Lightly Grilled Kada Bendaha, Moorish
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Lightly Grilled: Kada Bendaha, Moorish
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It was more than four years ago that Moorish first opened its doors. Sat right next to Hyde Park, it was originally a coffee shop selling herbal teas and shisha, but it has evolved to become a quality restaurant with a menu encompassing French, Arabic, Spanish, Mediterranean and North African cuisine. Recently it has launched a delivery service. We talked to manager and owner Kada Bendaha to find out more.
It’s all about quality food here, isn’t it?
Yeah, that’s the reason we started our delivery service. The whole idea is to try to introduce good food to good people. There’s enough fast food - horrible kebabs and nasty curries - where you eat something then feel sorry for yourself the next day. I used to live in Paris, and there you can order a nice takeaway and have a night in. It’s not like ‘I can’t be bothered to go out and I can’t be bothered to cook’, it’s more like you want to treat yourself and have a night in with some friends or you get a nice takeaway in if you’ve got some guests. We only use fresh produce and we support local suppliers by buying locally. Everything from our sauces to our mayonnaise is made in-house.
Why were you in Paris?
I lived in Paris for about seven and a half years, I’ve cooked in Paris and I learned to love food in France. I came to Leeds because I had a friend here. It’s much calmer. There were opportunities in Leeds, there were things that I thought i could introduce to Leeds. You can meet everybody here and know everybody and you can pass a message easily.
You cater festivals quite often don’t you?
Yeah, we do a lot of festivals. Three years ago we started by doing one or two and now we are doing all the major festivals in the UK. We’re starting in May with a festival called Wychwood, in June there’s Africa Oye and Glastonbury and then Big Chill, Green Man, Secret Garden and Bestival.
And all your packaging is biodegradable…
The whole biodegradable idea came from the festivals, it’s all about raising awareness because people don’t realise how important it is. We’re trying to help. Selling good food is something, giving it in a nice packaging is something else, making the customer feel like they’re contributing to something good is something else as well. We’re trying to lead and trying to give an example to other people who don’t care.
What’s your favourite item on the menu?
Poussin. It’s corn-fed baby chicken with preserved lemon and olive - a traditional Algerian recipe. It’s a privilege to have it in Algeria, you have it at weddings and Ramadan. I thought I’d put it on the menu because I wanted to share it with people. It’s stuffed with kofta meat, garlic, oregano, bay leaves, spices and preserved orange and served with sweet couscous. As well as that, you’ve got the caballa - marinated charcoal grilled mackerel served with rice. The chef’s special here is bastilla, which is a trademark of Morocco. It’s filo pastry with slow cooked chicken with saffron and onion and other spices. You cook the pastry and the chicken separately, you put some crushed almonds and a bit of cinnamon and icing sugar on top, then and you fold it and fry it and put it in the oven for a final touch. You serve it with a salad and it’s really nice.
225 Hyde Park Road, LS6 1AH, restaurant: 0113 225 3862, deliveries: 0113 262 6777
Posted on Wednesday 29th April 2009
Jon Horner
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