Altrincham Duck

After spending the morning and early afternoon cheering on the Manchester marathon runners in Altrincham I'd worked up an appetite and decided that a visit to Yara was in order. Yara has been a firm favourite in Altrincham for about 6 years now and I have been more times than I can remember. It's got to the stage where I don't even bother looking at the menu as I know it back to front. I doubt there are many people in Altrincham/Hale that haven't been to Yara, but for those who are yet to try this eatery - you're missing out. Yara serves Lebanese and Syrian cuisine and their menu can be found here.  

A unique selling point for this Altrincham restaurant is that for a £1 corkage fee, you can bring your own alcohol. The restaurant is licenced and serves a range of Lebanese wines and beers as well as main stream brands. As you'll know, the drinks bill at most restaurants (especially if there is a group of you) can be bigger than the food bill. Not so here. You'd be forgiven for assuming that in order to make up this deficit, the food would be overpriced and relatively expensive. But, brilliantly, it isn't. This place is always busy and you'll need to book at the weekends. Such is Yara's popularity that they recently extended the restaurant to meet demand. 

Good food, reasonable prices and £1 corkage on your own booze is always going to be a winner. I'm suprised more restaurants haven't adopted this policy. 

I really appreciate the small personal touches offered by our local restaurants. At Yara, there's always a complimentary bowl of olives waiting for you at your table. Far preferable to those restaurants were a bowl of food is thrust upon you without warning and guess what?...it's added onto the bill! 

For starters I ordered jawaneh (Chicken wings marinated in lemon juice, garlic and spices, grilled on charcoal) and my wife opted for lahembajeen (flat filo pasty, topped with minced lamb, onions, pomegranate sauce and pine kernals). 

Both starters came to the table within 10 minutes. The jawaneh was perfectly cooked and seasoned with a nice crispy skin from the charcoal grill. The lahembajeen was plentiful with a lovely topping of spiced lamb. 

When it comes to main courses at Yara, there's only one option (well two!) for the Ninja Duck and his lady, and they are as follows...: 

Lamb chops (several of them cooked on the grill with Mediterranean spices and onions) served with lentil rice
Grilled salmon (marinated in herbs and spices cooked on the charcoal grill)  served with chips and a side order of fattoush salad (chopped tomato, spring onions, radish, herbs, roasted bread and garlic with lemon juice and olive oil). 

I usually skip lunch when visiting Yara as the food portions are fit for a king and many a time I have asked for a doggy bag to take the left overs home.  

I have never had a bad meal at Yara and I strongly recommend you try it.  

I'm now going to bed to sleep off my food coma, so on that note, I bid you goodnight.