When I was little, my Mum's cookery books were divided into two groups: the everyday ones, which lived in the kitchen, and the more unusual ones, which lived in a closed bookcase in the dining room. I opened the doors occasionally, but the first book I took out, when I was 16 or so, was Claudia Roden's A Book of Middle Eastern Food. It was an utter revelation: all sorts of ingredients and combinations that I'd never imagined before; I fell in love instantly.
It's still my favourite non-British cuisine, both to cook at home and to eat out. Al Shami, a Lebanese in Jericho, even made it to my top ten Oxford restaurants earlier this year. It's fair to say I was therefore pretty excited when I spotted that a new Lebanese restaurant was opening on the Cowley Road, particularly given the website's boast about their "fluffy falafels".
Well, the falafels weren't all that fluffy, but they were one of the few dud notes of the two meals I've eaten there since. Both times I've ordered from their very extensive mezze selections, with a range of some more standard dishes (hummus) and some more unusual ones (tiny little stonebaked pizzas with a thick topping of thyme, sumac, and sesame seeds is a new favourite of mine). All the dishes are beautifully presented in gorgeous ceramics, encouraging you to abandon all sense of table manners and simply grab whatever you fancy, even if your dining companions already have their fork in the bowl.
There are some stand out dishes: the pizzas mentioned earlier, the moussaka (an aubergine and chickpea stew, rather than the Greek baked dish), the moutabal, and the little cumin-spiked sausages. There's also a fantastic range for vegetarians and those with gluten or nut intolerances; the waiting staff are by far the most knowledgeable about the menu that I've encountered in a long time, and did a fantastic job advising us on both visits.
Less good were the falafels, which turned out to be somewhat stodgy and a little lacking in herbs and spices, and the bread, which was dried out rather than warm and floppy. There were also some service hiccups, which I hope are simply early-day mistakes which will soon be resolved. On both occasions I ate there, we ordered a bottle of white wine, and on both occasions it turned up warm. Apologies were made, but how hard is it to refrigerate wine before a customer tries to order it? Responsibilities between various members of the waiting staff also don't seem to be entirely clear, with some orders having to be repeated to different members of the team, and some miscommunications between members of the team, but I suspect that as everyone settles down, these issues will be resolved.
It's still no Al Shami, but Pomegranate is a great addition to the Cowley Road food scene, and I'll certainly be back for more.
Details:
Pomegranate Lebanese Kitchen
Website
126 Cowley Road
01865 241 260
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