Turkish and Middle Eastern food is all the rage in Bucharest right now and one of the liveliest spaces to sample enormous kebabs and plates of hummus and baba ganoush is Divan, where waiters in traditional Ottoman garb dazzle the crowds.

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Although he has only been in the kitchen since Easter, the results are impressive, starting with a range of raw vegetables accompanied by an intensely smoky baba ganoush, the existing Petersham brand of extra virgin olive oil and pita bread.

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Once you have shopped within a whisker of your luggage allowance, grab a Lebanese mezze lunch outdoors at Cafe Layali Zaman on the Corniche (look for the "Baguette" sign), where the hummus is perfectly garlicky, the baba ganoush a smoky, aubergine dream and you might choose to accompany your Arabic coffee with a sweet-scented shisha water-pipe.

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