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Honey & Co.: The Cookbook
Named Cookbook of the Year by the Sunday Times (UK) Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink Awards Cookery Book of the Year 2015 The Guild of Food Writer's (UK) Award Winner for Best First Book
After falling in love through their shared passion for food, Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer launched Honey & Co., one of London's hottest new restaurants, in 2012. Since opening the doors, they have created exquisite dishes, delectable menus, and an atmosphere that's as warm, inviting, and exotic as the food they serve.
Recipes include spreads and dips, exquisitely balanced salads, one-pan dishes, simple fragrant soups, rich Persian entrees, the tagines of North Africa, the Sofritos of Jerusalem, and the herb-infused stews of Iran. HONEY & CO. brings the flavors of the Middle East to life in a wholly accessible way, certain to entice and satisfy in equal measure.
After falling in love through their shared passion for food, Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer launched Honey & Co., one of London's hottest new restaurants, in 2012. Since opening the doors, they have created exquisite dishes, delectable menus, and an atmosphere that's as warm, inviting, and exotic as the food they serve.
Recipes include spreads and dips, exquisitely balanced salads, one-pan dishes, simple fragrant soups, rich Persian entrees, the tagines of North Africa, the Sofritos of Jerusalem, and the herb-infused stews of Iran. HONEY & CO. brings the flavors of the Middle East to life in a wholly accessible way, certain to entice and satisfy in equal measure.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published June 19, 2014
177 people are currently reading
873 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 13, 2014
There is nothing no to love in this book.
The food is the food of my youth and what I cook now, so some are twists on old favourites, and some are new, either way they are all marvellous.
There is a lot of love in this book; for people, culture, place and people and that translates when you cook from it.
They choose their kitchen porters based on their names, promote from within, and don't like to employ professional chefs - what's not to love.
If you love to eat - buy it.
If you love to cook - buy it.
If you love life - buy it.
The food is the food of my youth and what I cook now, so some are twists on old favourites, and some are new, either way they are all marvellous.
There is a lot of love in this book; for people, culture, place and people and that translates when you cook from it.
They choose their kitchen porters based on their names, promote from within, and don't like to employ professional chefs - what's not to love.
If you love to eat - buy it.
If you love to cook - buy it.
If you love life - buy it.
July 19, 2014
Travels with Honey & Co
After a wonderful breakfast at Honey & Co in London, two weeks ago, we bought the recipe book and decided to take it with us on holiday to Italy, where we are currently visiting relatives. The rationale - this is a book of Middle Eastern recipes, based on ingredients commonly found around the Mediterranean, and Italy is a Meditterranean country, where the use of fresh, local ingredients is almost a religion. A perfect marriage - up to a point.
In our enthusiasm, we forgot a few facts about Italian culinary traditions. Firstly, though Italians love food with a passion, they really only love their own food. Ingredients or recipes from other countries are regarded with great suspicion. Try finding fresh coriander - or coriander seeds - in an italian supermarket. Secondly, despite the 'food as religion', convenience foods are making inroads even here, as are the food industries, and the backlash we have seen in the UK and probably elsewhere, which has led to a revaluing of local, unprocessed food which has not travelled thousands fo miles reach the table, has not yet really taken off. So try finding locally caught fish in a former fishing village where tourism is now the main economic activity, and the local fishing fleet has been decimated by fishing regulations (to counter industrial overfishing).
To date, we have successfully recreated Honey & Co's hummus - out of this world when we tasted it in Honey & Co's cafe, and not too far off the mark when we recreated it, as instructed, using tahini sourced in advance of our trip, from Lebanon (taking into account the advice in the book to avoid health food shop tahini).
And today, prawns in orange, tomato and cardamom sauce, again having taken the precaution of bringing cardamom seeds with us from Scotland (weird but true). Recreating this recipe required a number of compromises. Firstly, the question of local fish. We could buy Mediterranean sea bass and sea bream (though probably from Croatia rather than Italy) and had originally decided on seabream with a salad of grapes, cucumber and yoghurt. However, discovering that several of those invited for lunch did not like cucumbers, we had a last minute change of heart and opted for prawns instead. We selected wonderful fat prawns - but frozen and flown in from Argentina. (As far as we know, Argentinian prawns require neither the destruction of local coastal communities nor the enslavement of neighbouring peoples, as is the case with Thai prawns, but even so, we remain uncomfortable with the environmental consequences. We found oranges from South Africa - oranges are not in season in Italy in the summer - and had no difficulty with the tomatoes. More difficulty with the chilli and the thyme, both native to Italy but not available here, (On the whole, Romagnoli are not fond of spicy food.) But luckily we found some dried chillies brought from Scotland on another occasion, also on another occasion, and thyme in a packet of mixed herbs, along with stacks of rosemary and bay). The result - spectacular, appreciated by all our lunch guests, despite some initial misgivings, since it was not a traditional dish.
So far, then , 2 out of 2 for Honey & Co's recipes, trialled by picky eaters who know what they like, and what they don't. We are considering the octopus in meshwiya sauce and celery salad ,and perhaps a tabule sald before returning home and may post again if we succeed. Our judgement to date - 5 stars. We particularly like the comments at the end of the prawns recipe which advises the cook to eat all the prawns in the kitchen, claim that they were ruined during the cooking and provide omelettes for the guests instead - we just avoided this step, but only because we had no eggs.
After a wonderful breakfast at Honey & Co in London, two weeks ago, we bought the recipe book and decided to take it with us on holiday to Italy, where we are currently visiting relatives. The rationale - this is a book of Middle Eastern recipes, based on ingredients commonly found around the Mediterranean, and Italy is a Meditterranean country, where the use of fresh, local ingredients is almost a religion. A perfect marriage - up to a point.
In our enthusiasm, we forgot a few facts about Italian culinary traditions. Firstly, though Italians love food with a passion, they really only love their own food. Ingredients or recipes from other countries are regarded with great suspicion. Try finding fresh coriander - or coriander seeds - in an italian supermarket. Secondly, despite the 'food as religion', convenience foods are making inroads even here, as are the food industries, and the backlash we have seen in the UK and probably elsewhere, which has led to a revaluing of local, unprocessed food which has not travelled thousands fo miles reach the table, has not yet really taken off. So try finding locally caught fish in a former fishing village where tourism is now the main economic activity, and the local fishing fleet has been decimated by fishing regulations (to counter industrial overfishing).
To date, we have successfully recreated Honey & Co's hummus - out of this world when we tasted it in Honey & Co's cafe, and not too far off the mark when we recreated it, as instructed, using tahini sourced in advance of our trip, from Lebanon (taking into account the advice in the book to avoid health food shop tahini).
And today, prawns in orange, tomato and cardamom sauce, again having taken the precaution of bringing cardamom seeds with us from Scotland (weird but true). Recreating this recipe required a number of compromises. Firstly, the question of local fish. We could buy Mediterranean sea bass and sea bream (though probably from Croatia rather than Italy) and had originally decided on seabream with a salad of grapes, cucumber and yoghurt. However, discovering that several of those invited for lunch did not like cucumbers, we had a last minute change of heart and opted for prawns instead. We selected wonderful fat prawns - but frozen and flown in from Argentina. (As far as we know, Argentinian prawns require neither the destruction of local coastal communities nor the enslavement of neighbouring peoples, as is the case with Thai prawns, but even so, we remain uncomfortable with the environmental consequences. We found oranges from South Africa - oranges are not in season in Italy in the summer - and had no difficulty with the tomatoes. More difficulty with the chilli and the thyme, both native to Italy but not available here, (On the whole, Romagnoli are not fond of spicy food.) But luckily we found some dried chillies brought from Scotland on another occasion, also on another occasion, and thyme in a packet of mixed herbs, along with stacks of rosemary and bay). The result - spectacular, appreciated by all our lunch guests, despite some initial misgivings, since it was not a traditional dish.
So far, then , 2 out of 2 for Honey & Co's recipes, trialled by picky eaters who know what they like, and what they don't. We are considering the octopus in meshwiya sauce and celery salad ,and perhaps a tabule sald before returning home and may post again if we succeed. Our judgement to date - 5 stars. We particularly like the comments at the end of the prawns recipe which advises the cook to eat all the prawns in the kitchen, claim that they were ruined during the cooking and provide omelettes for the guests instead - we just avoided this step, but only because we had no eggs.
December 10, 2014
The best cookbook I've read this year!
Exactly the right amount of illustrations the food is beautiful & the instructions are easy to follow. So far I have made the Preserved Lemon Slices, the Savoury Cheesecake with the Aubergine topping option & the courgette fritters. I'm planning on making the Apricot & Pistaschio Tabule tomorrow.
Exactly the right amount of illustrations the food is beautiful & the instructions are easy to follow. So far I have made the Preserved Lemon Slices, the Savoury Cheesecake with the Aubergine topping option & the courgette fritters. I'm planning on making the Apricot & Pistaschio Tabule tomorrow.
June 19, 2017
Never before have I read a cookbook straight through from beginning to end. That was not my original intent when I went in search of Persian / Middle-Eastern food and found Honey & Co.'s cookbook. But I couldn't help myself: between the beautiful photographs and the charming (often hilarious) recipe introductions, I fell in love almost instantly. I had absolutely no other choice than to read every recipe, every anecdote, from cover to cover.
Itamar and Sarit are from Israel, and in the introduction, they tell the story of how they met, fell in love, got married, moved to London, and opened a restaurant. All through the rest of the book, with every recipe and story, they invite you to join in their playful and generous love of food. They introduce you to their favorite dishes, and to the restaurant crew, showing you around like a family friend. It is a wonderful experience.
I encourage you to find this book. Make the things you can, and dream about everything else. And even though you may now be an ocean or continent away, please go to London someday and visit my new close personal friends Sarit and Itamar at Honey & Co. They will be glad to see you.
:)
Itamar and Sarit are from Israel, and in the introduction, they tell the story of how they met, fell in love, got married, moved to London, and opened a restaurant. All through the rest of the book, with every recipe and story, they invite you to join in their playful and generous love of food. They introduce you to their favorite dishes, and to the restaurant crew, showing you around like a family friend. It is a wonderful experience.
I encourage you to find this book. Make the things you can, and dream about everything else. And even though you may now be an ocean or continent away, please go to London someday and visit my new close personal friends Sarit and Itamar at Honey & Co. They will be glad to see you.
:)
December 28, 2019
Good grief, why have I been buying labneh all this time when it was that easy to make?
I've gotten tired of cookbooks that read like hyperventilating food blogs or are more about the author talking about themselves than the food/cooking. When I saw the vast amount of real estate devoted to "Let me tell you ALL about our personal stuff," I almost abandoned it...which would have been a shame because, well, apricot pistachio tabbouleh. Besides, 80% of the chit chat is about running their restaurant and the things that happened on the way to getting to a cookbook, and it's in a sort of Bourdain-ish (may he RIP) Kitchen Confidential way. It's also relevant to food/cooking rather than turning into some kind of personal therapy session the way some cookbooks now do. There's a little bit TMI in some of the stories, especially in the way some people are described, but they make up for it with some really good recipes.
The authors are cooking in London, and that always makes me hesitant because there are some differences in ingredients between Europe and the US. The fat content in dairy products, for instance, is different. This is the first cookbook I've seen in a long time that addresses the differences between US and European flours and lists which US brands are closest to the type called for.
I have the Kindle version, and all navigation worked fine.
I've gotten tired of cookbooks that read like hyperventilating food blogs or are more about the author talking about themselves than the food/cooking. When I saw the vast amount of real estate devoted to "Let me tell you ALL about our personal stuff," I almost abandoned it...which would have been a shame because, well, apricot pistachio tabbouleh. Besides, 80% of the chit chat is about running their restaurant and the things that happened on the way to getting to a cookbook, and it's in a sort of Bourdain-ish (may he RIP) Kitchen Confidential way. It's also relevant to food/cooking rather than turning into some kind of personal therapy session the way some cookbooks now do. There's a little bit TMI in some of the stories, especially in the way some people are described, but they make up for it with some really good recipes.
The authors are cooking in London, and that always makes me hesitant because there are some differences in ingredients between Europe and the US. The fat content in dairy products, for instance, is different. This is the first cookbook I've seen in a long time that addresses the differences between US and European flours and lists which US brands are closest to the type called for.
I have the Kindle version, and all navigation worked fine.
February 2, 2015
The last time I tried making falafel, they all came apart the moment they hit the oil. I watched my eagerly-anticipated dinner disintegrate before my eyes. So, it was with considerable trepidation that I tried making falafel from one of the three recipes given in this cookbook: the Haifa-style (for purists) on page 93. The proportion of spices to chickpeas worried me a little (a tablespoon each of ground cumin and coriander to 125g—approximately half a cup—of dried chickpeas), but I went ahead with it anyway. They held together well, they were truly delicious, the spicing was perfect—in fact, I could have done with more coriander—and I will be making them again and again. Regularly.
Honey & Co. is a small restaurant in Warren Street, London, and this book tells the story of its proprietors, Itimar and Sarit, their love affair with each other and with food, the history of their venture, their quirky staff, their quirky customers, and their quirky customers who became their friends. It really is quite charming. Though I live in London, I’ve never been there, and I’m sorry that I haven’t. I’m sure it’s exactly the kind of place where, in the past, I used to eat lunch on a regular basis (often a vegetarian restaurant, though I’m not a vegetarian myself—for example Kumquat in Wellington, NZ, in the late 1970s, or Bennet & Luck, near Highbury Corner, London, in the mid-1990s), where the owners had a real passion for food and a vision for the cuisine they served, be it however so simple or humble, and I always ended up—you guessed it—becoming one of the owners’ and staff’s quirky friends!
Here, in this book, there is a nice variety of recipes, some of which sound delicious, some of which I only wish I had the time and patience to prepare (the octopus, page 200, for example; it’ll never happen). The instructions have a certain reassuring rusticity to them, which I found both comforting and encouraging.
However, one of the recipes (Whole stuffed chicken, page 170) had me seriously worried. A 1.5kg chicken, when tightly stuffed as instructed (presumably inside the body cavity, for it’s the orange slices that go under the breast-skin), will weigh in excess of 2kg. The cooking time given for this dish is 15 minutes at gas mark 9 (your oven doesn’t come any hotter), plus a further 15 minutes at gas mark 6 (the highest temperature you would normally roast meat at). Thirty minutes in total. End of.
Even if the stuffing is already cooked, this is seriously dangerous timing for chicken, especially if it’s going into a less-than-reliable domestic oven. The heat hasn’t a hope in hell of penetrating the stuffing. It’s barely going to make it to the poor bird’s bones. The only saving grace here is that the pair go on to describe how to test the chicken to see if it is properly cooked. I can almost guarantee you it won’t be.
Even so, the generosity of spirit that imbues this book is palpable, and over the course of this year I plan to make a number of its recipes—including the stuffed chicken, which I will be sure to cook by an alternative method, for 1hr 50m at gas mark 5, masking the breast with a couple of layers of cooking foil for maybe half of this time—and, surely, the fact that these recipes are so tempting that I want to try them out is a sign that this is a good cookbook.
Honey & Co. is a small restaurant in Warren Street, London, and this book tells the story of its proprietors, Itimar and Sarit, their love affair with each other and with food, the history of their venture, their quirky staff, their quirky customers, and their quirky customers who became their friends. It really is quite charming. Though I live in London, I’ve never been there, and I’m sorry that I haven’t. I’m sure it’s exactly the kind of place where, in the past, I used to eat lunch on a regular basis (often a vegetarian restaurant, though I’m not a vegetarian myself—for example Kumquat in Wellington, NZ, in the late 1970s, or Bennet & Luck, near Highbury Corner, London, in the mid-1990s), where the owners had a real passion for food and a vision for the cuisine they served, be it however so simple or humble, and I always ended up—you guessed it—becoming one of the owners’ and staff’s quirky friends!
Here, in this book, there is a nice variety of recipes, some of which sound delicious, some of which I only wish I had the time and patience to prepare (the octopus, page 200, for example; it’ll never happen). The instructions have a certain reassuring rusticity to them, which I found both comforting and encouraging.
However, one of the recipes (Whole stuffed chicken, page 170) had me seriously worried. A 1.5kg chicken, when tightly stuffed as instructed (presumably inside the body cavity, for it’s the orange slices that go under the breast-skin), will weigh in excess of 2kg. The cooking time given for this dish is 15 minutes at gas mark 9 (your oven doesn’t come any hotter), plus a further 15 minutes at gas mark 6 (the highest temperature you would normally roast meat at). Thirty minutes in total. End of.
Even if the stuffing is already cooked, this is seriously dangerous timing for chicken, especially if it’s going into a less-than-reliable domestic oven. The heat hasn’t a hope in hell of penetrating the stuffing. It’s barely going to make it to the poor bird’s bones. The only saving grace here is that the pair go on to describe how to test the chicken to see if it is properly cooked. I can almost guarantee you it won’t be.
Even so, the generosity of spirit that imbues this book is palpable, and over the course of this year I plan to make a number of its recipes—including the stuffed chicken, which I will be sure to cook by an alternative method, for 1hr 50m at gas mark 5, masking the breast with a couple of layers of cooking foil for maybe half of this time—and, surely, the fact that these recipes are so tempting that I want to try them out is a sign that this is a good cookbook.
December 8, 2015
I've a number of Mediterranean/Levantine cookbooks. This has become my very favorite. My copy has little paper bookmarks sticking out all over the place. Reflections on some recipes: Ashtanur-griddle bread--so easy and perfect comfort food. Labaneh-a cinch to make and so many ways to use. Apricot and pistachio tabbouleh--yummy take on a classic. Saffron and lemon syrup cake-beautiful and OMG yum. Orange blossom iced tea--perfect thirst quencher. The canned and pickled section is chockfull of easy starters. Tried recipes from every section and look forward to making many more. Only thing I don't see myself making is the octopus. I have made a commitment to let things with 8 appendages live in peace.
August 3, 2014
Rather a beautiful cookbook; this is full of recipes that sound and look delicious. I am really looking forward to testing some of these out and only with I had had this book at the start of the summer, because these look like ideal summer recipes. Will update once I've had a chance to test a few of these.
July 15, 2015
nom nom
August 7, 2015
Can I give this book 6 stars?! Wow!!!
March 16, 2024
I really like the recipes in this book...I marked about 30% of them to cook as soon as I had a chance.
But, the book has not been edited properly. For example, one recipe calls for either canned or home-cooked garbanzos, and referenced a page where how to cook dried garbanzos was described. Except it wasn't. What was described was how to soak the beans to prepare them for making falafel.
Another, less egregious error, was not providing a recipe for ras al hanout spice mix. I looked it up online, and it's very easy to make (just put a bunch of ground spices in a bowl and mix). And all the spices are likely to be in many people's spice racks. A well-thought out cookbook would have included a recipe for this mixture.
I haven't actually tried any of the recipes yet, and will try to remember to update this review after I've made a few
But, the book has not been edited properly. For example, one recipe calls for either canned or home-cooked garbanzos, and referenced a page where how to cook dried garbanzos was described. Except it wasn't. What was described was how to soak the beans to prepare them for making falafel.
Another, less egregious error, was not providing a recipe for ras al hanout spice mix. I looked it up online, and it's very easy to make (just put a bunch of ground spices in a bowl and mix). And all the spices are likely to be in many people's spice racks. A well-thought out cookbook would have included a recipe for this mixture.
I haven't actually tried any of the recipes yet, and will try to remember to update this review after I've made a few
August 29, 2020
Purchase Honey % Co here for just $10!
From shakshuka to tahini, modern Middle Eastern flavours abound in this gorgeous cookbook full of recipes that are easy to make, healthy, and mind-bendingly delicious.
Steph, The Book Grocer
From shakshuka to tahini, modern Middle Eastern flavours abound in this gorgeous cookbook full of recipes that are easy to make, healthy, and mind-bendingly delicious.
Steph, The Book Grocer
November 21, 2023
Recipes I'd like to try from here:
- Mint and lemon chicken with apricots & potatoes (p. 154)
- Beet kubbe soup (p. 168)
- Mujadra with salad & tahini (p. 214)
- Medias-zucchini filled with lemon rice & currants (p. 218)
- Butternut stew with dumplings (p. 222)
- My version of a maamool cookie (p. 260)
- Quince & cinnamon iced tea (for winter) (p. 273)
- Mint and lemon chicken with apricots & potatoes (p. 154)
- Beet kubbe soup (p. 168)
- Mujadra with salad & tahini (p. 214)
- Medias-zucchini filled with lemon rice & currants (p. 218)
- Butternut stew with dumplings (p. 222)
- My version of a maamool cookie (p. 260)
- Quince & cinnamon iced tea (for winter) (p. 273)
July 15, 2020
Beautiful recipes and charming anecdotes
I love middle eastern food and have a large collection of cookery books but was pleasantly surprised to see new and interesting recipes, not overly fussy - the cakes sound delicious, and I don’t normally cook cakes!
I love middle eastern food and have a large collection of cookery books but was pleasantly surprised to see new and interesting recipes, not overly fussy - the cakes sound delicious, and I don’t normally cook cakes!
March 26, 2019
Great recipes, highly recommend! Finally getting a smooth lovely hummus 🚀
June 12, 2019
Yum yum
If I never make any of these recipes,but I will. A new favorite cookbook. Just try it well worth the price.
If I never make any of these recipes,but I will. A new favorite cookbook. Just try it well worth the price.
December 13, 2019
One of my most used cookbooks.
November 1, 2020
One of the best cookbooks I've ever read. Can't wait for the pandemic to be over and visit the restaurant to meet the authors.
April 11, 2016
You might think that all one needs to do is put an adorable cookbook with a bright cover and pleasant size in front of me, and tell me it contains my favorite sort of Middle Eastern recipes, and I will assign it a 5-star recipe without thought. Well, that's not true. This one earns its 5 stars with my ideal mixture of witty descriptions and interludes, beautiful photographs... and my favorite sort of recipes in a pleasantly sized, brightly covered book. Honey & Co. will be the next addition to my collection.
June 2, 2015
I enjoyed the story behind this restaurant. I have always wanted to make cheese and now I know how. Cannot wait to try some of my own. I enjoy having recipes that I can make at home, that otherwise I could only have gotten at restaurants. It is a good read, and the ability to be able to create these recipes at home is a delight.
Thanks
Thanks
September 21, 2016
A delightful cookbook. I'll be sure to use the recipes, and the narrative was great.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews