Honey & Co: Food from the Middle East - Hardcover

There is a cheering warmth here, from the quinces on the cover to the self-deprecating stories about running a small business. Above all, I commend this book because my kitchen has never smelt as good when cooking from it. (Food Book of the Year - The Sunday Times)

It's the kind of stuff you'd love to dish up to your pals and bask in the resulting praise... It's food you would always be happy to eat. (Guardian)

The ingredient that is in every mouthful, that isn't on the menu, is the huge dollop of home-made love... This food comes from a husband and wife making their own small business from a tiny kitchen and small dining room, and everything in it is infused with a warm hug of hospitality. (The Sunday Times)

This is indeed food made by people who like to eat. It is food that cares less about how it looks than how it tastes ... It feels like an act of love. (Guardian)

I'm off to Honey & Co on Warren Street for what I'm going to describe dreamily as Middle Eastern soul food, largely as I can't think of a better way to explain the restorative value of letting husband-and-wife team Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer beckon you in and feed you ... it feels exactly like wandering into a little family-run room, after a snoozy day sunbathing on holiday, and quickly cottoning on that you've found a winner. (Evening Standard)

Here, the food is as much about creating an atmosphere as it is about any individual dish, a new way of looking at Middle Eastern cuisine, subtler, more modern. (STELLA, Telegraph)

What began life as a modest neighbourhood restaurant in Bloomsbury has since attracted a staunch following with its heartwarming dishes from the Middle East. Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich, the couple who run Honey & Co. have now written a book that captures - with sympathetic honesty - the love and toil involved. (Harpers Bazaar)

The lure of this book about an eatery is clear: the owners' stories that reflect on love, immigration and identity are endearing and universal, and the book is heavily seasoned with them... If you love Honey & Co, this book is a must-read. (Time Out, Cookbook of the Week)

It's not unusual for a book to grow from the seed of a restaurant. Most will start off telling the reader about the restaurant, the author, the inspiration and philosophy. Few will tell you how the owners fell in love over oven-fresh burek and pigeon stuffed with pine nut rice. How they sneered at each others introductions to "Haifa's best falafel" and "Jerusalem's best falafel", each secretly enjoying both. Few will introduce you to the staff, from the loveable front-of-house Rachael to "sweet, funny" Carlos the kitchen porter... Each section of this book is lightly spiced with just the right amount of anecdote and memory. It's blindingly obvious that hearts and souls and a great deal of love have gone into it. That's not something I come across too often in a cookbook. It also made me laugh out loud more than once. (Saffron Strands)

The recipes are as reliable, imaginative and savoury as you'd hope from Ottolenghi alumni, but the other big draw is the narrative. The couple met in a kitchen, and haven't stopped sharing their favourite foods with each other and the people around them ever since. (Guardian)

Itamar Srulovich was most recently head chef at Ottolenghi, while Sarit Packer was both head of pastry at Ottolenghi and executive chef at Nopi. They first met ten years ago in a restaurant kitchen in Israel. Honey & Co. in London's Fitzrovia is their first solo project bringing their version of Middle Eastern food to this corner of London.