PHAROAHS EL MASRY, 137-5 ITAEWON-DONG, YONGSAN-GU, SEOUL TEL: 02 798 5827

Middle eastern cuisine seems to be very popular these days, and after being served a falafel sandwich at the British School family fun day by Mr Masry himself, we decided to check out his restaurant located just off Itaewon. Actually, it is located just off "Hooker Hill" up a side street, turn right at the King Club and you will see it on your right hand side.

This is more cafe than restaurant, but lacks a bit of character and effort. The computer and till sit on an ugly home office console in the middle of the front window and the kitchen is on display but utterly lacking in charm.

The night we went, Mr Masry was not around and so his Korean assistant took our order and went back into the kitchen to prepare the food. It would be good to hide the kitchen in this particular place, because you can see your pita breads going in and out of the microwave, and the tupperware of hummous being grabbed out of the fridge. Open kitchens are great if there is something fun worth watching going on in them, but otherwise keep 'em covered up.

The food is fine, crunchy and fresh, but the portions are on the mean side and come on very small plates with very small cutlery to eat them with. The napkins are tiny and the food is less oven-fired and more greasy-fried, and not great value. If you have been out on the lash, and some middle eastern kebab style grub is what you need then this place is handy. But for quality we will keep going to Marrakech down the road which has better food, nicer atmosphere and at the end you get a smaller bill.