Mihbaj

They made me go back to the office. Aaaargh. But I made them go for lunch at Mihbaj a ha ha ha.

Starting my hopefully very occasional story of lunch spots around Paddington with a trip to @mihbaj which is a super cute Palestinian cafe on Pread Street.

No I didn’t choose to go to a Palestinian café because I’m woke and wanted to make a political point. I went because the food looked tasty. Don’t worry GB News fans, I might go to KFC next.

Confirm the chicken salad was as good as it looked, slightly spiced chicken, creamy avocado with lettuce, tomato and a dried pitta…. cannot say I’m fussed about dried pitta though.

Carrot, apple and orange juice was delightful too. No booze on offer…fine by me.

10 other colleagues were forced to join me but not one photographed their food. It’s 21st century…why you not photographing every meal? Most were happy though the food took a while to arrive…hence maybe not the spot for large groups on a tight 1 hour lunchtime turnaround.

Service helpful, plenty of options on the menu, some wraps to take away if you wish too.

Mihbaj was a good start to the adventure… maybe let’s give them an 8.0 out of 10.

Will there be a second post or will I decide to upset the CEO and refuse to come back to the office?

2026 update:

I went back!

On my own this time, the way I like my office collaboration days, commute by myself (and 1,000 other people in the same tube carriage), meetings by myself, desks by myself and lunch by myself. All so I can collaborate and bring that magic buzz of my silence to the office to make the CEO happy.

How on earth did I cope pre-pandemic? How on earth are others coping with 5 days a week in the office?

I totally didn’t learn my lesson from last time I visited Mihbaj, as I forgot how huge their portions were.

I went for the musakhan – because I wanted to try something new.

There was way too much food. Sure I didn’t need to eat it, and it was £21.00 so maybe that could have been a hint for me.

However, the chicken was really juicy – two sizeable chicken legs.

The caramelised onions didn’t taste that sumac-y, the onions on top added crunch.

And the flatbreads to bottom were very crispy in places, but also there was so much cooking juice from the chicken that they were luxuriously swimming in it. A tad too crunchy for my preferences.

It was another very, very good lunch – though I really need to remember how huge their portions are. My score is still an 8.00.