How Honey & Co hit the sweet spot

The modest subtitle of Honey & Co's debut cookbook, Food from the Middle East, published this month, doesn't begin to capture the richness and variety of the recipes sardines cured in vine leaves, oxtail sofrito, their celebrated feta and honey cheesecake. But it's not just about the superb dishes: the book also captures a sense of place, bottling the personality of the tiny, 10-table restaurant on London's Warren Street that won last year's Observer Food Monthly award for best newcomer. "It was surprising to us how much it developed into a community rather than a workplace," says Sarit Packer, who co-owns Honey & Co with her husband Itamar Srulovich.

More than anything, Honey & Co is about Sarit and Itamar, their warmth and humour and skill, as well as the deep love of food that drew them together. They met 10 years ago when Itamar started working at a Tel Aviv restaurant where Sarit was sous chef. She was the organised one ("a war machine with a Bolshevik work ethic," in his words), whereas Itamar was a bit of a dreamer. Was he a good employee?