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Restaurant and dining guide

Neil Sowerby
Close on two million folk have viewed Nana Mouskouri’s YouTube rendition of Amazing Grace. In case you’ve missed it, she’s very soft focus in a church surrounded by other Greek Icons, the gilt-daubed ones. She has the look of Roy Orbison in drag, but the Big O was never this bland. I just don’t get it. In the way I just don’t get Zorba, retsina, dayglo taramsalata, women with moustaches, Ulysses taking so long to get home, all the Hellenic baggage.

My once ordering a mouskouri instead of moussaka while under the influence of bouzouki (sic) – and being reprimanded by a man with a moustache that would look bad on a walrus – was the last straw. I rarely do Greek. Even in Kefalonia and Ithaca the other year I failed to appreciate what was on my plate. Usually the same staples at every restaurant.

The last one I reviewed herewas Louella and Stuart Astin’s Fallowfield stalwart, the Kosmos Taverna. It was cosy and affordable, but the food just didn’t sing like our Nana. We sampled lots of little meze portions but it wasn’t an amazing graze.
Yet the buzz coming out of the Printworks about a new Greek place was like the call of a particularly untrustworthy siren. One I had to answer. Despite the venue. Apart from cinema trips and Guinness-fuelled confessions in the pews of St Waxy’s, I rarely trouble the Shudehill pleasure palace. Dining out there is a case of being caught between a Hard Rock and a Nando place.

Japanese eaterie Wasabi introduced an individual note last year. Now it is joined by Papa G’s, which occupies a former discount jean store opposite the Odeon.
We turned up after the lunchtime rush but with the chance to catch, if we so craved, the 4pm screening of Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. Not the kind of extra you get at The Fat Duck.

Bizarrely youthful owner Angelo Gabrilatsou, aka Papa G, has thoroughly transformed the erstwhile den of denim. Bright pinks and oranges, shiny wood, lots of glass and a discreet bar float the boat between all-day family-friendly diner and serious restaurant. Fine service and a small but beautifully formed wine list suggested the latter, relentless ‘muzak’ and an ecstatically braying donkey on the menu tipping it towards the former.

Families are certainly catered for. The smaller members of the family get more than a pad and crayons. Under the stairs, nice touch, there’s a mini-library to test their literacy skills, though I imagine the crepe carte might be even more attractive reading.
There are pastas, pizza and burgers to further dilute the Greek-Cypriot essence of the place - and the talents of head chef Yiannis, previously under David Gale at the Hilton Podium restaurant. But this can’t be a cheap lease, so it’s understandable if Angelo is following the tenets of situation, situation, situation and what the marketplace wants, while staying true to his pledge of quality raw materials.

Angelo’s grandparents came over from Cyprus in the Thirties to sell lace and later ran restaurants in Bolton and Wilmslow. Their legacy is obvious in the charcoal barbecue.
If our two to share meze starter (£12.95) had rounded up the usual suspects no more than adequately (plaudits for crisp calamari, dinky spicy sausages and aranchini mushroom risotto balls), the two souvlaki mains we ordered promised more, each at £14.45.
The skewered tiger prawns were few and greasy but the chicken, lamb and sausage in the mixed grill were terrific. Accompanying fat chips were wrinkled and flabby.
For old times’ sake we had to try the mouskouri, sorry moussaka. Papa G’s don’t do a meat version but a wild mushroom and aubergine number, lighter on the stomach and certainly lighter on the purse at £8.95 on a price list that soon adds up.
With a creamy white sauce and stodgy halloumi cheese it felt like a pub veggie lasagne (they also do a. ‘Greek-style lasagne with meat). Perhaps the traditional six-hour braised beef stifado or kleftiko might have been a better bet.

The (inexpensive) puddings were no more than OK. Papa’s ice cream sundae (£3.95) smothered baklava and ice cream in gluey chocolate sauce, while the vanilla cheesecake with mixed berry sauce at £4.45 was fine, but no tastier than the example from Marks along the road.

A stand-out of the meal was a delicious Thesaurum red from Italy’s Veneto region from a list that avoided the New World – and Cyprus/Greece. At a very reasonable £18.95 this mix of traditional corvina and interloper cabernet sauvignon smelt of violets and tasted of cherries. Gorgeously mellow. Wine by the glass is from £3.45 and there’s ouzo and Metaxa brandy if you want to make the whole set-up feel more authentic. A few more Greek dishes might help. Be bold, Angelo. Just avoid the plate smashing thing and Nana Mouskouri tapes.


The Printworks
27 Withy Grove
Manchester
M4 2BS
T: 0161 834 8668
Mon-Sat 12pm-11pm, Sunday 12pm-10.30pm.