The popular bar, owned by DJ pairing the Unabombers, hasn’t always lived up to their owners’ reputations when it came to the food offering though, not least when you consider the sort of standards set at Volta and more recently Refuge.
With that in mind I was intrigued to hear there had been a bit of a shake up in the kitchen, so we popped down last week to try some of the new dishes.
A simple to navigate menu brings together a selection of small plates and kebabs, think a sort of tear and share affair. One of the hallmarks of the Unabomber’s other venues is a pleasingly hard to pin down theme or cuisine and that same difficult-to-pigeonhole ethos is in effect here too with dishes spanning continents as ever.
We were encouraged to err on the side of dippers to go with kebabs so picked a couple. A smoked almond and chickpea dahl was thick with coconut cream and rich with fragrant spice and dried fruit. The beetroot borani topped with hazelnut and sharp, salty feta, brought sweet and earthy flavours to the table. It’s a dish I’ve enjoyed at Refuge before now and it proved perfect to dip our flatbreads in later.
For our final small one we picked the Keralan fried chicken which, with its crisp coating and succulent flesh, managed to pull off that all important feat of being dirty enough to be certified fried chicken but also containing nice cuts of meat, a vibrant lime leaf mayo completes the tasty basket.
Main courses come in the form of flatbreads with a choice of five tempting kebab style toppings, we opted for the Korean steak spiced with splashes of fermented flavour from gochujang chilli paste, miso and crunchy kimchi. The served-pink meat was deliciously tender too, this is not your standard late night meat on bread, perhaps there should be a few nervous kebab houses in the surrounding area.
Dessert isn’t part of the Yadda Yadda takeover, but there’s a good line of brownies available too, if you’re still hungry I’d recommend grabbing one with caramel sauce or the rocky road style topped with marshmallow.
You can find the Yadda Yadda menu every day of the week but Sunday, when the famous Electrik roasts still rule the roost. On Mondays it’s just a fiver per flatbread all day and Fridays between 5pm and 9pm mean Yadda Yadda Friday People’s Club (Y.Y.F.P.C) – A free beer, wine or cocktail with any Flatz kebabs (and live DJs thrown in too)!
Electrik Bar, 559 Wilbraham Rd, Manchester M21 0AE
0161 881 3315
electrikbar.co.uk
