IN the bowels of an Albert Square basement you’ll find, as is the norm in veteran eateries, signed photographs of the stars of yesteryear. On this evidence the Armenian Taverna & Restaurant, around since 1968, fed one George Best, footballer about town.
Nowadays, the star exposure is digital and transient, Twitter selfies and the like, rather than you’ve been framed – literally. When David Silva of Manchester City appeared at the late 2014 launch of La Bandera on Ridgefield, run by fellow Canary Islanders, his tweet of satisfaction went global.
Similarly United star Juan Mata’s family connections with a more recent Spanish arrival, Tapeo on Deansgate and appearance at its launch alongside teammate David de Gea, helped spread the word.
TOM gave five stars to both La Bandera and Tapeo but can’t really compete in the Premier League stardust stakes.
Which brings us back to the Armenian Taverna and its own unexpected sprinkling of stardust thanks to the Reds paying £23m to Borussia Dortmund for Armenia midfield ace Henrikh Mkhitaryan,
They’ve just posted a Facebook picture of a visit by Henrikh and United colleague Adnan Januzaj (born in Brussels to a Kosovar-Albanian family so probably struggling to find a restaurant allegiance).
We hope they enjoyed the meze and the murals and, pre-season being upon us, weren’t tempted by the excellent Ararat Armenian brandy (pictured).
Now all it needs is for Paul Pogba to roll up and start spending his modest paycheck on ‘Carré d’agneau, tian de courgettes au basilic’ at 63 Degrees in the Northern Quarter. Vive la Cuisine as they all shout at the Stretford End.
Armenian Taverna, 3-5 Princess St, Manchester M2 4DF. Tel: 0161 834 9025.