Reviews of Khamsa

I cannot recommend this wonderful gem of a restaurant enough! The food was absolutely superb. We had the salad platter to start, alongside exquisitely exotic Algerian bread. We then had the fish tagine (the salmon was truly cooked to perfection!) and the spicy lamb meatballs with Algerian couscous. It was all delicious. All of this was heightened by the wonderful, friendly and fun service - the owner of the restaurant is a fantastic character who really brings charm and culture to the food you’re enjoying. Definitely go out of your way to enjoy this excellent restaurant!

Unbelievable experience at Khamsa. Incredible, delicious and authentic food. The salmon and lamb meatballs were out of this world and the homemade cakes were so good it was emotional! Bought extra to have for breakfast! Any time I'm in London, I will make sure I go to eat here. Service was perfect, and Djamel is a very talented guy. Could not fault anything. Thank you!

This is one of the most amazing restaurants we came in London. The food is amazing. We ordered salad-sharing platter offering a wide variety of salad served with soft and yummy bread. My friend was particularly found of the tomato salad and the bread. Both of us agreed that the Fish Tajine was awesome especially the flavorful salmon. Importantly, we had lovely chat with the restaurant owner. His ideas about life is mind-blowing that is worth for us learn from. Strongly recommend!

Salads were each SO delicious - we could not pick a favourite but nobody has to as the whole idea is to just enjoy them all! Salmon in spinach and filo was spectacular! Chicken and sweet potato tagine was also bursting with flavour. I don’t know how to describe how fresh all the flavours were but close as I can get is that it is as though every herb was picked from a garden out the back seconds before the dish was put together! Service was also very friendly!

Let's start with the sole negative aspect of this: the communication. Initially booked for 6, my friend later called to say if the reservation could be changed to 11 people, as more people were joining our Saturday night dinner out.l than previously anticipated. While we understand the cold feetness of the owner, as we seemed a bit uncertain as a group, we felt it was a bit exaggerated. But maybe it's just a cultural difference or he was having a poorer day.<br/>That being said, good is amazing. Amazing. We had dinner in the room downstairs, which has a very authentic vibe and beautiful decoration. It's a BYOB, bring your own bottle restaurant, but that doesn't encompass soft drinks like sodas, and spirits. The rest of the staff is very low profile, polite and stayed very much out of the way to promote a very social eevening. Again, the food is very good, lots of vegetarian options, and tasty. Man can cook his socks off.<br/>Would have given 5 stars would it be not for the harshness of the owner's ways.

Always keen to try out new cuisines, we headed down to an Algerian restaurant in Brixton. It's a family run business and you get a sense immediately that the owner really cares about his food. <br/><br/>There were 4 of us and we the shared platter for 2 as starters which consisted of 7 delicious different salad bowls. My favorite was the aubergine which was extremely tasty! I loved the little bowls which came from Algeria. We cleaned them up with the homemade bread which was so soft and fluffy! The owner, Jamal, makes everything himself and was enthusiastically recommending the salmon main dish, so this is what I went for. And it was a good choice! Perfectly cooked salmon with some vegetables on top, with peas below. <br/><br/>And the vegetarian tagine and chicken tagine were also very good!<br/><br/>Very reasonably priced for traditional Algerian food with a very homey feel. <br/><br/>Will definitely go back again!

I’m eating around the world without leaving London. This week I had to do a little backtracking up to North Africa for Algerian food at Khamsa. After two failed attempts to have dinner here during the Christmas period, I dragged Jacintha from Urban Pixxels with me, back to Brixton for attempt number three. This time we had success. The restaurant sits on a corner in the bit between Brixton and Clapham South, so it’s not the most convenient of places to get to if you’re depending on the tube. Thank heavens for bikes. And buses. Inside it looks cosy and very North African. There are kilims draped across the walls, alternated by what looked like ethnic musical instruments. We made ourselves comfortable on the colourful cushions that were spread out over the benches and chairs. The restaurant is BYO, but we forgot to buy our own, so I settled for fresh apple and mint juice. No bottled juice at this place. The food is very similar to Moroccan food, but apparently there are differences. I went for Loubia Hara el Kefta, a dish that made of white beans, rather spicy lamb meat balls, smoked paprika, coriander and, of course, merguez sausages. Yacintha went for a chicken couscous, which she thought was a bit bland. Mine was everything but bland and really quite tasty. The owner treated us to a chocolate covered date and honey sweet which went down very well with the mint and clove tea. I really enjoyed my food and the friendly service at Khamsa and I heartily recommend it to those who're looking for something a bit different.

Khamsa needs not to boast. It’s a neighbourhood establishment. A part of the community. Started by a husband and wife team a few years ago, it’s clear to see that this intimate Algerian place has heart. Although, it’s more than one of those well worn locals you go to every Friday night. If you tried to come here for dinner though, you will probably be out of luck since the small split level restaurant only hold about 40 covers in total and is rarely open on both floors. The restaurant is popular but the owners clearly don’t want to compromise on quality for the sake of making an extra buck. The husband is mostly in the kitchen whilst the wife serves. No one else just good old fashioned teamwork. The kitchen is open plan so you can see every individual dish cooked from scratch.