An exciting new opening for Manchester has just been announced. Chef, owner and creative director of El Gato Negro and Canto, Simon Shaw has revealed plans for his third restaurant; a Middle Eastern restaurant and bar called Habas.
There will be a modern Middle Eastern menu, a bar providing premium drinks and live music until late.
Speaking about the new opening, Simon said: “It will be the type of venue that I like to go to, somewhere that you can settle down for the night with great table service and music too.”
Following on from his Spanish and Portuguese menus at his other two restaurants, Habas’ menu is inspired by Simon’s long term love of Middle Eastern food.
Simon Shaw said:
“I was probably into Middle Eastern food before Spanish if I’m honest. It was back in ‘98 when I was living in London that I first became interested in it; going for a shawarma late at night was our thing.
“We’d go to these incredible places on Edgeware Road or in Bayswater after work, or even after we’d been out, it was quite a social thing. I remember thinking wow, what a great style of food this is; it’s amazing, so fresh and vibrant.
“I knew then that I wanted to open a modern Middle Eastern restaurant; this isn’t a new thing. I’ve directed some of that influence into dishes at El Gato Negro as there’s so much overlap in styles and ingredients, but it’s really exciting to focus on this diverse region’s many cuisines with Habas.”
Habas will be located on Brown Street, on the lower ground floor of a Grade Two listed heritage building owned by Bruntwood, which has been fully renovated ahead of the opening.
This new opening has been in the pipeline for some time but has been delayed due to obstacles during the renovation process and, of course, due to the pandemic.
“Habas has been a long time in the making. It’s been a good couple of years since we first acquired the site and commenced construction work. We hit a couple of obstacles early on, as is to be expected when renovating a heritage building, and that required us to revise our timings. And then came the pandemic.
“It’s been tough as you’d expect, but abandoning plans for Habas was never an option, if anything it’s given us a greater appetite. We’ve had time to really develop the concept and focus on what we want it to be. We’re in a good place; I’m really excited to be entering this final stage of work and am looking forward to opening Habas later this Spring.”
Habas will launch in June. To keep up to date, visit habas.co.uk to sign up to the newsletter or head to their Instagram page.
