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Cedar Tree (The)

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Liam Hetherington
Liam Hetherington
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3 out of 5
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2) The Cedar Tree - Labaneseasy-Peasy

2) The Cedar Tree - Labaneseasy-Peasy

Lebanon - 30/12/08

The very next night I was meeting up again with Paul for drinks. Out of all the diners the previous evening Paul had been most enthusiastic about the mad-cap scheme to travel ‘Around the World in 80 Meals’ without leaving Manchester. So after a few pints we thought we might as well carry on and try to get through as many as we could while we had the chance.

We were drinking in the Northern Quarter, still quite an ungentrified district despite the influx of cutting-edge bars. This district between Piccadilly Gardens and Ancoats sees vintage clothing boutiques nestle alongside the warehouses of the city’s once booming ‘rag trade’ and counter-cultural nightspots sit cheek-by-jowl with sleazy-looking ‘adult shops’. The bar in which we sat was a prime example. In a previous incarnation as The Kings it was a dodgy backstreet boozer with sticky floors, suspicious regulars, a pool table and apalling karaoke. We loved it. However it has now reinvented itself as The Northern a sleek bar with plush decoration, a gastropub-like menu, and a DJ playing classic Manchester tunes.

I work not far from here, and often passed a Lebanese restaurant on Thomas Street. Walking back, we found The Cedar Tree open, so in we went. The décor could best be described as inimitable, with a fairy-lit green grotto running along one wall. Likewise the menu. It offered a great variety (the patron, Hassan, learnt cooking from his grandmother and can reputedly prepare over a thousand dishes). However, the menu itself was printed in Beirut and something seems to have got lost in translation along the way… in particular pay no attention to which dishes are marked as ‘suitable for vegetarians’ and ask instead as the green ‘v’s appear to have been placed randomly!

Lebanese food has a good reputation. Principally it is famed for mezze, little starters and salads to share between a party like tapas in Spain. With there just being the two of us we went easy on the mezze – just some hummous (chickpea paste), baba ghanouj (aubergine puree) and some bread for dipping. I also insisted on some tabouleh, the parsley, tomato and cracked wheat salad to have with our mains. Each of these dishes cost around £4.00. We just had water to drink; the restauarant does not have a license, though it operates a Bring Your Own policy, charging £1.50 corkage.

So far so good (and so zingy with lemon juice and Levantine herbs). Our main courses were more expensive, around £14.00 each. Paul had opted for Faroug Meshwi, a grilled baby chicken served with salad. It came out looking the perfect brown. Though essentially, Paul noted, all it was was a roast chicken, much as you could get anywhere, and hence he was left feeling slightly flat. I had been torn between several dishes, notably the shish tawouk (chicken kebab) that had proved a favourite in Egypt. However, I then noticed that for much the same price I could have a mixed grill, where the chicken kebab would be accompanied with shish kebab and a minced lamb kofta, so that was what I went for. The kofta was a bit so-so, but the two different kebabs were just lip-smackingly great with the flavours of lemon and coriander.

Overall, the bill came to around £20.00 each – more than you would expect to pay for this sort of food over in the near east I’d wager. I was perfectly happy with my meal, while Paul was a touch disappointed.

(Other Lebanese restaurants in Manchester include Fatoosh in Rusholme and Bawadi Café on Cheetham Hill Road. Having dined at Bawadi previously I can certainly recommend them both for the scope of the menu and their eagerness to please – and not forgetting their delicious flat breads!)

From journal Around the World in 80 Meals! (part 1)

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