Oren
89 Shacklewell Lane, London, E8 2EB, United Kingdom
££ · Mediterranean Cuisine, Middle Eastern
By Jordan Young
The exterior of this tiny bistro is utterly unplaceable. It’s all-black and all-drab just like every other building on the street. You could be forgiven for never making it to your table at Oren because you walked into the Indian takeaway it is joined to and ended up eating a dhansak instead. It is vindicated by virtue of being in Dalston, where everything is a volatile mixture of shabby and chic.
Inside, the decor pushes its understated aesthetic to the edge of nothingness. It’s all very nice and easy. Millennial staff mingle casually with the millennial customers. Before the wine arrived, I felt I was briefly sitting in a WeWork whose trendy IKEA lamps had been swapped for candles. Darkening skies and lashing rain outside scrubbed away a little of the coworking cafe feel and transformed the tiny room, now glowing with candlelight, into something fittingly intimate.
Our host was positively metronomic with his perfectly-timed check-ins and stood out to me for seeming to offer his honest recommendations rather than what is all too often the dish that has the best margins. We ordered everything at once. Starting with the essentials, creamy labneh, hummus, smoked aubergine and tahini, baby cucumbers and barrel-aged feta. Lots of delicious things to slather over bubbly cracks of charred flatbread. All expected, all spectacular.
On our waiter’s recommendation, this evening’s special was a firm fan of flaky cured cod floating translucent over folds of smoked red pepper. As promised, the sharp saltiness of the fish-bacon was in harmony with the sweetness of the peppers. Something about this dish seemed improvised but I finished it before I could figure out why. This is one of those restaurants where your bread is replaced as the last shard is lifted from the platter. There is always something to mop up with it. Sieved tomatoes in a neat pile, silky tahini. When you’ve finished everything else there’s always more of that good oil to be found.
Oren’s proprietor, Israeli Chef Oded Oren, has distilled an efficient pan-Mediterranean menu whose flavours and smells will be delightfully familiar to Londoners. Owing in no small part to smoky-aubergine Godfather Yotam Ottolenghi, it’s easy to see why food like this is so popular in this country. It is as unpretentious as it is delicious. The fare at Oren is no different. Effortless, flush with colour, glistening with olive oil. Worthy of a trip in torrid weather for Dalstonians and outsiders alike.
Wine, Qunito do Ermizio, Vinho Verde, 2021, Portugal £29.