DAMMIT, I forgot to order a Bloody Sirine to round off a light-hearted lunch at Comptoir Libanais, our midwinter mood lifted by the near-psychedelic riot of yellows, oranges and turquoises all around (think of its souk-inspired, colourfully tiled interior as the anti Hawksmoor). The coffee was spot on as you’d expect in a Lebanese deli/cafe but somehow their take on the Bloody Mary (think harissa and sumac infiltrating the tomato juice and you’ve got it) should have been our homage to ‘Big Sister’ gazing down on us.
You can’t really escape the sultry visage of Sirine Jamal al Dine. Comptoir co-founder Tony Kitous has annexed the Sixties Arabic movie star for his branding – from the giant vintage-style poster on the wall to place mat menus. It’s like going down Jamie Oliver’s to find Julie Christie distracting you from his ‘Famous Prawn Linguine’.
Equally diverting at the Comptoir is the wealth of goods on offer from bottled versions of the comestibles, harissa, halva to colourful shopping baskets, tagines and spin-off cookery books toting Sirine’s mug, naturally. It’s tempting to stray from your table. You could easily get disoriented – their first Manchester outlet is twice the size of the largest of the 10 or so around London – especially if you had discounted the effect of one of their home-made lemonades enlivened with a shot of rum, gin or vodka for £6.95.
We stuck to wine from a small but nifty list chosen by Kitous’ MD, Chaker Hanna. A large (£8) glass of Blanc de Blancs from the Bekaa Valley winery Chateau Ksara was a fresh, herby complementary blend of semillon, sauvignon and chardonnay, perfect for our starter dips, old Middle
Eastern favourites but done well – the baba ghanuj (£5.25) combo of smoked aubergine, tahini lemon juice shading a slightly underpowered fool moudamas (£3.95). The crushed fava beans needed more oil and perhaps a chilli kick.
The fattoush salad (£5.25) was terrific, though. Mint, pomegranate, sumac, the flavours of the Levant, with crispy baby gem, and even crispy toasted pita pieces.
These three dishes are available as part of a mezze platter (small £8.75, large £14.95), which is where I’d probably go with Comptoir, perhaps with a kibbeh or sambousek, a filled pastry parcel. The canteen style cries out for you to share simpler stuff.
A £10.25 lamb, squash and prune main again lacked spice and was so dry its juices barely tinged the obligatory couscous.
I preferred a much simpler lamb dish, the Lebanese ‘pizza’ called, Lahme Man’ousha (£8.95), this variant specially created as a Manchester signature dish. Here the lamb is minced and baked jn the clay oven on a flat bread with diced onions, pepper and chilli, fragrantly topped with mint leaves, pomegranate seeds, a wedge of lemon and pomegranate molasses.
A top-end red from Ksara, Reserve du Couvent (£9.45), supple despite its dark fruit heft, accompanied well.
We also ordered from the baklawa array, a selection of five pieces and were defeated by all the pastries’ sheer sweetness, so wolfed the Mouhalabia (£4.45) ‘a traditional Lebanese milk pudding flavoured with rose syrup and topped with toasted pistachios’ strikingly reminiscent of a panna cotta.
Comptoir Libanais, 18-19 The Avenue, Spinningfields, M3 3HF. 0161 672 3999.
