If the title of this post means absolutely nothing to you, don’t be alarmed. Electrik is a friendly neighbourhood bar and restaurant in the popular Manchester suburb of Chorlton, while Yadda Yadda is the kitchen ‘takeover project’ that has now turned into their full-time menu fare.
But let’s step it back a little. Just before Christmas, the lovely folks that manage Electrik invited me down to try out the newly-launched Yadda Yadda menu. They had been running it as a sort of summer pop-up for a few months, but it had been so well-received that the owners had decided to make it permanent.
Now, up until this point I’d actually never stepped foot inside Electrik, either for food or for drinks, instead preferring downtown haunts like their sister restaurant The Refuge. So I went in with no preconceived notions of what constituted a good experience.
But the Yadda Yadda menu really intrigued me, featuring a fusion of both Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food.
We started with cocktails while we perused the menu; a Burnt Pineapple Caipirinha for me and a Bottle Aged Old Fashioned for him.
The drinks were well-made for what I had wrongly assumed to be a predominantly beer-focused bar. They certainly whet our appetites for what was to come.
The Yadda Yadda menu features a range of homemade kebabs and a selection of small plates that can be ordered a la carte depending on how hungry you were.
We had obviously (!) brought our appetites and after a little guidance from the waiter, we ordered a kebab each and three side dishes / small plates to share.
The Smoked Almond Dahl came out first – a little metal bowl of creamy spiced deliciousness that featured chickpeas, apricots, dates and coconut.
Chickpeas were melt-in-the-mouth soft and the crispy topping turned it into a dish that I could easily have eaten a whole plateful of.
Then came the Keralan Fried Chicken.
Now, I don’t know why I’m constantly surprised by the quality of homemade fried chicken, but I am. And this was no exception. The secret blend of herbs and spices in the batter would give a certain Colonel a run for his money and the and the creamy lime leaf mayo was like little mouthfuls of South East Asia. Tender, crunchy and tangy.
I opted for the Jerk White Fish Kebab, topped with mango salsa, green harissa and white cabbage.
The soft fish was slightly overwhelmed by the amount of greens on top and wasn’t quite spicy enough to withstand the vinegar tang of the cabbage and the sweetness of the salsa, but when eaten as a whole with the – homemade, no less – flatbread, it was much lighter than any other ‘kebab’ I’ve ever eaten before.
Scott’s Lemongrass Chicken Shawarma certainly looked the part, crammed as it was with colours and cooling cucumber raita. The juicy chunks of meat and pop of sweetness from the poquillo peppers made it a really satisfying main meal.
Our side dish was the Salt and Pepper Fries. Although they didn’t quite have the heat (and multiple layers of grease) of a Chinese takeaway, they were a noble imitation.
For me, the knockouts here were the small plates, all packed with flavour and worthy of being a complete meal in their own right. The homemade flatbreads are also certainly deserving of an honourable mention.
- 559 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, Manchester M21 9AN
- Open Sun – Thurs 12pm – 12.30am, Fri and Sat 12pm – 1.30am
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