Modern Middle Eastern bar and restaurant Habas has launched a new seasonal menu and it’s full of flavour. The restaurant, which launched in June 2021, has enjoyed significant success since opening, earning a Michelin listing just five months to follow launch.
Now, as the restaurant embraces the new season, Head Chef Craig Rutherford has introduced a new menu that sees large mains dishes and sharing platters complement the restaurant’s signature mezze plates. It’s a change in the style of presentation that he says: “really allows us to boast about the flavours we’re doing and show off the quality of Middle Eastern dishes that we can work to.”
It’s a well-balanced menu that caters for all dietary requirements, something Rutherford feels passionately about. Speaking on the launch he said: “When I started in kitchens vegetarian and vegan dishes were a second thought, they weren’t a concern they were more of an inconvenience. There’s been a big and welcome shift in the industry now.
“It’s a challenge for a chef. Can we make a vegan dish just as good, just as tasty and with as much going on as a meat dish? I think we can, I think we have; I find it interesting, and a welcome challenge.”
Featuring on the mains menu are two new vegan dishes Rutherford is really happy with – the chargrilled aubergine, salted and cooked through the Josper so that it’s really smoky, charred and caramelised, and served with white beans, chilli, mint and crispy chickpeas (vg) (£16); and the sweetcorn falafel, which is fried so that it’s nice and crispy and then really flaky inside. The dish is served with a pea and mint salad, hummus and bulgar wheat (vg) (£16).
Two of his own favourite mains plates are the dry age beef featherblade – curried beef shoulder served with harissa roasted squash, onion and almond picada (£20), and the chicken tagine – a classic winter warming dish featuring chicken and vegetable tagine with preserved lemon and olive dressing (£18).
Both feature alongside the tiger prawns – red pepper and sumnac prawns, labneh and mini pittas (£19), and chicken shwarma kebab served with homemade pitta and pickled red cabbage (£18).
Complementing all mains plates are a number of new side dishes including spiced aubergine tagine served with lemon yogurt and toasted lavosh bread (v) (£7); glazed baby carrots (vg) (£5); roasted squash – brown butter and harissa roasted squash served with toasted pine nuts (v) (£7), and minted peas with feta (v) (£4.50).
For guests looking to share in a selection of dishes Rutherford has introduced two new platters – the mixed grill including chargrilled beef fillet; merguez sausage; Barnsley chops; harissa chicken skewer; braised rice and roasted vegetables (£45), and the vegetable platter (v) featuring harissa roasted squash; chargrilled aubergine; sweetcorn falafel; batata harra; braised rice; roasted sweet peppers and zhug dressing (£30).
A number of new desserts complete the menu including warm winter berry babka and homemade biscoff cream (£6.50), crispy fried doughnuts with orange and cardamom custard (v) (£7), and spiced apple and caramel ‘baked Alaska’ (vg) (£6.50).
Speaking on the motivation behind the new menu Rutherford said: “The new menu is a different interpretation of what we do. It’s a hybrid menu of both small and large plates; it’s exciting for us. It’s been a lot of hard work to get to this point, developing the menu and the flavours, and organising ourselves operationally. It’s a totally different style of service, but still with that feel that we have throughout the business – very comfortable, not pressured, not rushed, not pretentious in any way – a premium experience but at a really relaxed and approachable level.
“I’m really happy with what we’ve achieved; available alongside our set £15 lunch menu there’s something for everyone.”
Coinciding with the launch of the new menu Habas is pleased to unveil a number of interior updates, with a series of soft velvet booths lining the front of the central kitchen and providing a first-hand view of Rutherford and his accomplished team at work.
Further lounge seating in the snug invites guests to settle into the longer nights and sample all that the Habas’s expert team of bartenders has to offer, with rich trailing foliage lining the entrance to the lower ground floor restaurant and running throughout, providing an additional point of interest.
The new seasonal menu is available at Habas now. For further information or to make a reservation please visit: www.habas.co.uk.
Habas occupies the old wine cellars of the magnificent former Manchester Club building, at 43a Brown Street, Manchester. The modern Middle Eastern restaurant and bar offers 200 covers, catering for intimate tables of two through to large parties of up to 120. Christmas bookings are open now.
