scoop and chat contender. photo credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley Chicken Shish Like many of Leydi’s other kebabs, this chicken number suffers from a real lack of flavour. Never has an accompanying pot of minimally spiced, tomatoey marinade worked harder. It is also, somehow, dry yet lacks any smoky notes from its time spent on the charcoal grill. photo credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley Künefe If you fall on the Crunchie-loving spectrum of sweet treat appreciation, then you’ll like this crispy pastry number. It has a subtle hint of orange blossom and pistachio, but really, it’s all about the sugary syrup. PlayMute video credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley" - Heidi Lauth Beasley