Huge chunks of grilled chicken, plentiful bowl of humus, mountains of fries and colourful salads with pickles; a look through Bakchich’s warm windows gets your stomach grumbling.
Offering a more characterful and better value meal, with the opportunity to support a local business, Bakchich is the reason you should never go to Nando’s again.
Drawn in by the warm ambience and generous portions, I wanted to know whether the low prices and high turn over would come at a sacrifice of greasy grub not doing justice to the unique flavours anticipated of Lebanese cooking.
The restaurant has a casual and friendly atmosphere, energetic with noise from the open kitchen. There is a wide menu choice which caters for both vegetarians and the bone-knawers amongst us. Most dishes are accompanied by a choice of Arabic bread, rice or fries; if you’re craving carbs this is the sort of place it’s acceptable to order all three.
Surveying the extensive menu could leave the more indecisive diner a little stumped. A more profitable approach to choosing your meal is to sit eye-balling the dishes flying on and off the kitchen pass.
Mehdi, the restaurant director, informed me that the Shish Taouk (£8.95), is the most popular choice; succulent chicken chunks marinated in a highly delicious and unique-tasting Lebanese spice mix, it’s a good bet. Alternatively, the Lebanese Moussakka (£7.95) comprising of baked aubergines in a spicy tomato sauce with chickpeas impressed with a complex palate of tasty spices, it would rival the choice of meat options on my next visit.
A quartet of blue ramekins filled with tomato, harissa, tahini and garlic yogurt sauces are served with all meals and well evince the quirky and attentive details of the restaurant.
Halva, pistachios, dates, honey, sesame seeds, pomegranate – the constituent components of their ice-cream and frozen yogurts are all extremely enticing and round-up the meal with a sweet taste of the Mediterranean. The Lebanese coconut cheesecake (£3.50) is the top favourite dessert. I had the muhalabiya. This is a light milk-jelly flavoured with rose water which gave it a pleasing delicate taste, as opposed to that of a mouthful of Impulse spray, which is a skilful culinary balance with regards to rose-water.
Bakchich offers take-away boxes, if your plate defeats you, and has recently begun delivering with Deliveroo. All the meat served is halal. The chefs clearly enjoy producing good Lebanese grub and enhance the friendly nature of the bustling service. Everything is made fresh on site, with the exception of the Arabic bread which comes from their bakery in Manchester. If you’re still not convinced, go and survey their enticing menu: http://www.bakchich.co.uk/menu.php.
