The Moroccan Soup Bar isn’t really a bar, and I’ve never seen anyone eating soup there. Nevertheless, with its verbal menu and widely lauded chickpea bake, it remains one of my girlfriend’s favourite places to eat and a sentimental favourite

I was characteristically torn. On the one hand, there was the principle of the thing: I had been a fan of Paul Mathis’ SOS—its food, its wine list, its eco-friendly intentions—since it opened in mid-2006, and had been disappointed to