Alongside Lily's vegetarian Indian restaurant which I've yet to visit, Café Mozaic has been one of two places in Ashton-under-Lyne on my 'to do' list for absolutely ages. I'm so glad I finally got round to visiting, because this place is a real gem.
The café, run by a husband and wife team who hail from Morocco and Stockport respectively, serves Moroccan and Lebanese food. Kebabs, tagines and salads are all pre-cooked on the premises then displayed in a large glass fronted chiller cabinet for you to choose from.
It all looked pretty good so I couldn't resist the offer of 'a bit of everything' for the daily special price of just £4.80.
What arrived was an enormous plate weighed down with exceptionally good food. Lamb and chicken keftas were moist and delicately spiced, two different tagines were subtly different, one tomatoey and the other darker and fragrant with cinnamon.
The salads were no afterthought, proper zesty tabbouleh (proper in that it was a parsley salad flecked with bulgur wheat, not the other way round) and pickled chillies were an excellent counterpoint to all the meat. Cumin spiked carrots and a creamy potato salad were also spot on.
Even the carbs were a cut above, two types of rice were hidden beneath the meat dishes, one of which was a lovely plump, nutty short grain variety I don't think I've had before.
None of the food suffered from its microwave reheating, so I really couldn't fault anything about it. It would compare favourably with what's served in some restaurants for well over twice the price. Excellent.
9/10
19 Warrington Street
Ashton-under-Lyne
OL6 6AZ
http://www.cafemozaic.co.uk/
The café, run by a husband and wife team who hail from Morocco and Stockport respectively, serves Moroccan and Lebanese food. Kebabs, tagines and salads are all pre-cooked on the premises then displayed in a large glass fronted chiller cabinet for you to choose from.
It all looked pretty good so I couldn't resist the offer of 'a bit of everything' for the daily special price of just £4.80.
What arrived was an enormous plate weighed down with exceptionally good food. Lamb and chicken keftas were moist and delicately spiced, two different tagines were subtly different, one tomatoey and the other darker and fragrant with cinnamon.
The salads were no afterthought, proper zesty tabbouleh (proper in that it was a parsley salad flecked with bulgur wheat, not the other way round) and pickled chillies were an excellent counterpoint to all the meat. Cumin spiked carrots and a creamy potato salad were also spot on.
Even the carbs were a cut above, two types of rice were hidden beneath the meat dishes, one of which was a lovely plump, nutty short grain variety I don't think I've had before.
None of the food suffered from its microwave reheating, so I really couldn't fault anything about it. It would compare favourably with what's served in some restaurants for well over twice the price. Excellent.
9/10
19 Warrington Street
Ashton-under-Lyne
OL6 6AZ
http://www.cafemozaic.co.uk/
Wow! That looks bloody good for £4.80!
ReplyDeleteIt was! Immense!
ReplyDeleteWe absolutely love this place too, almost had them do our wedding breakfast!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they'd have done you proud!
ReplyDeleteThis food does look good, just a pity Ashton is such a dog-hole.
ReplyDeleteI quite like Ashton!
ReplyDelete