Simon Shaw’s latest venture Habas is just stunning!
| 22nd July 2021
| 22nd July 2021
Simon Shaw’s latest venture Habas is just stunning! The first thing that strikes you about Habas, the new middle eastern eatery and bar is how simply gorgeous this space is.
It’s a sumptuous subterranean venue off King Street, the former wine cellar of the Manchester Club a heritage building, with a no-expense spared vibe that makes you glad you put on your glad rags and had a good old fashion treat. Something just about everyone needs right now.
It is all blue and golden velvet lazy chairs and booths, dotted perfectly with pieces from the middle east from heavy doors and flickering lanterns to artwork. It’s ideal for a date or just lounging with mates, with its main open kitchen designed to bring theatre and ambiance, and a choice of tables for bigger parties as well as intimate tete-a-tete nooks and crannies.
You can go just for drinks (cocktails from £8) and wines from £23 for bottles of the house, with a list that reflects the region, and there’s a promise of live music late into the night if you want to party in style.
You dine small plates style that come in waves, chosen to complement each other by the highly skilled chefs and influenced by cuisine from the med to Persia.
We started with a mezze to share, a bargain at £9.95, with little pots of dishes from humus to smokey baba ghanoush. They were also testing a liver parfait (a definite thumbs up from us). It comes with a perfect but tiny pitta bread made by Simon that morning and we ordered more pitta as well, we wanted to dip in without feeling stingy. It’s the perfect way to sip a drink, while I stuck with fizz and Sam introduced them to tequila and beer concept.
There’s dishes from all over the middle east and for those that don’t know Simon is renowned for his Mediterranean restaurants El Gato Negro and Canto, so this is his latest venture in small plate dining, taking in all the smoky flavours and dishes that mark those countries and one I’m very familiar with because half my family heralds from the region.
To my taste he got the flavours bang on in the mezze and I couldn’t wait to sample the other dishes (from £4.50). There’s plenty for vegetarians, vegans, pescatarian and carnivores, all served with the best and freshest of produce.
Stand outs for us were the prawns, served in their shells as they are marinated that way, and just a gorgeous dish. It’s messy to pull them apart of course but worth it and the sauce (again it’s I can’t use any other adjective but smokey) was the type I want to bottle and just eat with everything.
There wasn’t a disappointing dish and I personally love the whole small plates things as you dart around dishes and sample the different flavours. Lamb skewers were juicy and tender, a green leafy salad just so with a zing to cut through, while Sam raved over the seabream. Crispy cauliflower was also a crunchy hit.
There’s a lunch deal at £15 pp, available weekdays from noon until 5pm, which looks a bargain and you can add a drink for £2.50.
VIVA verdict. Divine. Enjoy.
To find out more and for bookings visit: Welcome to Habas, a new modern Middle Eastern-influenced restaurant in Manchester.