Middle Eastern part 1 - Ottoman Palace, Camden

I found myself eating Turkish (or similar) cuisine twice in a day recently. Nothing wrong with that, you might think, and indeed there isn't, it just wasn't entirely planned that way.

The first was lunch in Ottoman Palace on Camden High Street. Now the weekday lunch market in Camden is pretty competitive, and as a result you can eat plentifully and well for under a tenner at a large variety of establishments.

One such is Ottoman Palace. They used to do a reasonably-priced lunchtime buffet, but now lunch is an a la carte affair. It is still cracking value for money - £6.95 for one course, £7.95 for two, £8.95 for three. Or you can have a no-choice menu several mezze to share, followed by vegetarian moussaka, for £8.95.

Greedy folk that we were, we went for the three courses. I had the patlican soslu, a kind of cold stew of aubergines, tomato and onion - think ratatouille without courgettes. Presentation was simple, but that didn't detract from the clear flavours. I managed to nab a bit of my dining companions' falafel and tzatziki, which were both pretty good.

In a striking display of originality, we all had the vegetarian moussaka next. It was one of the better ones I've had - not too stodgy, with a nice cheesy bechamel on top. The base was weighted with slices of potato that, like the aubergines, had absorbed flavours of olive oil and tomato,  but it wasn't too heavy on potatoes.

The lunch set menu does not provide for a choice of dessert but hey, we were only paying an extra quid, and equally exciting, we got a variety of desserts on the plate anyway. Admittedly they were all dinky, but we got a piece of baklava, a wobbly piece of something between a cream caramel and a blancmange, plus a cube of something that was richly chocolatey, dense and stuffed with hazelnuts. All in all I was a happy woman.

I didn't sample the wine list, but there are wines from around the world, starting from £13.50. Instead I had ayran, a Turkish yoghurt drink that is brilliantly refreshing, though some might consider it an acquired taste.

Service was pretty good, and efficient enough to fit a meal into a lunch hour. Despite the low menu prices, they didn't add a service charge to the bill.

I left feeling as stuffed as one of the vine leaves on the menu. Some would say that going out to dinner later in the day was the last thing I needed, but such is my dedication to duty...

A report of my Turkish dinner to follow.

Ottoman Palace
14-16 Camden High Street
Camden London
NW1 0JH
020 7383 7245
www.ottomanpalace.co.uk