Hadramout

It’s beyond inexcusable that I had my first ever Hadramout last week. How did it escape my attention all these years? How indeed!
Hidden away on one of the side streets off wilmslow road, this understated, simple décor eatery was a gem of a find. Arabic food has always registered on my radar perhaps once a month, but this discovery may change all that.
The menu is quite expansive and the pricing is extremely economically viable given the huge portions of food on offer. The roast lamb and chicken comes slow cooked with the rice and is nothing short of divine. One portion is easily big enough for two people and no one is gonna complain about food for the next few days it is THAT filling.
There’s also a host of sides that one can try, the lamb soup has a sharp taste that once engulfed by the palate has a delayed endorphin fuelled chemical reaction (in other words: its mint!)
I have therefore declared thursdays as Hadramout day. It’s a long menu and I intend to get through it next year! Canny wait.

I lived in the Middle East and ate Yemeni food weekly. Hadramout is a Yemeni restaurant and secret treasure in Manchester on Curry Mile. We arrived at the restaurant at just about noon when it opens. They saw us waiting outside though and let us in and gave us some karak tea! So warm and perfect. We thought that the only tables in the restaurant were downstairs at the entrance but it turns out there is a huge upstairs with carpeted rooms! There is a huge main room which seems to be for the men and then there are several smaller rooms in the family section. We decided to sit in one of the family rooms which is about the size for 2 people and maybe up to 4 if you squeeze in.
As usual we started off the meal with some maraq lamb broth soup and salad. The salad dressing and sahawiq are in bottles which is so clever! It works really well to squirt the sahawiq over everything and it wasn’t spicy here at all and tasted great with everything. I had also ordered some yogurt salad just in case to mediate any spiciness.
For main dishes, we got lamb kebsa and chicken fahsa. I had originally ordered chicken ogda but the Yemeni guy said they couldn’t make it in the black pots I think because there are too many bones. I don’t like bones in the chicken ogda anyway and so he offered to make chicken fahsa which would fit in the black pot. It was my first time trying chicken fahsa and it was really good. They made it with a tomato base so it actually tasted like the chicken ogda that I like! So perfect.
They also make malawah bread here which was awesome and made the meal complete. Another nice surprise is that they make fresh juice! We had fresh lime juice with the meal and it was really good.
For dessert, we had some fatta masoob. It’s very heavy and we were so full by the time we started to eat it but it was yummy.
Hadramout is many times better than Queen of Sheba Restaurant in London and also ¹⁄₃ the price! We paid £22 for 2 people for this amazing and perfect lunch at Hadramout.
For more information about Yemeni food, please visit here:

Offering ‘Traditional Yemeni Cuisine’, Hadramout is another Arab café-​restaurant worthy of note to the vegetarian, even if you do have to pick your way through the menu a bit. Décor is nice in an informal way — etched patterns in the glass, woven beech-​ply backs to the chairs, Arab news showing on the TV, Arab-​only family dining area through the curtain.
What looks like an older version of the menu is available to view online. Have a look at that, but you really need to go in a talk to the server as it is not a question of a big mezze selection you can see in the display fridge here. From the menu — and I have standardised the spellings for ease of Wikipediaing — vegetarian options include fasolada, ful medames, hummus, mutabal, shafout (a pancake?) and mixed vegetable stews served with a couple of types of rice or naan bread.
(OT: Checkout this page for a fascinating story of ful medames being cooked in the embers of fuel used to heat the baths in Cairo!
Maybe that sort of fuel economy will gain in popularity as we go beyond peak oil.)
I ordered far too much food, but it still only came to £6.70, see photos for the whole spread and individual dishes. Hummus came attractively spread across a stainless steel plate, accompanied by one of the best naan breads I have tasted — somehow crisp yet melting in the mouth, execution being everything with these Arab breads. I’m unsure of the name of the spicy mixed vegetable stew which came in a traditional Yemeni clay pot, accompanied by an outstanding baked rice dish. My server offered to switch the rice dish for something plainer, but I am glad I stuck with what I had — yellow with saffron and turmeric, plus some whole cloves for good measure, mmm! The veg dish was OK, lots of spices but not at all chili hot, and cleaner-​tasting than most Indo-​pak curries. But not hugely exciting either, with soft vegetables outnumbered a bit by potato, which didn’t fit well with the amount of carbohydrates I already had on the table! Still, my bad, and as my understanding is that the special rice and veg would have come to £4, that last comment has to be taken in context of the price! Also worthy of special mention were the two fresh sauces which I was handed — think salsa and a yoghurt sauce but both super-​fresh and done Yemeni-​style with regional herbs. That last point is worth repeating — don’t miss out on the sauces, folks!
I haven’t yet tried Hadramout’s desserts, made from Fatat (special Yemeni breadcrumbs) mixed with various sweet ingredients. For an alternative dessert option, Pastry House is at the end of Walmer Street East.
My server was very hospitable and good humoured — Arab hospitality at its best can be hard to beat and part of the attraction of these places!
Finally, Hadramout may well be the *only* Yemeni restaurant in Manchester. As a non-​Arab, I’m impressed by some OK and some outstanding and unique food they are offering in a pleasant environment — Hadramout has my custom!