Editor's choice February 2010

A Bite to Eat

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then the owners of the Al Barakah Lebanese Bakery at the corner of Edward Road and Mary Street are truly flattered. In the three months since the family run business opened its doors for the first time there have been at least two other local businesses attempting to emulate their success.

With an oven brought direct from Lebanon weighing a total of 4 tonnes, business partners and friends Sultan and Abbas faced an ordeal just getting started. Size alone meant that the oven had to be manoeuvred into place using special lifting equipment that was brought up from London for the task. The shear scale and size of the operation called for part of the front of the building to be temporarily removed to allow the oven to be moved in using the lifting equipment and eight men. The result was a successfully positioned oven and a partially broken floor. A further aspect of this special piece of kit is the insulation, which consists of sand and sea salt weighing 1 tonne as well as 2 tonnes of special fire resistant bricks.

Nevertheless within a short space of time the business was up and running and has been a runaway success ever since. As well as using an authentic oven the food produced by the two families that own the business is flavoured with spices and herbs straight from Lebanon. Through providing a range of authentic mainly vegetarian Lebanese dishes the business has struck a chord with a wide variety of people and attracts clients from not just Balsall Heath but further afield.

The food is made fresh everyday in an open to view kitchen that attracts not only health professionals, and the police but has proven a hit with children as well. There concern taken over the quality of the ingredients can be seen in the approach taken by Sultan who said, “We don’t buy anything we would not serve to our families”.

The daily routine for Master Chef Abbas begins at 7am when he begins preparing for the day ahead. As well as the range of speciality breads the bakery create the £3.50 dish of the day, which has proven a big hit. An example of this virtual meal for one deal might be a Meshie, which consists of mincemeat and aubergines on a bed of rice with a naan bread and chilli sauce. At first open for five days a week the bakery has bowed under pressure from very many customers to extend their opening times and are now open for seven days a week.