Since we last had dinner at the Armenian, two years ago, there’s been a major change. The building is in a prime location on Albert Square and has a history of catering to Mancunians. Back in the early years of the 20th century, as well as commercial offices, it was home to a branch of J Lyons Ltd, a national chain of cafes and teashops. Unfortunately, there was none of the benefit from that as, since opening in 1968, the restaurant has occupied space in the basement. It was, frankly, quite dingy, claustrophobic and with very dated decoration and furnishings. But all this has changed. Three months ago, they moved to the ground floor and it’s now a bright, very modern, space with a large window looking out on the Town Hall and an enormous feature chandelier. I can’t recall a greater physical transformation for a restaurant. It looks great.
Now, truth be told, when we visited in 2022 it was the first time for, literally, decades. And we came away concluding that, whilst we’d had a nice evening, it may not have been worth the schlep into the city. But, spotting the revamp when we’d passed by on a tram, a few weeks ago, we thought we’d give it another try. The menu is, I think, the same as a couple of years back and will be familiar to anyone who knows the food of the surrounding area of Turkey and the Middle East. Expect the likes of dips and kebabs but sometimes done with a twist, along with specific Armenian dishes.
Babaghanoush is a regular order for us in Lebanese restaurants. It’s usually just a dip. Here, it’s a thinnish layer of aubergine puree in the bowl, with none of the smokiness you’d expect, and then topped with a chopped salad of tomato, onion and peppers in a very sharp oil and lemon dressing. With a bit of spice in there, the topping felt a bit like a salsa. We had some of the house made thin lavash bread to go with it for scooping. Khachapuri is another flatbread – thicker and fluffier – a bit like naan. Here they bake strips of spicy beef (basturma) into it and top it with cheese and a runny egg which, mixed together give the bread a lovely savoury moistness.
For mains, there was a shish khorovadz – the Armenian take on the well known lamb kebab. It comes with salad. It also came with the not uncommon problem of shish – some chunks of meat perfectly tender but others a bit overly chewy. Comes with lots of onion, a little mixed salad and a couple of slices of fried potato. But it’s delicious. As well as all the specific Armenian dishes, the restaurant does reach out to other local cuisines, in this case to Georgia for khinkali. Four large dumplings filled with veal, pork and a thin broth – think giant sized Chinese dim sum dumplings. Not something we’d come across before, as such. Perfectly fine but a bit of greenery on the plate would have given more balance. I think I’d have enjoyed a kebab more.
We didn’t fancy dessert so just got coffee. One espresso and one Armenian coffee. Didnt like the latter at all – a lack of flavour except for an unpleasant bitterness. Service had been friendly and the restaurant was doing well for a Sunday evening. At least with its new location, passersby will see that it’s there and hopefully the business will continue for decades more.
