Abu Zaad

Really good, I can’t comment on the authenticity but I’ve had a few superb meals here.

One of my favorite Syrian restaurants in London. The food is generally quick. You don’t usually need to wait. Some of recommended dishes are the Farooj (boneless chicken) as well as, my favourite, Maklooba (lovely tender lamb cubes with Aubergine and Rice, just delicious). The quantity as well is very generous. Their main dishes can definitely be filling. I doubt you’d be able to finish them especially if you have appetizers too. They have a common hot and cold appetizers such as Vine Leaves, Fatoush, Kebba… etc.
The seating in this Edgware road branch is nice but not necessarily very big. At busy times, you might need to reserve. They do collection as well.
The drinks including juices are really nice as well. I recommend Lemonde with Mint.
The prices are generally reasonable especially with the generous portions that you get.

Great Syrian food, reasonable prices (esp for London), attentive service. Perhaps the best Arabic food I’ve had anywhere. Edgeware Road is packed with restaurants and it’s hard to know how to pick. (Do the number of edgy young kids smoking hookahs on the street recommend the food?) Abu Za’ad is a sure bet.
The hot starter Fattet Makdous (fried lamb-​stuffed) eggplant is a revelation and the Makmour (braised lamb shank) delightful.

Edgeware Road is the cheap but good Syrian-​Lebanese restaurant district —
and should not be missed by the London visitor who does not want to go bankrupt on food.
The streets are lined with cafes with people smoking hookahs on the street; those same cafes have interesting desserts.
Abu Zaad is a Syrian restaurant and is one of the most crowded restaurants in the district.
(A lot of the other restaurants are looking pretty forlorn with the waitstaff kind of desperate to have you come in and fill some of the empty tables.)
better yet — Abu Zaad is crowded with Syrians.
The crowds know good food and this place is outstanding.
Sayadieh is be a simple dish of grilled fish on rice. What can be so great about that?
Well firstly — the fish taste deeply deeply permeates the rice as if the fish taste had been baked in. Every grain of rice is distinct and packed with flavor.
Plus the dish comes with carmelized onions and a very suave and rich tahini sauce.
A definite winner.
Frika with lamb is wheat berries with a small amount of marinated lamb neck served with a yogurt sauce.
What can be so great about a couple of lamb neck bones?
a) The lamb has a wonderful marinade.
b) The lamb has been grilled in a way that keeps in all of the lamb flavor but there is not a speck of grease in the dish — plus it is completely tender while being firm.
(I dare you to achieve that at home with an inexpensive cut of lamb.)
c) It comes with a yogurt sauce to kill for.
All three tastes — the marinade, the lamb and the yogurt are distinct and the mix of the three changes in every bite.
This is what I call eating!
Plus the frika — or wheat berries make excellent comfort food.
Other treats involve a very creamy egg and lemon soup. (They call it a chicken soup on the menu. But this aint no Jewish or Chinese chicken soup. It is a rich filling dish almost like a white sauce with tartness.)
Salads involve the traditional toasted pita chips that are a staple of a lot of Eastern Mediterranean cooking. The pita chips are like tortillas in a Mexican restaurant. They have to be made locally — there is skill in making them — and good restaurants have good chips. These are first rate — and they appear in the salads (thumbs up) and as croutons in the soup (double thumbs up)
In some cases they «cut corners» and use goodies out of cans or probably subcontracted from elsewhere …
but their suppliers are very good and their cans are first rate cans. (Some of the finest Portuguese adegas have their best goodies come out of cans — and there are some Iranian cans full of fish eggs that are highly regarded)
Their pickle plate (a side dish) has three superwinners (plus some dull olives). Pepperocini that are suave rather than acid hot — but with a fine underlying pepper taste. Completely superior to American Italian or Turkish standard pepperocini. Red pickled turnips to die for. And what looks like standard cucumber pickles but which are pickled with less vinegar — no dill — no sugar and an intermediate amount of garlic. More subtle than a Jewish garlic pickle — and eminently wonderful.
Probably you could find these things yourself in a Syrian supply store if you knew where to look — but I was delighted to have them on my table.
They have desserts on the menu. (Remember though you are on Edgeware road — which is a palace of middle eastern dessert cafes.)
However over and above the «paid desserts» they have mini baklava and another lovely phyllo dough confection I did not recognize — that they sometimes offer as freebies.
OMG. Roll on the floor happy. These little mini-​bites are some of the most perfect desserts you could ask for.
(and back where I come from in the States– baklava is shredded wheat awfulness with sticky honey to make it messy. these lovely little taste explosions are nothing like the wretched baklava of the us.)
One other note. Abu Zaad has a breakfast service. I am going to have to make a point to see what the «best meal of the day» is like in their hands.
Overall — following the crowds will get you some first rate meals on Edgeware Road.
The Syrians really know how to eat.

Casual dining, delicious food, friendly service, good prices. Loved the fettat hommos as warm starter, and the boneless baby chook was excellent. Arabic tea and Moroccan Mint tea were both refreshing. Highly recommend.

I live in the area and this Edgware road experience is definitely better than most. The waiters are smartly dressed and the owner /​manager is also to be seen keeping a watchful eye, good signs.

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy. Everything on their menu is excellent but I really enjoyed the pounded young chicken, their fruit juices, oh heck, I like everything on the menu. What’s even better is that the bill for six of us (not including tip) was £66. That’s downright cheap, even for this American.
Excellent for kids. I knocked off one star because their hood wasn’t working that night and they had to keep their door open and it was freezing. Although, I must say, the food was so good, that even if they never fix their hood and I had to eat in the cold everytime, it would be well worth it.

This is the second restaurant under the name Abu Zaad that opens in London and specializes in syrian food.
Prices are very reasonable and the quality is great, everything is cooked perfectly and if you have been to thier original restaunt in Uxbridge road and thought that food tasted excellent wait until you come here.
The menu is a typical menu that you might find in some other middle eastern restaurants but they usually come with a twist.
because it is realtively small, some items in the menu are not always available. one other pitfall is the seats which are a bit stuck together, but the friendly service and the food makes up for that.
This restaurant is halal and so it doesn’t serve any alcoholic drinks but their fruit cocktails are fresh and good.