Lebanese restaurant chain opens in Kingston with NatWest support

The group, which runs one of London’s leading all day trading Lebanese restaurant concepts, has opened the new outlet using a £375,000 loan from NatWest, provided as part of the bank’s Leisure Fund. The loan covered the cost of leasing the premises and funded refurbishment.

The Kingston restaurant follows hot on the heels of two recently-opened Comptoir Libanais eateries in Bluewater in Kent and Chelsea in London, and is the first outlet the group has opened in Surrey.

Along with the other two new outlets, the Kingston restaurant joins a stable of nine Comptoir Libanais spread across London. Described as ‘wildly popular’ by Time Out,  each Comptoir Libanais restaurant offers a host of authentic signature dishes that customers won’t find anywhere else in the south-east, ranging from hot and cold mezze (finger food) and richly flavoured tagines to fresh homemade lemonade, marinated grilled meats and fish, wine, beer and special recipe rose mint tea.

The restaurant interiors are all unique but consistently vibrant, providing a warm, hospitable and casual ambience.

Part of the team

Chaker Hanna, Managing Director of Levant Restaurants Group, worked with Nick Kalamaras, Senior Relationship Manager, Hotels & Leisure at NatWest to secure the loan.

Hanna said: “We are very excited about taking our unique concept into Kingston. Comptoir Libanais have been a huge success across London and we’re hoping to replicate that success with this new outlet.

“Nick was a great help in securing the loan we needed to grow our business. His knowledge of the restaurant industry is second to none - we really consider him part of the Comptoir Libanais team.”